The whole point of advertising is to get noticed. With all the noise these days both online and off, it is difficult at best to get seen…
That’s why I recommend publicity over advertising. Do things like createingan event or a stunt that will get you noticed in your niche. Get busy on social networking sites where your customers and clients hang out, including the top 3 Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Having said that, there are reasons and places to advertise online that will pay off without spending a fortune.
When you list your business above, use keywords to describe what you do using benefit words (eg. “24 hour turnaround” or “loose weight or you don’t pay”) rather than vanity words (like BEST, AWARD WINNING) – people don’t believe that anymore and they don’t search for businesses that way.
This will take you less than an hour to set up and about 10-15 minutes a month to maintain.
Find sites that sell to your audience that compliment what you do and see if they will either sell you space on their site, list you in their links or if they have a newsletter that goes out to your target audience see if they do ads. Most of the time these ads are innexpensive and you can test for very little money. BTW, one insert is not a test. You need to create a campaign and keep your ad in for a minimum of 5-6 issues to see if it is going to work. Remember that it takes that many impressions before people begin to recongize your company. It also builds credibitly.
And remember to add social networking to your marketing plan. I know so many people who just hang out on SN Sites but don’t really know how to effectively use them to get attention for their businesses. Before you waste a lot time check out what those you admire are doing and model them. Don’t copy them, learn from them. See what they are doing and what is working for them. See how you can adapt to your own situation.
As you can see, I could go on and on about this topic. Let’s just say there are many ways to advertise without breaking the bank and many of them are FREE. The price you pay is TIME which by the way IS NOT FREE. Once its spent you NEVER GET IT BACK. So use it wisely.
May 12th is Limerick Day– Host a limerick contest that showcases your company’s virtues.A limerick is a five-line poem with a strict form, originally popularized in English by Edward Lear. Limericks are frequently witty or humorous, and sometimes obscene with humorous intent.I hosted a contest on RYZE social networking site and received several entries. Here’s one of the winning entries by Marilyn Jenett of Feel Free to Prosper about Bea Kunz,a member who sells Teas:
Another Ryze member named Bea Will have you cravin’ her tea,
She’s witty and cool
And nobody’s fool,
And reigns as the “sage” of Tennessee
And one she wrote about her work with the Laws of Attraction:
There’s a Ryzer who teaches the “laws”
With posts that may give you pause,
Doesn’t mean to alarm ya,
Would rather disarm ya
With effects and their probable cause.
Excerpt from the book “Quirky Marketing ~ 365 Ways to Promote Your Business Using Zany & Non-traditional Holidays (the original holiday marketing guide) ~ www.QuirkyOffer.com
Last post I talked about adding photos and videos to your site as well as promoting your blog on social networking sites. Today’s tips are about the look of your blog, blog statistics and building relationships with your readers.
Tip # 7 ~ Make your blog look professional. Make it easy to navigate and find things. Use the tools in your blog software to add keywords, word tags and categories. Add a site map to your blog so visitors can do a quick search of topics that interest them. If a calendar will enhance the visitor experience, add a calendar. Create a blogroll of blogs you follow. This is your way of referring other blogs to your reader.
Tip #8 ~ Keep track of your blog metrics/statistics. Most blog software either has the stats feature built in or has a plugin you can use to keep track. Things to know are you most commented on posts, most popular posts, inbound links and referrals and more. What questions or keywords are being used to find your blog in the search engines? Google Analytics, Woopra, and Statcounter can give you lots of data such as where your hits are coming from.
Knowing what your most popular posts are lets you know what your readers read and are attracted to. This can help you hone in on the messages that resonate with others. Check your blog stats on a regular basis. Some bloggers check their blog stats at least once a day and others once a week. Checking blog statistics can be addicting so you must determine how often you should check the stats to get the information you need.
Tip #9 ~ Develop relationships with your readers. Respond to their comments, visit their sites and leave a comment. Drop them an email and thank them for commenting. Find out more about the people who are interested in what you have to say. If someone is leaving a comment, chances are they want to be noticed. Make sure you notice them. If you like what they have written on their own blogs or websites, find ways to mention them on yours.
