Advertising as a Notary Public

There are many reasons an individual gets their notarial commission. Whether you are an individual who is wanting to start your own business or an employee whose employer is paying for the commission for employment purposes (or other reasons), the rules are all the same regardless of who purchases the commission.

As mentioned in How to become a notary public, notaries public are not lawyers and aren’t allowed to draft legal records, give legal advice, or practice law. When advertising notary services the advertisement must include a “can’t practice law” statement.  

Know the difference between Notary Public and Notario Publico. When translating Notary Public, it can be translated to Notario Publico, this is considered false advertising. The translation is a for an attorney of law. Using this translation, even on accident is against the rules and can call for revocation of commission.

Simply Cy’s Opinion on Advertising 

Here is my input on what has and hasn’t worked for advertising for me.

Local Chamber of Commerce

I have been a member of my local chamber of commerce for about 6 (six) months. Personally, this has been one of the best decisions I made when it comes to advertising. Not only do I get a chance to network myself and my services, but I also get to make connections within my community. For all small businesses word of mouth is incredibly important. When you are an active member in your local chamber of commerce, you are increasing the chances of word-of-mouth referrals by the number of members in that particular chamber.

Another added bonus is I get to be more involved in the happenings in my community.

Post Cards

Not all advertising efforts are digital these days. Maybe I am just a tad rooted in the old school paper marketing, but I felt it was important to direct marketing to the mailbox of local business. I searched specific business types within my service area (Lawyers, Insurance Companies, Car Dealerships, Schools, Construction businesses) and mailed them custom business post cards (I got mine from Zazzle).

I probably mailed just under 100 post cards; I do not think this helped significantly as I didn’t see a much of an increase in business.

Note, this could be different for you as my particular area is rather saturated and those companies may have had a notary on staff.

Flyers

Again, with the paper marketing, flyers are a great option to put on community boards (grocery stores for example) and if you have any business connections (or make some) where the business will allow you to put a flyer in the window of their storefront.

For continuity of marketing and branding, make sure your flyers match your brand. For my personal experience I have seen an increase in brand awareness, not necessarily an increase in business. However, that increase in brand awareness is almost equally important.

Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Nextdoor)

Social media is where the bulk of marketing comes from. I just started using Instagram and I do not use Twitter or YouTube (yet). The bulk of my social media presence has been on Facebook, and it has been very rewarding for both business bookings and brand awareness.

A tip for the newbies – be consistent with your posts and research the best time of day to post on various platforms.

Yelp

Yelp offers a free business page for all businesses. While I had some negative experience with their paid services, their free page has a lot to offer. To this day I still get about 15%-25% of my bookings/signings on Yelp. I highly recommend claiming their free business page and monitoring and updating the content on it.  

Your business Yelp page will show up on a Google search.

Craigslist

While Craigslist may seem old school, think about the individuals who still use the platform. I get a good chunk of my bookings from ads I post. A word of caution, if someone texts or emails you from your Craigslist Ad asking for you to verify your identity through a Google verification code, DON’T!!! This is a common scam, and it is easy to not catch it when you’re excited for a new potential customer.

Bottom line when deciding on your marketing plan is to do your research. What has worked for me may not work for you, same as what doesn’t work for me. If marketing scares you and you would rather pass it off to someone else, there are amazing marketing professionals out there. A strong recommendation from me, personally is Flourish Marketing. They offer very affordable packages and from my experience personality care about their clients, not just the numbers.  

Just remember, when advertising notarial services it is VERY IMPORTANT to include some resemblance of the following statement:

I am not an attorney and cannot offer legal advice.

I decided to start blogging to provide access to educational information to new and seasoned Notaries Public and Wedding Officiants and their clientele to improve service to each population.