You've probably seen those cute, wacky maps of your city that feature caricatures and other illustrations. What you may not have considered is how this a low-cost, effective way to advertise your own business.
What's a Cartoon Map?
Cartoon maps can feature a small portion of a city, such as the downtown area, or they can illustrate a larger portion of the city. They're drawn by professional artists who have a particular knack for drawing caricatures.
Cartoon maps show real streets and real businesses in cartoon fashion. Some maps are a fun cartoon side on one side and a real city map on the other.
What Can a Cartoon Map Do For You?
Cartoon maps are generally printed once a year. Having your business on a cartoon map gives your company exposure for at least that year they'll be distributed.
Many companies hang their cartoon map on the wall to show off their own business. Guess what? Your business is on there too so people visiting that company will be able to see you on there too.
For cartoon maps that are also distributed as helpful city maps, you get the benefit of not just having one side being a novelty. The real city map side is actually helpful info that the person will use over and over.
Going In With Other Businesses
If your city doesn't seem to have a cartoon map, you can approach other businesses in your area to get the owners interested in featuring their company. For you and for them, once you find a printer and an artist who specializes in cartoon maps, all you have to do is tell the artist about your business (showing a picture of the building and giving them a brief summary of what your company does is even better) and they take care of the rest.
You don't have to come up with catchy ad copy or hire anyone outside of the artist and printer. There's minimal work involved for you at all.
Most printing companies won't require one check to cover the cost. In other words, you won't have to go around to each business and get the money. The printer will handle all of the money issues so you're not peddling from door-to-door to get the other business owners who've agreed to be on the cartoon map to pay up.
