How to do marketing for free

This is a good subject for start-ups and very small businesses who don’t have a large budget to work with..

The first free marketing method is networking. Go to as many meetings as possible, particularly the free events or those that don’t require a big entrance fee. But to make these successful you must arm yourself with a good pitch, both 10 and 60 second versions, the first to grab attention to yourself, and the second if you get a chance to address the whole room. If you can create something that is different, easily understandable, poignant and relevant to your listeners’ needs, then you have a head start above many others.

It is important to get yourself as visible as possible in the business world. There are two possibilities: blogging and social networking group pages. It is very easy to create a free blog, and social networking sites allow you to create groups or fanpages which you can devote to your business.  In these you must regularly post up information about your business, and then, as with the blog, use RSS feeds to inform your followers of your new posts, or email through the social networking system to your followers that you have recently contributed new material for them to read.

And then there’s Twitter, equally free, which is an excellent way to promote your business, not forgetting that you can feed your blog to it, and now your posts can be automatically replicated on your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

Writing articles and publishing them around the net is another way to spread your expertise. Make sure the resource boxes direct the reader back to your website, blog or social networking profile pages, so they can find out more about you.  Take advantage of keywords to improve your search engine optimisation, and careful attention to the headlines and first paragraph will increase the likelihood of a response.

If you do have a website, get as many links back to it as possible from other websites and web directories. The more high profile the link source, the more respect search engines give your website, not to mention providing more portals for the spiders to crawl over your site and report back pages for indexing.

Create a good signature for your emails, to publicise your website, blog and social networking profiles. Don’t forget that the space at the bottom of your communication is just waiting to be filled with promotional written material and links, and everybody you write to will get a chance to see them.

Saying exactly what in the tin

Following on from my visible networking material idea I came across this business card from Jill Wigmore-Welsh. I wanted to share it with you because it stood out from all the other business cards at this networking meeting I went to.

Why? Because the first thing it said is what she does, but in a way that was beneficial to the customer. There isn’t much room, and she even managed a rhyme, but the aim of her business was the most visible element on the card, whereas her details took a back seat.

I like this idea, because the customer should always come first. Why should our networking material bang on about ourselves? The customer cares only about themselves and what they can get out of you and your business, not actually your business. Use the fact that we’re all naturally self-centered, so by turning the tables we can take advantage of this fact and steal a march on our competitors.

What do you think of this idea – your comments are always welcome!

Forget your blog, forget your readers, forget SEO

There is nothing worse than setting up a blog and then forgetting about it – like someone said in a Twitter post, “a blog with no new content is like a cheese sandwich”. Although this made me smile, he is right. An inactive blog is the same as a brochure website, looking pretty but with no search engine optimisation activity it is worth nothing.

The answer? Get off your backsides and start contributing.

How? There is lots of material all around you. Look at your old articles, e-newsletter material, past emails answering questions from your clients, stuff you may have read from other blog posts or whatever that you would like to put your own slant on it, articles from business magazines, overhead conversations at networking events, general gossip: this forum is full of it!

How often? Regularity is better than frequency. Michael Martine of Remarkablogger stated in a recent post that he now blogs less than before, but his posts have a much higher value in their content so his SEO impact is higher, as well as the quality of comemnts. See what he says in one of my posts: http://www.designyourmarketing.co.uk/2009/07/blogging-less-can-be-effective-too/

What should you say? The aim is to provide value for your readers, give them something to think about, provide solutions to their problems, pose a question to encourage comments: comments are treated as new material too, so getting lots of these is also good for SEO.

Create an editorial diary so you can draft a number of posts in advance and come back to them later to spruce them up for posting. If you’re really clever, or if your original post is too long, split up a subject into many installments: this will keep the audience’s interest going, and incorporating cliff-hangers will encourage them to look out for the next post. It also will make it all the easier for you if you know what you are going to write next.

Don’t make your posts too long. People don’t have time to read huge articles on blogs, keep it down to five paragraphs, or more if they are short ones. Short, snappy and sweet is my motto. It makes it quicker to write them too.

If you get an idea, write it down in a notebook, or if you’re online, create a quick draft and go back to it later. Once you’re creative juices are following, why waste them?

Constant contributions are more important than making your blog look wonderful, stuffed full of imagery and widgets, but with no content. Get writing – the more your readers, and therefore potential clients, get to know about you, the more likely you are to do business with them.

Oh, and another thing, try and put a purpose into your posts. Blogging aimlessly about everything and anything is also a waste: there must always be an ultimate aim in whatever you do.

