My favorite way to market is to do something once that keeps marketing for me again and again. It is like sending sales reps out to work for you--but in many cases, you can get these sales reps to work for you at no cost. Here are some ideas to get you started. Get publicity. When you get the media to cover you, the story can stick around for a long time. I often get orders from people who say they saw me in an article that was published years ago. One way to get publicity to to send press releases. Posting press releases online may get the attention of the press, but even if it doesn't, it will enhance your online visibility. Post press releases at sites such as http://www.PRWeb.com/ Releases are indexed by the search engines and will help customers, as well as the media, find you. Get links to your Web site. Those links will work 24 hours a day to send people to your site. Exchanging links with any and every site doesn't have a lot of value with the search engines and probably won't deliver the targeted traffic you want. However, look for sites that attract the same people you want, and find a way to get links from them. Offer testimonials to companies in exchange for a link to your Web site from theirs. Of course, you should only provide a testimonial if you truly like the product. But most people won't bother to write a testimonial, even for a product they love. When you do, it can help your visibility. Write articles and post them online to article directories and other Web sites. Short (200 - 700 word) articles are a way to demonstrate your expertise, get traffic to your Web site, add subscribers to your ezine, and acquire quality links to your site. Publish a book, booklet or audio program, and sell it on Amazon.com. I regularly hear from new customers, media and others who learned about me because they found my book on Amazon.com. To learn more, see http://www.Amazon.com/Advantage Create a viral marketing "doo-dad." Viral marketing is some- thing that people want to pass along to their friends. Remember the "This Land" video that everyone passed along to you during the 2004 presidential election? (If you are one of the three people who didn't see it, it is one of many videos at http://www.jibjab.com/ ) A clever viral marketing idea can bring hundreds of thousands of people to your Web site. Keep looking for more ways to market once and get results forever. |
