Once the people in your area see that you advertise, you could be inundated with requests to advertise in any number of community outlets: school play programs, local sporting event programs, community group newsletters, and so on. In most cases, those asking you to advertise will be appealing more to your sense of community support than to your business goals.

However, if your research and instincts tell you that you can generate an adequate reader response, then consider it. You can always track your results and reconsider next year. For some home-based businesses, community ads will be opportunities to reach your target audience for a reasonable cost. For others, it will simply be a way for you to support your community. Either way, it's fine. Just be sure that you're clear on your expectations for those ads.