My purpose for this post? To raise awareness of who I am, you’ll follow the link to the post above, and you’ll realise that I want to help women to blog successfully to further their businesses by visiting my blogging pages.

Fascinating faces on business cards

In a previous post ‘How visible is your networking?’ I explored the idea of putting a photograph on your business card. I have found four examples of people who have done just that!

This is done solely to show who the cards belong to.  How many times have you got home, looked at the business cards you collected, and wondered what the owners looked like? Only the ones that made the most impression probably stuck in your memory. Ironically, it is the most rememberable ones that do put portraits on their networking material.

Mary Flavell is a flamoyant lady who takes over networking events by storm (she is not called the Queen of Networking for nothing). She always looks immaculate and her gushing friendliness emphasises her willingness to get to know what you do, and to see how she can help you. It seems only right that she should have a photograph of herself on her card, although once you’ve met Mary, it would be very difficult to forget her.

Graham Jones is well known as The Internet Pyschologist, and all his media includes a photograph of him, so it’s not surprising there is one on his business card. He has rigidly stuck to this branding, so much so that you only need to see the colours and his portrait at a distance to recognise his company. That’s why its a good thing to choose a particular photograph you are happy with and be consistent with its distribution, both on- and off-line, to enable instant recognition – all good marketing ploys.

Ophelia Messer is a lady who I’m sure was reluctant to put her photo on her business card, but I’m very glad she has. Another rememberable networker, recognition plays a major role if she is to be successful in recruiting for her business. Her invitation for ‘call me now for an informal chat’ is made much easier because of her welcoming grin; such call for actions are more personable if you can see your contact.

And finally John Cassidy, who for a photographer of the rich and famous (he does capture ordinary mortals to make them look fabulous too) it would be strange if he didn’t have a self-portrait on his card. It does, of course, make him look georgous, yet he has chosen a more down-to-earth representation of himself in his social networking. It’s always a good thing to get a chance to show off your expertise through your networking material, and John’s picture has done just that.

How visible is your networking?

I’ve been working recently with my photographer friend John Cassidy, mainly to get some proper portraits done of me, and to get a better understanding of how important it is to present yourself professionally to the outside world.

One idea we explored together was the idea of putting a photograph of yourself on your business card. Now if you had a series of pictures you were truly proud of, that showed you in your best light, wouldn’t you be pleased to put one on your networking material?

Why should you adorn your business cards with your face? It’s not to show off or try and get into the limelight. It’s because so many cards I receive fail to represent whom they came from.

When you’ve got home from a networking event and you take a look at the cards you’ve collected, how many of them can you remember who the owner was or what they did? Sometimes the information on the card doesn’t give you any clues, as so many descriptions are ambiguous and are full of jargon, and unless you were really efficient and wrote down on the back of the card they can become an enigma.

Now if there was a photograph it could jog your memory and you’d be more likely to retain the card for future reference, and should you meet up again at another meeting the possibility of recognition is more likely.

Therefore it is important to get a true representation for your networking material. It’s no good hiding behind another persona; you don’t want to give the wrong impression so that the reader forms an incorrect opinion of you, either good or bad.

Seth Godin’s blog post “The power of a tiny picture (how to improve your social network brand)” confirms how important it is to create the right kind of picture about yourself. He makes a number of very valid points to consider, such as backgrounds, true likeness, accessories, cropping, etc, plus loads more relevant to social networking. Don’t muddy the waters with fancy gimmicks, keep it clear and simple so that people can truly understand who you are.

Hold a blogging house party!

Recently I’ve been working hard persuading lots of business women to take up the blogging challenge. One in particular took the bull by the horns and has produced the most amazing blog (visually) within hours after I told her how to create one.

But the trouble is, now that she has created this wonderful masterpiece, that’s it. She’s stopped. She’s put up two posts and nothing else.

It’s like moving into a new house. You could spent a lot of time redecorating it and putting in a fabulous kitchen, trendy bathroom and filling the rooms with stylish furniture, and final touches like matching cushions with the curtains and pictures of your family on the mantlepiece.

But then you just sit outside in the garden and look at your new house. You don’t actually live in it!

But you have to get in and start making it your home with your personal knicknacks, mud on the hall carpet, soap scum around the bath, fridge magnets galore. Then you hold a huge house party (after you’ve cleaned up) and invite all your friends to come and enjoy your house with you!

