The Kona Impact Blog

Craigslist is an online classified ad system, and depending on where you live and what you use it for, it's free. Much to the dismay of many newspapers and weekly ad papers, Craigslist has taken a big chunk of ads that were once almost exclusively run in paid print ads. For a small business owner, Craigslist can be a great place to market the business, find new employees, find supplies and suppliers, and sell unwanted goods.

Marketing a Small Business on Craigslist
The main area for marketing a business on Craigslist is the Services area. To post an ad, go to the Craigslist page for your geographic area, which depending on where you live, may be a state, county or city. For example, Hawaii is divided into the main counties. Be sure to post only in the area in which you offer services.

To avoid spamming (excessive posting) place your ad weekly or bi-weekly. Hint: if you change the text of your ad significantly, you can post more often or in different categories.

The best Craigslist ads use a combination of HTML and graphics. An ad like this will have an image and/or stylized text. If you don't have the skills to do this, hire someone, or go with a simple text ad. Don't over-write and keep to your main points.

Finding Employees for a Small Business on Craigslist
Depending on your location, most jobs ads are free.

The Jobs section of Craigslist is very well-organized and has a sub-listing for just about any job classification. Go to the Craigslist for you area before posting an ad. If you're job search is a bit broader, go to the level on which you want to focus--state, county or city.

One thing Kona Impact has found with Jobs listings is that no matter how many times we emphasize that we are seeking only local employees, we receive about 90% of applicants from other states and countries. These are easy to delete.

Selling and Buying on Craigslist
Many small and medium-size businesses have equipment or supplies they no longer need. Craigslist is a great no-cost place to list the items for sale locally.

Kona Impact has bought and sold several items over the years on Craigst--all to local buyers and sellers. Note: it is generally a bad idea to take payment from and ship items outside of your immediate area on Craigslist. There is just too much fraud with this type of transaction to make it worthwhile.

The For Sale section of Craiglist is well-categorized and, if you avoid non-local buyers and sellers, a great way to sell or buy many things locally. One of the big problems with online shopping for used goods is verifying the condition and shipping. These are not issues with Craigslist.

A smart small business can use Craigslist as a free marketing, employee finding, selling/buying channel. Just like any other medium, caution is advised. If it seems too good to be true.....