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3 Strategies to
Market Your Business Even When There's No Money
By Kathleen Gage
Many small and home based businesses know they need to market and
yet, have little or no money to do so. Sadly, many use this as a
reason not to market. Even on a limited budget you can promote and
gain visibility for you and your business.
The following three strategies have proven extremely effective for
countless businesses as they can for you.
1. Press Releases - Very effective and they offer a great deal
of credibility when published. You must have a well written release
that is pertinent to the media source you are sending it to. You can
distribute press releases both online and off.
A quick Internet search under media resources in your city will
bring
up radio, television, newspapers and magazines in your area. To find
online resources do a search under "free online press release
distribution." Numerous listings will come up. Be sure to utilize
the free services when on a limited budget.
There are services you can pay for if you are so inclined. Two
excellent resources for both free and paid are
www.prweb.com and
http://arrivenet.com/.
Prior to writing a press release, determine the following:
-Who is your target market?
-What is your target media?
-Who is the contact person at the media outlet?
-What is the timeframe for submission?
-Do you have an attention-grabbing headline?
-Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, how?
-Do you have good quotes, research and technical date if
appropriate?
Click this link
http://press.arrivenet.com/bus/article.php/593635.html to see
how
powerful a well-written release can be.
2. Articles - Writing articles is a great way to gain
recognition as an expert in your field or specific industry. By
providing practical information, you can reach targeted audiences.
This can create exciting opportunities for you and your business.
Whatever you write about should be something you are knowledgeable
on and your information is factual. Incorrect or untrue information
can come back to haunt you.
Recently I read an article by someone claiming to be an Internet
marketing expert. Their article was about gaining visibility on the
Net. To find out how much visibility this so called expert has I did
a name search on the author. The "expert" author had only 10
postings under his name. Not very impressive when other experts have
thousands of listings. The author immediately lost credibility.
3. Presentations - One of the most incredibly effective ways to
market your product or service is to offer a complimentary
information seminar. When you provide great information that is of
interest to your market you have become a resource before you are a
vendor.
By positioning yourself as a resource you are marketing in a very
unique way.
Hosting a presentation can be virtually expense free. You can offer
to do a presentation at a staff meeting for a client. Many large
companies have brown bag lunch speaking opportunities.
You can host a meeting open to the public at your local library. Be
sure to send press releases to the local media when you are offering
a presentation open to the public.
Many associations, including your local Chamber of Commerce, are
constantly seeking presenters who can provide timely and content
driven talks that benefit their members.
When you apply one of the three recommendations to your marketing
mix you will gain benefit. When you apply all three the results can
be
phenomenal.
*********************************************
Learn how to market online with little or no money. Access FREE
eBook Street Smarts eMarketing Tips Guaranteed to Jump Start Your
Internet Presence to Put You Miles Ahead of the Competition
http://www.streetsmartsmarketing.com/free-ebook.htm written by
Kathleen Gage, an award winning entrepreneur, keynote speaker and
author, specializing in low cost, high return marketing strategies
for small and home based businesses.
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