The same is with your blog. You need to go in, live in it for a while (create lots of posts), personalise it, and then invite all your friends in (ask for feedback and comments). This is how you will get used to having a blog, find out its value, enjoy linking to lots of relevant sites, encouraging new readers, feedburning it to social networking, venting your spleen and exploring the reaction from a brand new idea, outrageous statement, superb source of information, or whatever.

Isn’t it depressing to visit a lonely, underused, neglected blog? Don’t let yours become like that!

Have a banana!

Just a little crow… today I won the best 60 seconds elevator pitch at the Keller Breakfast hosted by Mary Flavell.  If you want to know a little more about this networking event, Google it!

Presentation Presents

During BNI meetings each member has the opportunity to give a 10 minute presentation to enable them to further explain their business to their fellow members and therefore generate more referrals and leads. Today we had an excellent presentation from Emily Wallace of Interlink Express, which included a very quick brainstorming session to help her extend her company’s services and provide a series of straplines for future networking.

One of the things she gave out to us to thank us for listening and to draw attention to herself and her company were little chocolate bars. They in fact were only Milky-Ways, but I thought wouldn’t it have been more effective if she had had her company’s logo, details and strapline or message on the wrapper (see my last post), as after the chocolate had been consumed, the wrapper would be kept and noted for future use or referrals.

Don’t miss a trick when it comes to promoting yourself for future retention through gimmicks.  Little presents like chocolate are nearly always appreciated (unless you’re losing weight or suffer from migrane) but you can always give it to someone else if you like (and keep the wrapper).

Colours, carstickers and pigs!

At a networking meeting this morning I had quite a number of thoughts come to me. One was stimulated by some vibrantly pink leaflets one lady was handing out. They were very noticeable, especially when everybody seems to be sporting one amongst their piles of business cards they were clutching beneath their cappuccinos. Maybe colour is important when it comes to being noticed.  An eminent marketing adviser told me last week that he sends out bright orange postcards with handwritten notes to follow on from his telephone information calls.  He doesn’t expect the readers to remember everything that is written on them, but that the colour should make such an impression he is remembered as ‘the man who sends out those orange postcards’. They are ideal, of course, for those fervent searches for his information amongst piles of other papers.

One business card I was given I noticed had a shape of a pig stamped out of it. Of course I soon realised it matched the pig logo, but this ‘hole’ marked it out from the sea of other business cards that get stuffed into your pocket during networking meetings. It belonged to Sue Wilson and her discount club. We soon got talking about marketing ideas, which led to the concept of how to get your website noticed without wasting your money on advertising. I asked her whether she had considered a car sticker, and suggested she designed one consisting of pictures of pigs displaying her website URL across the back window of her car.  The vision of a procession of five large pink omnivores nose to tail across her rear view tickled her imagination, and she promised to send me a picture of them once she’d had them done. Do you have a fun image you could use to display your URL on your car?

Is your networking up to scratch?

Take a look at your networking material, whether it’s your business card, leaflets, brochures or whatever, and consider these few pointers:

What kind of material (card, paper, plastic) is it made of?  Does it look cheap or expensive? Does it reflect the quality you want to portray?

What colours have you used? Are they appropriate to your product/service? Don’t use your favourite colours if they are not suitable to your business.  Also, be aware of how legible they are, eg red or yellow on a white background (does it disappear?), pale text on a dark background (may be trendy, but how easy is it to read?), combination of opposite colours (jumpy or what?).

How unique is your card?  If you got it off the internet, do you run the risk of meeting someone else at a networking event with the same design? Alternatively, if you designed it yourself, is it instantly recognisable as being produced by a home printer? Is it bland, ordinary, uninteresting, boring?  Could it catch a prospective customer’s eye?

Does it say what’s in the tin? How many times have you taken a business card home and you can’t fathom or remember what the company is about? If your business name doesn’t reflect the nature of your product/service, do you have a strapline or description to help the recipient? Does your logo also help in recognition?

Now for the action – if you (or somebody else you know) are not providing positive responses to these questions, and you would like to have marketing material that is professional, attractive and effective, then – go ask Alice!

Facing up to networking

Has anybody thought about putting a small portrait of themselves on their business card?  Three reasons why came to mind: 1) so the recipient of your card wouldn’t have to rack their brains to remember what face was associated with this card after a networking meeting, 2) if you were arranging a meeting to, say, discuss a particular project or tout your new product, the other party would know who to look out for across a large hotel foyer or busy coffee shop, preventing the red carnation scenario, and 3) if someone wants to telephone or email you, having your image in front of them can help making that initial contact all that much easier…

Does anybody else have another reason for having your face smiling forth from your networking material?