First, let me qualify the title. Free, for the purposes of this article, carries the definition of no monetary compensation. As we know: time is money so time is never free. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's proceed onto the current topic of how to get free advertising for your business.
You can have the most innovative product in the world or the highest quality service conceived. None of that matters if no one knows about it. Sure, you can pay for advertising. But there are truly effective ways to advertise with little to no capital outlay. There are many mediums on which you can advertise: newspaper, TV, radio, internet, yellow pages, etc. Some mediums are easier to achieve free advertising than others. We will cover the easier ones to achieve maximum benefit with no cost.
- Visit your local newspaper and ask if they have a community update section (title may vary). Most local newspapers have a section where they post new businesses opening, achievements by local business people and/or their employees, and special business occurrences. If you are preparing to start a new business, write up a brief paragraph with your company's pertinent information and submit it to the newspaper. A week before you open, write a paragraph notifying the newspaper of your grand opening. After you open, write another paragraph stating that you are now open. Repeat this step every time something new happens: hire someone new, you or an employee get an industry certification, you launch a new service, etc. Don't think you are submitting too much. The newspaper will let you know. They will be your barometer. I have done this for years in multiple cities without any issues.
- Develop a referral system for your company. Whatever your product or service, there is a way to create an incentified referral system. Clients acquired through a referral of one of your current clients are more likely to spend higher dollar amounts, more frequently, and be less price sensitive. That is why many of the largest companies in the world develop referral systems. Reward your existing client and make a special offer to the new client. Develop tangible referral material to help your clients help your company.
- Volunteer your time. Volunteer with local civic groups, schools, and charities. Many entrepreneurs believe that the more you give the more you will receive. When you volunteer you are able to meet people and get to know them on a personal level. You have the opportunity to acquire new clients while helping your local community, charity, or school. These clients tend to be less price sensitive due to the perception of your philanthropic time giving. They know you personally do things for free and this lessens any thought of greed or over pricing.
- List your company online.
- Visit sites like Merchant Circle, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, and the Microsoft Local Listing Center and list your business. Merchant circle allows you to create online coupons to offer your clients. All the sites I listed will list your company's pertinent information along with a map of your physical location.
- If you own your own website, submit your domain name to the main search engines (Google, Yahoo, & Live Search) every month and make sure your website has targeted meta tags. Meta tags are descriptive words located "under the hood" of your website. Some refer to them as "keywords."
- In addition to your standard website architecture, implement a blog. WordPress is flexible and free. Blogs work and your reading of this article is proof. Every time you write a post, you have the opportunity to submit new targeted meta tags which will exponentially increase your virtual footprint. Make sure you have a good comment tracking system. It will help with demographic data collection. I suggest IntenseDebate, it is feature packed and free. In conjunction with your blog, comment on blogs you read. Each blog has a comment system that allows you to leave your name and website. Leave quality comments and eventually you will catch other people's attention and have the ability to convert them from readers into clients.
- Lastly, create company profiles on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn at the very minimum. Invite all family, friends, and colleagues to join.
Combine and cross promote with the various tactics I have listed. Promote your referral system through your Facebook profile. Tell the newspaper your company really believes in a cause and has started volunteering to help that cause. Everything I have listed takes time, effort, and patience to acquire results. But once you employ these methods and become adept at cross promotion across multiple tactics, the processes will seem second nature and inversely less time consuming to keep the processes maintained. Deploy these strategies and help your cash flow. You'll earn more and be able to keep more of your increased revenues.
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Chase Barfield is a concurrent serial entrepreneur with expertise in innovative solution development and a background in technology & communications. He follows the teachings of some of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time: Robert T. Kiyosaki, Donald J. Trump, and T. Harv Eker. He is currently an Executive Member of Barfield Management, LLC, which creates innovative solutions to both common and uncommon problems and/or inefficiencies across multiple segments of industry as well as invests and manages businesses and business opportunities. Chase creates and oversees the cohesion of abstract ideas and processes into a viable and useful custom solution and review possible new ventures. Chases owns a controlling share in an entrepreneurial clothing company called Logic Wear, LLC that is scheduled to launch at the start of September (that means, right now!). And make sure you check out Chase's blog, The Information Age.
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