Make a facebook or myspace page for your business. this is a great free way to advertise because these sites reach millions of people daily. it would greatly benefit you if you had a personal myspace/facebook page to link it too.
Beyond Marci s tips on PR, there are many ways to garner free Internet mentions. Those can help when people are searching for your industry or product. Join conversations about your industry. Look for ways to help those in need of information about your service. Post comments on others blogs and think about creating your own. Create a Facebook fan page for your service. You get the idea: The Web is a great way to spread the word and it s free (except the cost of your time).The trick, I think, is not to promote your product or service but to become an expert on issues relating to your field. If possible, use a distinct series of words that identify you the best ( low-water gardens , honest accounting , flawless racket stringing ) so that your entries will pop up more often in searches. When you become the go-to guy or gal, your business will benefit as well.
My husband has run a successful men s gift company for nearly 10 years. He s never spent a penny on advertising yet his products have been featured in scores of magazines and media outlets. That s because he s focused on public relations, the no-cost kind of advertising. Here s how it works. Reporters are constantly looking for sources for their stories. This can mean many things. They could be looking real people (e.g. entrepreneurs) whose stories illustrate a point they are writing about. They could be looking for new products or services that reflect a trend that s going on in the marketplace. They could be looking for experts to provide context to a news story. They could even be looking for merchandise to feature in a spread about gifts for whatever holiday is coming up. Savvy businesspeople know this and find ways to make themselves available to those reporters. In the pre-Internet age, the main way to reach reporters was to send out press releases in the hopes that the media would read them. Today, there are more direct, easy, and efficient ways. Here are three:1. Sign up with Helpareporter.com, an email service offered by Peter Shankman, a entrepreneurial publicist who figured out that reporters and sources needed a way to find each other. If you sign up on the site, each day you ll receive several emails with requests from reporters looking for sources. When you get the email, see if there s a story you can be helpful on. If there is (and only if there is), reply to the reporter whose information will be included in the email and make yourself available (Sometime reporters post anonymously, but most list their real names and publications). The key is to be helpful, and in the beginning, not worry too much if the reporter quotes you. The best way to cultivate relationships with the media is to become someone a reporter can return to repeatedly for insights about your industry or area of expertise. If this happens enough, you will become a go-to source who is quoted often.2. Email reporters directly. Start noticing the bylines of writers who cover areas relating to your business. Next time you read an article and think, Gee, my company should have been mentioned, try to find the reporter s email address and write a note introducing yourself and offering your insights. The key, again, is to see if there are ways to start a dialogue with a reporter -- one that might ultimately result in your company being considered for future coverage.3. Experiment with Twitter. Twitter (www.Twitter.com) is a free tool that allows you to have conversations with lots of people about subjects you care about our have expertise in. Much of the media (including me) is active on Twitter these days, so if you want to have conversations with them, Twitter is invaluable. It only takes about 10 minutes to get yourself set up on Twitter. If you re new to the service, search online for primers on Twitter and you ll quickly find a few articles that will help you get started.One caveat -- A crucial difference between advertising and public relations is that with advertising you control the message. When you are dealing with the media, you have no control over what a reporter writes. Keep this in mind whenever you talk with the media and be prepared that anything you say, unless you say that it is off the record, might appear in a publication or other media outlet.
