This is Part 2 of the series I am posting with ideas on how to market your website, your online business to people you network with offline. Here are more ideas from my friend Paul Evans, who has mentored me in my business ventures.
- Offer a contract to your local radio station. Contact their advertising manager and suggest swapping free advertising for a prize you’re willing to donate. (Make sure the prize is something that will cost you less than the cost of radio advertising, however!)
- Offer to guest on your local radio station. Let them know why you’d be the perfect guest for their listeners.
- Offer to guest on a local TV station show (especially if you have something that’s better shown than explained.
- Propose writing a column for your local newspaper — particularly if yours is a business that can provide relevant service.
- Use your vehicle as a billboard. If your company name and phone number is already on your car or truck, add your website URL too. If you don’t want your company name and contact information actually painted right onto your vehicle body, there are magnetic signs you can have made (this is an especially good strategy if your car’s color doesn’t fit in with your website brand colors.)
- Make sure your URL is easy to remember — especially if you are promoting it by having it on the side or back of your vehicle.
People who are left-turning behind you at the advanced green may be capable of remembering “10TaxTips.com”… but I guarantee they won’t remember “sylvanassalesservices.biz”!
7. Donate a bench. Contact your town offices and see if you can donate a bench with your company name (and URL) on it, if your town doesn’t already have a program where you can buy advertising space on a bench. Provide it in a prominent place your target customer will most likely frequent — a bus stop, if seniors are your target market: A park boardwalk, if roller bladers are more — no pun intended — your speed. In a dog walking area, if pet owners are your target market, etc.
8. Have an offline promotion plan for the whole year. Don’t just focus on one form of offline contact — plan new ways to keep your URL fresh in people’s attention spans the whole year round.
9. Think seasonally. Decide how you can tie in offline promotion to local, seasonal trends. For example, if you’re in maple syrup country, sponsor or put on a pancake breakfast and have your staff or volunteers, if you’re a one-person business wear t-shirts displaying your URL or have your URL printed on all your paper cups.
10. Give out samples — with a coupon. One of the biggest advantages of offline contact: It allows your target audience to touch, taste, feel and experience your products, first hand. If you do have a physical product such as maple syrup, give them a “taste” at public events — supply the syrup for that church event, complete with your URL stamped on the containers. Offer samples at local farmer’s markets — and even if they buy your actual product, hand out at the same time a coupon to be redeemed “next time” they visit your URL and sign up for your mailing list!
11. Offer free workshops. You don’t have to wait for a community college to take you up on a proposal: Host it yourself! It doesn’t matter whether you own a local plant nursery and offer Saturday classes on “How to Dig Your Garden without Hurting Your Back” or your business is strictly online. Be creative, and make it happen. (One VA I know hosted a paid “Business Brainstorming for Women” class, right in her home; promoted it through the local government self-employment program — and collected three valuable new customers that way, as well as having a new network of people added to her list.)
The only “trick”? Make your participants sign up online so you capture their contact info for future offerings you will have.
12. Omit your phone number. This is a risky ploy not to be used without careful thought, but if contacting you by telephone would actually be counter-productive to your business operation or profits, you might want to consider dropping your telephone number from handouts (either permanently or for particular events) and making your easy-to-remember URL the only way to contact you. (Be aware also that not providing a phone number can decrease local credibility: The ideal IS to make both available!)
13. Include local, geographic keywords in your site META data and site keywords. People looking for a Virtual Assistant they can actually meet with will be far more able to quickly find you!
14. Target and research your audience or recipients, when implementing any of the above practices. Don’t assume they’ll be the same people who usually buy from you online.
Research what your local customers want (especially if they don’t normally shop or hang out online) — then provide them with a big enough incentive to visit your URL anyway.
Research organizations you’re targeting to see what they need for their customers, users or audience — then show them how you can provide it. This seems simple enough, but do you know how many people do NOT do this? They go to an appointment not knowing anything about the company business. ( Shame on you)
More tips to come in future posts!
Want to learn more about online marketing, check out my friend Paul’s great site called Nicheology. He is a brilliant marketer and someone I have learned alot from.
This is one of the best, comprehensive marketing tips overview I’ve ever seen. While it is a brief overview, it covers all the essentials, and many managers running non-profits especially need to be aware of these invaluable tips for their organization’s success. For profit businesses usually get a grip on marketing sooner, but only after learning from mistakes. This is one article to even help them avoid missing the essentials of marketing. Great job!
Thank you Benjamin for your comments!