Small Business Publicity

When it comes to small businesses, what are some common methods of gaining publicity? -AZBroker

Press releases both online and offline are pretty common.

You can participate and/or sponsor special events.

That's all I have at the top of my head. If I come up with others I'll let you know. :) -Jackie

Being a guest speaker at Clubs, Association Meetings, etc. You could even hold your own seminar on whatever your specialty is. -AZBroker

A bit of wisdom i've heard says something like understanding the destination is the majority of plotting the course. or something to that effect (I'm doing a horrible job at framing this point =] )

anyway 2 things:
1.) I dont think the initial spike in success from any publicity event/effort should be the goal of an efficiant marketer.

which leads me to my 2nd point.

2.) The destination of any effective marketing plan is to leave, in the minds of a large group of people, that you/your company is the absolute resource/solution for their info/problems. (respectivly)

With that said. AZBroker, I assume (and possibily am horribly wrong), that your business is either loans or lead a team of people doing loans...
So in my mind (if i was a real estate agent/broker of a real estate office) you should be the final word when it comes to:
where the market is going,
What the market is doing,
where is the next market,
what are different areas(scottsdale/phoenix/peoria) (small cities within larger cities) and what are their comps
Every investor in town should know your name and trust you as their advisor

Perhaps even, like someone else said, put on parties, or meetings to discuss changes in the market and how it relates to agents, or have a "MONTHLY MARKET WATCH" or some other catchy phrase that people "in the know" know about(again, real estate agents, or groups in your complimentory busines network) that give them information .

(AGAIN, this is a very unrefined thought, and I should have put more time into shining this gem before presenting it to you jewlery masters)

anyway, hope that helps...

Jason C -jasonc

That was a good post Jason, unrefined or not. :)

My goal for starting this thread however was to put together a list of common methods of gaining publicity. I have a few ideas, which I posted earlier, and I'm hoping others will also throw in a few.

If you have any good ideas I'm all ears? :) -AZBroker

1.) AM Talk radio,
2.) every contact you meet (whether you do business or not) collect their e-mail/business card to get them into an opt-in marketing strategy.
3.) throw parties that turn into networking events.
4.) be seen everywhere thats your business related.
5.) be known with everyone thats your business related
6.) website that supports your opt-in marketing strategy
7.) if your profit margin/commission is large enough, put together an informational seminar that benifits a nitch group of people who would depend on your service. (if what i said was true, and you do loans) put together a seminar for buying investment property, do a press release about that seminar, create a buzz... Its alot of work but it will do 2 things 1.)you'll be the center/height of all that attention(you'll be the expert) and 2.)you'll get the business of everyone who moves forward with anything that happens from your seminar.
8.) host webinars to the people your marketing to with your opt-in e-mail campaign
9.) *crap im running out*
10.) Donate a bunch of money to a specific cause and get the news involved.

ok im out.

:)
but if the definition of publicity is really: an act or device designed to attract public interest; like webster says... it really implys what my post said b4... a whole designed plan where an event is only the tip of the marketing iceburg.
Check out http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/beerbudget.htm article if any information in this post helped you out. :)

I hope it did

Jason -jasonc

:D :D

Thanks for the great list and link.

Are you currently doing much "opt-in" marketing? -AZBroker

Oh yeah! I've spent the past year generating a just over 2000 e-mail database. (thats not even that much at all (in fact... its fairly pathetic compaired to some), but im just now getting the hang of asking).

I used to do sales for Apple Computers, and they ENFORCED that every b2b and retail sales employee obtained e-mail address's and a list made out Personally from each sales rep to the lists that they created. On more times then i can count or type out, that annoying habbit that Apple drilled into me has payed off huge.

If you would like more information on this type of marketing system (coined funnel marketing) let me know. I have a few resources to get you started.

Jason -jasonc

I would be interested in learning more about "Funnel Marketing". Can you start a thread on the topic and post a few resources? -Liberty

Great idea. I'm interested. :) -AZBroker

Some additional ways to gain publicity for a small business could be:

1. Community involvement (volunteering for a cause)
2. Guest speaker events on a small scale (for example, university business clubs are great, since they often publish their event information and/or event success stories online, which means, that you could get the publicity in two ways - by presenting and in print)
3. Networking in the target industry events
4. "Fish bowl" marketing in local restaurants

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Heli Rytkonen
-Heli Rytkonen