For businesses that are just starting out, or are going through a rough patch, probably due to less spending money because of high gas prices and increasing food costs.
When the economy is in a downturn, you need to do what you can to keep your marketing costs down. Guerrilla marketing is one of the ways to do this. Guerrilla marketing refers to marketing tactics that are low-cost but yield high profits, or at least profits.
Sending out press releases is one way to keep costs down but garner some media attention. Sending out a press release costs either .42 cents by mail or nothing by email (I’d go with email!). Sending out press releases on a regular basis about newsworthy happenings in your company is a free, or extremely low-cost marketing tactic that can pay you back in spades.
To help you out when times are hard, here are five free marketing ideas that are based on public relations tactics:
Participate in online forums. Participating in online newsgroups and forums is one way to get your name in front of potential customers. By answering and asking questions, you can position yourself as an expert and a resource for others. If your product or service is the answer to someone’s problem, you can include a link to your Web site. You can also include a link to your Web site in your signature line.
Write articles for free. Writing articles for your local newspaper or magazine for free is a great way to let your community know about you and to establish yourself as an expert. You can also submit articles online, for Web sites like HubPages.com or how-to articles for sites like eHow.com. Even if you aren’t a writer, you can host your own blog or Web site and invite customers to ask you questions. Once you have enough questions and answers (at least 5, with in-depth answers), you have yourself an article! Lists also make great articles (top-10 list, a checklist for doing any kind of activity).
Offer a free report. This is a great way to get email addresses from prospects. Offering to email or snail mail a free report that interests your target market can expand your email and mailing lists. You can then use this info to send more marketing materials later.
Write a letter to the editor. An effective follow-up to a press release is a letter to the editor. Just make sure that your letter is about something that the newspaper has published lately. You can’t just write about how great your product or company is! Many times, you can voice your opinion, and then in the credit line with your name, you can say what your occupation is: owner of XX Business. Media coverage right there!
Host an event. Hold an open house or a ribbon-cutting ceremony if your business is new in town or if you’ve recently remodeled. Having an event is ripe material for local media coverage. You can also invite the media to the event to make sure they are there. You can hand out business cards along with programs, or you can just stack your business cards around your store on tables that hold promotional materials for the event.
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