Answer questions in your comments section and ask your readers questions. When you respond to your readers comments it lets them know that you are reading what they say and it validates their reasons for leaving comments in the first place. This may also encourage others to also leave a comment on your blog and others.One of the coolest tools that I just learned about is CommentLuv atwww.commentluv.com. Every time someone leaves a comment on your blog it automatically shows the title of their latest blog post.
CommentLuv was recently added to all my blogs ~ I will let you know if it increases followers or not. Everyone I have spoken with who has it on their blog, loves it!
April 22nd is also National Jelly Bean Day – On October 15, 1999, the world’s largest jar of jelly beans was unveiled. It weighed 6,050 pounds. Did you know that each year, U.S. manufacturers produce more than 16 billion jelly beans for Easter — that’s enough to completely fill a plastic Easter egg 89 feet high and 60 feet wide (about the height of a nine-story office building.
Time for another “world’s largest jar of jelly beans?
BTW, I am giving a presentation to the American Business Women’s Association called Leveraging Social Networking to Grow Your Business. During the event I am having a “Guess the Jelly Beans” contest and will announce the winner at the end of the program. Someone will go home with a free copy of my Social Networking Formula for Success CD (value $47). And everyone will get a handful of Jelly Beans too!
In the last post I talked about the importance of Content, creating a Community and Building a Directory to get your blog noticed, read and followed. Here are 3 more tips to Get Your Blog On:
#4 ~ Add photos. Photos add “life” to a blog, personalize it and make it more interesting. That does not mean EVERY post should have a photo it just means that readers will appreciate if you “mix it up a bit.” Share bits of you.
Let readers into your life by showing your personal side. On my blog Success and then Some, I often post pictures of me networking. Not only does it get people to “see you” in person it also makes you more real. More human. And if they see you as a real person, they are more likely to follow you.
Some great place for Royalty FREE photos include: Fotolia, Fotosearch and Dreamstime. There are also a whole host of free sites from which you can grab photos. A great list of free sites such as Flickr can be found at http://pstutorialsblog.com/44/free-stock-photos/. You can also “google” the photos you are looking for to get some great photos. Be sure you check the licensing from any of these FREE sites before using the photos.
Tip #5 ~ Add Videos to your blog posts. Some of the most popular posts on blogs are the ones that include a video. But don’t just post a video, be sure you also post a commentary about the video. And the video doesn’t even have to be one you created. It can be one you found on YouTube or other video-sharing site. The people who post videos to these sites appreciate the added “publicity” when bloggers refer to their videos and share them with their readers. You can also create your own videos to post to sites such as YouTube, Google Video and Blip.
I created a video about flowers, using Powerpoint, music and Camtasia Studios. You can see it at my blog Tulips Talk.
My good friend and mentor Terry Brock regularly posts videos to YouTube and in fact has one called Marketing with YouTube ~ How to do it.
Robin Goode has a great list of tools you can use to automatically post your videos at the top video sites athttp://tinyurl.com/6bhlre.
Tip #6 ~ Promote your blog on social networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. And niche social networking sites that cater to your target audience. I belong to several other social networking groups such asBoomer Diva Nationwe help one another promote our “stuff” all the time. For instance we have our own Twitter Tuesdays and every Tuesday we help one another spread the word about our blog posts, events, products and services and more. There are tools and plug ins for most social networking sites that allow you to automatically post your blog articles as they happen. For instance, use Tweetfeed to post to your twitter account. And you can update your profile with videos from YouTube on Facebook, LinkedIn and more.
These tips and others will help you draw more attention to your site and increase the chances of others becoming loyal followers. Stay tuned for my next post when I talk about blog design, connecting with other users and checking stats to increase blog followers.
“The garbage collector is driving down my street.”
So what do these three sentences have in common?
They are some of the comments you will find on Twitter.
Ho hum… it really wants to make you get involved with Twitter, doesn’t it?
