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Low Cost Marketing and PR Ideas to Promote Your Business

Written by: Scott Lorenz

Article Overview: As President of Westwind Communications a PR and Marketing Firm. I work with entrepreneurs, start-ups as well as doctors, lawyers and authors. I am often called upon in the early stages of a company’s existence to get them “on the radar.” Sometimes however, the best ideas can be low cost or free. Of course the best "free" marketing idea is good old fashioned "word of mouth" or as it’s called today "WOM." Here are just a few low-cost marketing ideas you can use to get new business for your new business.

Low Cost Marketing and PR Ideas to Promote Your Business

As President of Westwind Communications a PR and Marketing Firm. I work with entrepreneurs, start-ups as well as doctors, lawyers and authors. I am often called upon in the early stages of a company’s existence to get them “on the radar.” Sometimes however, the best ideas can be low cost or free. Of course the best "free" marketing idea is good old fashioned "word of mouth" or as it’s called today "WOM." Here are just a few low-cost marketing ideas you can use to get new business for your new business.

Use Facebook to Target Your Demographic
Did you know that you can place ads on Facebook to reach people who work at specific companies or students at the local university. You can even target age groups and know how many are in each age demographic. Yes it’s true and it’s VERY effective. Imagine being able to direct ads to the EXACT target market you want. It does not get any better than this.

Do a Sales Blitz!
What’s a sales blitz? It’s a one or two day ‘blitz’ of your immediate market area where your staff goes out to local businesses and hands out a flyer, business card, small gift or whatever to secretaries, clerks or anyone else they can talk to. Pick a slow day, like Monday or Tuesday, pay your staff to come in, pair up in teams and tell them to go out into the community. Pay them a decent wage, buy them lunch, give them money for mileage, ask them to make notes about their best sales calls and offer prizes for the ‘best lead’ of the day, ‘best potential future customer’ etc. You’ll be amazed at the success of this and the new business it will generate. This idea works for banks, restaurants, hotels and business that rely on business from the immediate market area.

Mobilize Street Teams
Recruit customers for a “Street Team.” This is a great low cost way to promote your business. Customers can be recruited to blog, write reviews, sidewalk chalk the local college campus etc. and can be used effectively to get the word out on the street. Thank them with free stuff, drinks at a local restaurant etc. This technique has been used by major corporations on college campuses for years in promoting everything from computer software to lingerie.

Make Some NEWS!
Make News! Then send out a creative press release talking about it. A release can accomplish a lot of things. It can be used to announce information to the public, your investors, the media, your customers and even your competitors about you and your activities. Send a release to: 1) Announce a new service. 2) Announce a new product. 3) Tie in with a national holiday, a birthday or anniversary. 4) Celebrity sighting at your business. 5) Charitable donation by your establishment.

Get Listed in ALL the Phone Books, Yellow Pages
Whew! You’ve just opened your new business, your ads are working, the web site is up, and the signage is done. But, wait! What about a listing in the phone book? Yes, people still use the phone book, but they’re more apt to call directory assistance from their cell phone when they’re motoring down the road.

Are you listed? Better call 411 and find out, Oh, and better call from your friend’s cell phone directory, too, as they have another service, and don’t forget to call Verizon and AT&T and Sprint … get the picture? If you aren’t listed in every directory you don’t exist to a bunch of consumers who are trying to do business with you. You need to fix that!
For a comprehensive list of places to list your business visit: LocallyType's website

Get Listed in ALL the Search Engines
A high % of all internet searches are for business phone numbers or addresses. So if you are not listed in all of the major search engines people can’t find you. Google, Yahoo! and MSN all have methods to list your business. Yahoo! even has places where people can review your services. Encourage customers to take time to rate your service. Testimonials are an important part of any company’s online image and they do influence people to do business with you. Click around and get to it.

Write Useful Articles and Post Online
Everyone has expertise on certain subjects related to their field. Write a 600-1000 word article about a focused topic. First come up with a list of topics you want to write about. Then set a goal to have them completed by a certain date; one a week works for me. If you don't have time, hire a ghost writer (you still get to put your name on it). Where do you find a ghost writer? Check your local newspaper; chances are there's a writer who'd like to pick up some extra cash. Then publish the articles on the internet using sites like EzineArticles. Why should you go through all this trouble? It’s simple. People search online for the solution to their problem or for someone or something that can solve their problem. Once someone reads your article they are “pre-sold” on your ability to do the same for them, then they contact you. The best part --it’s free!

Get on a Panel at a Conference
Admit it. You’ve been to an industry conference and you look at the people on the panel and you wonder, “How in the heck did ‘that’ guy get on the panel? I could do that.”

Well, you’re not alone. Like getting asked to the Junior High Dance you can wait to get an invitation or get aggressive and make it happen. As a publicist I am often asked to get a client on the convention dais and as a result I’ve got couple of tried and true tactics that really work.

Here are a few tips to help you land that panel gig.

1. Bring a big name to the party. If you have little name recognition organize a panel around a topic and call in a favor from Bill Gates or other notable friend, client, customer or vendor by creating your own panel. Pitch the "ready made" panel, which includes yourself of course, to the conference organization. They have less work, and you get more editorial control over the discussion. Big names draw big crowds. All conferences like big names.

2. Create a catchy title: Even if you have a big name on your panel, an unexciting panel title and no mention of the big name will not be as interesting to the conference planner. Take a page out of the entertainment industry. Would people rather watch "Desperate Housewives" or the same program titled "Five Bored Housewives on Wisteria Lane?”

3. Make a promise. Tell conference planners what prospective audience members will learn and what they will take away from the presentation in the copy describing the program. For example: Tell them they will learn to do X, Y & Z and will be able to implement something tangible in their own business or practice.
and they’re more apt to book you.

4. Plan way in advance. Most conferences are booked into convention halls years in advance and most programs are decided upon many months in advance. If you want more tips visit: Westwindcos' website

These are just a few low cost ideas to generate new business. There are hundreds of market segments you can attack to promote your business and an infinite number of tactics to employ. The most important thing to do is to make a plan and start NOW.

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Article Tags: low cost marketing, marketing firm, pr ideas, small business marketing, startups



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