Promoting Your Business – 3 Myths Revealed
Do You Know What the Top 3 Myths Are When It Comes to Promoting Your Small Business?
Create sales with the right content, SEO and PR moves
If you are a new business-owner, companies bombard you with latest, SEO content-marketing applications, PR services and products. They promise to promote your business and increase sales overnight.
And if you don’t have experience with search engine optimization or content-marketing, it can be overwhelming.
Well, to save time, money and hassle, and help you move forward in the right direction, here are a few tips…
The Top 3 Myths About Promoting Your Business
1. You need a lot of money.
Why it may be easier to purchase products and services or hire someone to help you, it is possible to promote your business without any money. You basically need some time and a little bit of planning.
For example, figure out why your products and services are unique and the value you provide. Then, research specific reporters at a local media-venue who may be interested in your story. Once you find the right people, call them, introduce yourself and briefly tell them about your new business in the local community.
While they may not be interested right now, at least they know who you are and what you have to offer for future stories. And who knows? They may like what you have to say, and you’ll end up with a feature story in your local paper!
This third-party credibility is something that you cannot buy with advertising, and it can significantly increase awareness and bring in new customers fast.
2. You need to hire a publicist.
While an experienced publicist can help you connect with the right people and get noticed, you may be better without one if you are just starting out.
Why?
Media members receive hundreds of pitches every day from PR professionals who are “spinning” stories. But, when reporters receive a call from a small business owner, they are speaking right to the source, and it makes a difference.
After all, you have the most passion about your business and can share unique stories and specific details about the benefits of your products and services. Because of this, you may be able to get through to an important media-member who doesn’t want to speak to a publicist.
3. You need a big, SEO company to help you create your website content.
There are hundreds of worldwide, search-engine-optimization professionals who have convincing pitches on how you need to spend thousands of dollars and several months on site creation, coding, research, content, links, and more in order to show up on the search engines. Many new entrepreneurs are easy prey for this as they don’t understand the technology.
And while you need a good website with SEO, you don’t have to spend an enormous amount of money to have an online presence for your new business. Start small.
Research cost-effective website services like GoDaddy, HostGator, WordPress, and others. Then, write compelling content for your website that talks about the benefits your products and services provide. And make sure it is easy for potential customers to contact you on every page of your new site.
If you are not a good writer, hire a copywriter to help you. (Note that it’s possible to find good writers at a reasonable fee. Check for new copywriters who want to add to their portfolio online and at local schools.)
Have that person write unique and valuable content so you can start building online awareness and create a credible first-impression. Then, as your sales grow, you can hire an experienced, SEO content-marketing strategist to help you with the appropriate copywriting, technology, coding, testing, and more.
Stop Wasting Time, Money and Effort on Promotions That Don’t Work!
Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a big, public-relations or SEO company to promote your business, start small and avoid the hype.
Conduct research and find cost-effective tools to create your website. Write content that’s valuable to your target-market, and call media-members directly with a unique story. Then, after you increase sales, you can hire an experienced, SEO content-marketing strategist and publicity team to help you move to the next level.
It may take extra time and effort to do this work yourself, but you’ll save thousands of dollars… something every new entrepreneur needs when starting out!
What are you going to do today to promote your business without spending a lot of money?
For tips on writing SEO content that sells, check out the free, Simplify Your Small Business podcast here.
Author Melanie Rembrandt helps business owners boost sales, awareness and credibility with a killer combination of targeted, SEO copywriting, content-marketing strategy and public relations. Do you want to save time and money and get great results? Check out her “Simplify Your Business” podcast here, and contact her and her team at Rembrandt Communications®, LLC, www.rembrandtwrites.com.
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