But there’s more, much more, to Twitter than this. Read on…
Twitter is a social networking site, true, but it’s also an excellent vehicle for building your business. It’s not the only way mind you, but one of the ways for you to market yourself.
Build you brand.
Find clients.
Get outsourcing help.
Have joint venture opportunities fall into your lap.
Create joint ventures with others.
Build your list.
Bring in customers to your offline business.
Tiptoe past the gatekeepers.
Gather info for your next info product.
Sell your products.
Get asked to be a guest blogger, an interviewee, an interviewer, a speaker at a seminar, a participant in an ebook, and more.
I’m not making this stuff up… it happens on Twitter all the time!
Just ask these successful marketers – Willie Crawford, Jack Bastide, Bev Clement, Thom Scott, and Felicia Slattery. They, along with a few others (17 marketers in all) tell their stories in the Twitter Success Stories ebook. In fact, my story is in there! Whoohoo….
They tell you about their personal Twitter successes and what they’ve learned in using Twitter to grow their businesses. These marketers also give you TIPS to get you on the right track.
So if you’re interested in growing your business and using Twitter as another marketing avenue, pick up a copy of Twitter Success Stories. I’m guessing you will come away with some great ideas you can apply to your business.
Heidi Richards Mooney
P.S. I pulled out a quote from the book for you that I liked:
“If you own a business of any size and you’re still not Twittering, you’re missing out on what amounts to a global virtual chamber of commerce networking event you can access anytime, day or night.” Heidi Richards Mooney
So in honor of Underdog Day, and to thank my readers, here’s a little gift for you:
My good friend, Joan Stewart invited the readers of The Publicity Hound ezine to download and give away her Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week from 2008. This free ebook includes 24 of Joan Stewart’s very best publicity tips from her free ezine.
Here’s a sneak peek at what this year’s book includes:
A fast, inexpensive way to catch the attention of journalists in your community.
A clever way to get onto the morning TV talk shows…most people who are pitching aren’t doing this.
A place where you can connect daily with journalists who are looking for sources. And it won’t cost you a penny.
What to do when you’re tempted to strangle a reporter for wasting your time interviewing you, and then leaving your name out of the story.
A news story that appears several times a year in almost every community and is PERFECT for piggybacking onto.
9 ways to use video to pull more traffic to your website, sell more products, generate publicity, and build word-of-mouth publicity about your product, service, cause or issue.
11 ways to use a paid or unpaid assistant to help with publicity-related tasks.
How to make your local Chamber of Commerce one of your biggest promoters.
A free tool that tells you whether your press release gets a passing grade or a big, fat F.
How to use a popular social networking site to snoop on your competitors legally and ethically
What writers can learn from a beloved dog’s obituary.
How to claim the Number 1 spot on Google.
A publicity mistake that most companies make, and it kills their chances of ever getting covered.
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and thanks so much for reading Redhead Marketing Blog!
Heidi
Ps. Stay tuned because our brand new marketing calendar for 2009 is due out any day. And it has hundreds of ideas (at least 100 more than the 2008 edition) to help you grow your business. Leave a comment below and you will be the first to know when it launches.
Want to build your business by creating a stronger online presence this holiday season?
Wrap up your business networking plan with the 12 Days of Christmas Social Networking
On the first day of Christmas Social Networking create your social networking plan of action
On the second day of Christmas Networking join two or three social networking site (such as Facebook, Plaxo or LinkedIn)
On the third day of Christmas Networking find 10 friends who share the same interests or interest you are trying to promote and invite them to join your network
On the fourth day of Christmas Networking join a forum in your niche and introduce yourself
On the fifth day of Christmas Networking start a blog in your niche or topic expertise and start writing
On the sixth day of Christmas Social Networking create a twitter account for your business, find tweeters you admire and follow them
On the seventh day of Christmas Social Networking share your expertise on your new social networking sites and make sure you have links from your website to your new SN pages
On the eighth day of Christmas Social Networking Tweet your blog posts and retweet posts others have written
On the tenth day of Christmas Social Networking pinfm.com your postsOn the eleventh day of Christmas Social Networking find other bloggers you admire and start building relationships (by leaving comments)
On the twelfth day of Christmas Social Networking start all over again!
