Jun

Publicity and creating brands

Many small business owners think, “There’s nothing really that special about my business that makes it stand out from everyone else’s business. How do other businesses get publicity and create brands or company identities?”

Once I talk to them a bit and find out about the products and services they offer, customer service, location, etc, I usually find an angle that would make the media interested in running a story.

Here are several ways you can get major publicity and make your business stand out by creating a brand:

Give your customers the best customer service. One of my clients owned a hair salon on a metered parking street and he would pay his clients’ meters that were expiring, so they wouldn’t get parking tickets.

Media professionals need editorial material. Press releases are a great way to announce the launch of a new product or service or the opening of a business. You can send them locally, regionally and nationally.

Investigate bloggers and Internet radio show hosts that have mid to large size audiences to help spread the word of your business.

Use high traffic article content directories to build back links and send more traffic to your site.

Use micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and Haiku to spread the word of any new specials or promotions you are offering.

Create an online press room on your website.

Offer to speak at engagements for free around town. You can find various events at www.speakersite.com.

Write an e-book and give it away to get more traffic to your site.

Start an e-newsletter. Make it available to subscribers from an opt box on your website.

Get involved in discussion forums and message boards. It’s a great way to interact with prospects as well as existing customers.

Write a white paper for prospects and make it downloadable on your website.

Join a local networking group, which could be found at www.meetup.com. There are thousands of different business groups for the NYC area.