Advertise
Your organization needs to advertise in order to attract new members. There are plenty of ways to advertise for free and some cheap ways as well.
BUSINESS CARDS
Business cards (You can get them free through VistaPrint) Give your business cards to friends and family and ask them to give them out to people they know who would be interested. Leave them in restaurants or on cork boards around grocery stores. Put a business card in all outgoing mail including anything that has a postage paid envelope. Leave a business card with your tip for your waiter/waitress. Business cards with a magnetic back really stick in people's minds as well as on their refrigerator. Leave business cards by the change machine in the mall arcade or at the ATM machine.
FLYERS
Snail Mail still works. Mail out fliers. Post flyers around town When you buy your morning paper, slip some flyers in with the rest of the newspapers. When you go to a garage or yard sale, ask if you can leave a few of your flyers there. Visit establishments you do business with (doctor offices, health food stores, karate/dance studios, etc) and ask if you can leave flyers. Post flyers at apartment complexes if they will allow it. Place flyers under windshield wipers of cars. We all get junk mail with the postage paid envelopes. Just send a flyer back to the company and use their return envelope. Put up flyers at the local colleges, libraries and grocery stores.
NEWSPAPER
Run a classified advertisement to promote your local Freethought organization and attract new members. Some papers will have discounted rates or run free ads for non-profits. Newspaper classified ads are cheap and effective. Ask about having your ad appear with a color background to make it stand out even more. Maybe your group would like to run an ad in the religion section next to the church ads. Place ads in lower-priced publications like weekly shoppers, charity and trade newsletters, and college and community newspapers. Write a guest article for your local newspaper. Promote your group for free in local magazines, community newsletters, etc. Many rely on voluntary writing contributions.
COMMUNITY
Make up Gift basket raffles for concerts held during summer, at your local community hall, or any town function. Volunteer within your community. Visible, tangible involvement with your community is more than good PR; it’s also very effective advertising. So choose a charitable event or community association to get involved with and let yourself be seen. The Placemat Ad has been designed to specifically support local business. All revenues generated via placemat ads remain local. Go to a local restaraunt, look at their placemat and get the name and phone number of the printing company.
NOVELTY
Mail out postcards. bookmarks for libraries, do not forget to talk to your librarian first. Free pen to hand out with a short advertisement and your URL. Get T-Shirts made at Cafepress.com. Pass them out to your friends and family. You can put magnets all over your car. Get a free personalized stamp and put your group's name on it. Stamp the back of any envelopes that you mail. Put your website URL on notepads, buttons, newsletters, bumper stickers, coffee cups.
EVENT
Sponsor an event. Host a fundraiser. Be a guest speaker at an event. Rent a booth at the local fair or flea market. Hold a contest. Raise awareness to an event or public concern. Get a booth at school events and share what you have to offer.
ONLINE
Free classifieds can be placed on craigslist. Film educational clips using local people and host them on youtube.com. Create a blog. Write press releases and submit them to PR sites like PRWeb.com. Write an online advice column. Participating in online discussion forums and make topics related to your website. Run banner ads on similar websites. Publish regular articles on your website. Write guest articles in related website's newsletters. Send out your URL in every email signature. Reply back to unsolicited email. Join social websites such as Facebook.com, and MySpace.com Join social bookmarking sites and bookmark your URLs (Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com, etc). Join as many local online groups as possible. Many allow new members to introduce themselves.
YELLOW PAGES
There’s still a lot of people who use the yellow pages to find what they’re looking for – and they won’t find you if you're not listed there. Get the biggest yellow page ad you can afford; the more visibility the better.
Billboards
With assistance from FreeThought Action many groups have been able to rent billboard to create awareness and discussion about atheists in society. FreeThought Action exists for the specific purpose of marketing rational thinking in America. They focus on tactics that place a Freethought message more directly and assertively into the marketplace of ideas.