A few weeks ago I had the chance to listen in on a seminar hosted by Shannon Cherry and Ready Talk. It was about increasing event attendance to Teleseminars and Webinars. And I just came across my notes and thought I’d share them with you.
1. Find your voice – Shannon said it is important to know what it is you want to accomplish with the event. Will the event position you as an expert at something? Will it add value to your audience? Will hosting it add to your database or bottom line (or both)? Do you know what you want to say? Who is webinar for? (Demographics)
2. Develop Key Messages ~ Attract more prospects. get more attendees. Make more money, become the expert in your field
3. Use marketing tools available such as press releases.
A. There are basically 3 types of press releases: 1) the basic announcement 2) a tips release with bullets and ideas to reinforce the event and 3) the bonus offered for sign up release.
She said to post on all release distribution sites and traditional media every 2.5 to 3 weeks 10 weeks prior. Some of the sites she recommended include: Theopenpress, pr buzz, prcompass, prurgent, press-base, pressabout, pressmethod, prleap, prlog.org,
B. Email campaigns - Event listings, feature write ups, articles on topic that link to event – 9 weeks prior
Also solo listings to announce event, benefits of event and a last call (Shannon said solo listings are much better than ezines etc.)
C. Joint Venture Opps – Find others with similar traffic market and ask if they will promote to their list ~ if event has a fee, have affiliate commission, if not offer to help promote their stuff as well
D. Write 3 articles on topics webinar covers ~ ezinearticles.com, amazines.com, ideamarketers.com, goarticles.com starting 8 weeks out – send out one per week.
E. Blogging ~ tweak content to make original, create six new pieces of content to post to blog 6 weeks out one per week
F. Social media ~ every time you post on your blog send a brief chatty post (headline) using ping.fm to post to all social media sites at once ~ go to startupspark.com – get code for free there
Put contact at bottom of release, not at top! News should be more important than you!
After registration: Send confirmation email thank you for registering, with details to attend ~ also the day before send a reminder follow up.
Post your event to Craig’s list.
How do we make money with free teleseminars? You can now market to list, they can sign up for your newsletter ~ they are now in the marketing funnel and will start getting your stuff…
CAUTION: Only send emails that would add value to your recipient. Otherwise you will be thought of as a spammer and folks will ask to be removed from your list. Be careful to respect their time and above all their privacy. Even when I get the registrant into my “funnel” they may only hear from me once every 3 to four months unless of course they sign up for one of my offerings and then it will depend on how often that system sends information and offers to the list.
BTW, on November 7th I interviewed Eddie Peters of 4Profit Marketing about this very subject. He gave some great tips and also made an incredible offer to our guests. He has a Marketing system worth over $1,200 and he offered it to anyone who signed up for his session for only $99. If you want to learn more, send me an email to heidi (at) redheadmarketingblog.com. I will pass on the details.
Also, on December 4th I will be speaking at the International Association of Hispanic Meeting Professionals on “How to Leverage Social Networking to Grow Your Business.” If you live in or will be in San Diego at that time, you can register for this event. It takes place Dec. 3-6th. Here’s the link: http://www.iahmp.org/iahmp_folder/annu_conference/iahmp_annual_conference.htm
Like the real thing but don’t have time to go to the post office or local card store? You can sign up online for SendOutCards and send a REAL CARD that gets mailed to your recipient the very next day! SendOutCards are a wonderful stay-in-touch method to let people know just how much you care. You know that feeling you get when you go to the mailbox and in between all the direct mail soliticitations, and bills is a beautiful hand written greeting card? You see that and forget about all the other mail. All you want to do is tear that envelop open to see what’s inside. Real cards are no longer a lost art. Not since SendOutCards came on the scene.
Try it out! See what I mean. Way better than Electronic Greetings because people can keep these cards, post them on their bulletin board or refrigerator.
And if you like what you see, you can sign up with SendOutCards www.SendOutCards.com/Heidi as a distributor. What a wonderful way to add you’re your monthly income stream.
