Marketing for Small Business

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Following on from Friday’s blog piece where we discussed some of the best ways Start-Up Businesses can get noticed, we’re going to finish the post off today with a last look at some cost effective marketing solutions for small or start-up businesses.

Find the Source.

If you’re hoping to appear in an up and coming Editorial or Feature, hoping to join your local radio’s weekly Business Panel or hoping to supply your services and / or products as part of the prizes – always do your homework.

Contact the individual directly who is responsible, have a look at their previous work so you can start to build a picture of what it is they like and their style or prose where appropriate. Understanding what they do, and more importantly how they do it, will better enable you to match what you’re offering or proposing to their particular needs and give you a far better chance of success.

Timing is Everything.

Be organised and prepared when thinking about pitching for business or for P.R. opportunities. Magazines and even internet sites will plan seasonal pieces for example, months in advance.  Looking back at previous pieces will provide an insight into the style and ideas that have been used before and can help you create more appropriate content when the time comes.

Personally contacting the individual responsible well before they might need assistance is always a better ploy than leaving it too late. Eagerness is normally well received and there’s no harm in being told to come back at a certain date when decisions will be made.

Be an Asset, Not a Pain!

Journalists and Features Editors work to extremely tight deadlines so bear this in mind if you’re wondering why they haven’t responded to your emails.  Chances are that you won’t be top of their priority list, so polite not insistent reminders would be a good place to start.

There are great ranking, credible business sites out there that are always looking for well written and interesting content. Getting submitted won’t be easy but look at some of the other pieces published, build up a picture and see how you get on. The hard work will all be worth it if you manage to get something through, the site below is a great place to start:

Ingenious Britain

Fly Like a (Social) Butterfly.

Engage, join and follow renowned or influential bloggers in your industry. In short, do pretty much anything that won’t get you a Restraining Order!

Building up a library of credible content will better enable your profile and reputation to grow within your Industry Sector and in turn create more marketing opportunities as your content will be redistributed and shared by an increasing number of potential customers.

Have a look at some of the links below to gain an insight into who’s saying and doing what in your Industry.

Industry Social Checker

Twitter Insight

Keyword Search for Blogs and Forums

Elbow Grease!

Not a term that is used very often in modern times, but I think the analogy is pretty easy to understand. As with most things in life, there is no substitute for hard work, inherent in every successful business person is a hard-working determination that sets them apart from the rest.

Intelligence and a sound business idea are important factors for anyone starting out in business, but don’t under estimate the importance of hard work – it’s as important as all the other factors you will need to consider.

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