Four ways to generate publicity for your business – for free

As a busy mumpreneur, I’m always on the lookout for low cost, high leverage ways to promote my business. That is why I focus most of my marketing efforts on generating publicity.

Not only is it an effective and easy way to raise your profile, establish your credibility and bring in new business, it can also be done for little to no cost.

So to give you some ideas, here are four ways to generate publicity for your business that will cost you nothing but time.

1. Media releases

Media releases are a great way to get your message out to the media and attract media attention, providing your message is newsworthy.

If you don’t know what could be newsworthy in your business, here a few ideas to get you started:

• Interesting research or survey results.
• A rags to riches story.
• David vs. Goliath story (small business or individual takes on a large company and wins); new developments.
• Product or service launch; an award nomination or win; important business milestones.
• Anything that is the first, fastest or best; solutions to common problems (i.e. how to get your kids to eat more fruit and vegetables).
• Public interest events or announcements; charity involvement; industry insights (like the implications or significance of upcoming trends).

2. Piggy back off the news

A reliable way to generate publicity is to piggy back current news stories. If a large story breaks about your industry or in an area of your expertise, think of ways you can tie your business in to generate coverage.

Could you be the local angle on the story for your local media? Could you provide industry insights or little-known background facts? Issue a media statement that includes your angle, what you can provide and your availability to act as an ongoing source.

Journalists are normally working to tight deadlines, so if you can help make their job a little easier by providing quality and relevant information they will be more likely to call again when another story breaks.

3. Write articles

Writing articles is a great way to position yourself as an expert and increase your exposure. The key is to make your content interesting, informative and relevant to your audience.

In addition to publishing your articles on your own blog or in your e-zine, look to do guest posts for other blogs and e-zines, distribute them to online article databases and submit them to relevant media organisations.

Having your articles published by a third party acts as an endorsement that you are an expert in your field whose knowledge and ideas are worthy of publication.

4. Speaking engagements

If you are comfortable speaking in front of people, guest speaking is one of the easiest and fastest ways to generate publicity for your business and establish yourself as an expert.

Brainstorm topics that you could talk about and (just like your articles) make sure your content is interesting, informative and relevant to your audience.

Look for groups or associations who have your target market. For example, if you have a professional services business and intend to speak on a business topic, you may want to approach your local chamber of commerce and networking groups first.

Likewise, if you sell products for mothers and babies and intend to speak on areas of motherhood, approach your local mothers groups and play groups.

You could also run your own events or do a joint workshop with other businesses you have synergy with.

For example, a mortgage broker might join a real estate agent to do a workshop on ‘the 10 things you must know before you invest in property’ or a make-up artist and image consultant might do a workshop on ‘how to look good on a budget’.

Through joint workshops you get to leverage off each other’s database and a topical issue to generate more leads for your individual businesses.

Always be on the lookout for opportunities to generate publicity for your business, find out what is topical and newsworthy at the moment and be creative in your approach. It really does pay off!