If you are the owner of a small business, you are continually looking for every opportunity to generate publicity for your company. Often, you may think that the only way to do that is to spend a lot of money on an advertising campaign, whether this is in newspapers, on television or radio, or through online avenues such as SEO or PPC.
However, free publicity is just a whisker away from being available to you, and the best thing is that you can get it without looking like you are shamelessly self-promoting or desperate to drum up business, both of which are certain ways to put people off dealing with you.
We looked at a number of ideas for generating free publicity, and at why they will work.
Host a Giveaway
Everyone loves something that is free, and by hosting a giveaway you will have the opportunity to put your brand in the public eye, as well as bring increased numbers of customers to your business.
The trick to getting this done right is to create a buzz around what you’re doing. If you are shop owner, for example, you could offer the first 50 customers in your store a free item. It is also wise to link a giveaway to a sale, so perhaps a free item when you spend a certain amount of money would work, too.
Whichever strategy you pursue, the ‘giveaway’ is the hook that will bring people in, so ensure you maximise it.
Sign a Big Deal
While you will need to work hard to secure the biggest contract in the history of your small business, when you have done so it is time to tell everyone about it.
It is an awful cliché, but success really does attract more success, so once social media, for example, picks up on the deals you have signed and the business you have secured, people will immediately be discussing how good a partner you must be.
Ideally, you will be able to write a powerful press release, too, detailing other positives like the number of jobs you are going to create, for example, which will save you from spending too much on a recruitment campaign, as the applications will soon come piling in.
Hold a Fundraising Event
Make a local community charity or ‘chosen charitable partner’ for the year, and hold an event to raise money for the good cause. This will immediately raise your profile in the local community and will gain you a lot of respect among fellow small businesses as well as your customers.
Think of the most creative ways you can hold an event, and how you can get everyone involved from the month-old baby in their pram to the pensioner who has lived in the town all her life. Invite journalists and prominent commentators from your local area to your event so they can see it for themselves.
These are just three ways of generating yourself publicity without spending a cent, use these and come up with others, and you will soon find your marketing costs tumbling lower than ever.
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
