Promote Your Business Offline

Publicity campaigns, as well as other promotional and advertising opportunities, which can apply to both your online or traditional brick-and-mortar business. Your goal is to increase profits and expand your business, without spending a significant portion of your budget in the process

Publicity can earn you a reputation as the expert in your specialty or target market and can help you gain public trust, recognition, and respect, which will ultimately lead to new customers and increased profits for your business. Your goal is to attain this without spending thousands of dollars on traditional, and often risky, methods of marketing and advertising.

One way you can help achieve this is by developing your own media kit. When you "make" your own media kit, you'll develop techniques that work for you and your company and at minimal cost. A media kit be can comprise of written text as well as online or office videos, CD-ROMs, DVDs, or other distributable media. It is common to convert large media files to Adobe Acrobat PDFs to distribute easily on the Web.

Many times, potential customers will only buy from a business that they trust or that has been recommended to them by a satisfied customer or friend. Building a media kit or press release kit can reveal significant amounts of information about your business and will satisfy potential customers, distributors, and even public media outlets.

By developing your own media kits, you can implement advertising and publicity campaigns that will affirm your position in the marketplace. It's certainly possible for you to get advertising exposure offline without spending $5,000 per month or more on Internet advertising, hiring a PR agency, or advertising offline.

Mass media is another potential outlet for you to consider, although this is often a costly venture. Mass media includes radio, TV, and print (magazines and newspapers). Mass media will allow you to quickly create your own advertising exposure so that you build up the creditability that wins new customers and keeps these customers as repeat customers.

When you gain that level of trust, you get increased customer confidence, more sales, and higher profits. Here are some ideas for increasing publicity and promotion offline, which are typically no cost and may even generate revenue for your business:

•Offer to be a speaker at a seminar or lecture. You can also lead workshops that have a direct correlation to the products and services that your business is selling. This is a great way to gain the public exposure that you need to appear positive and confident about your business. This exposure will add to your trust and credibility for potential customers. Make sure that you hand out business cards that include your Web site URL so that people can find your Web site on the Internet.

•Write opinions and articles for online publications. Make sure that you upload any articles that you write to your Web site. These online publications will provide what are called "hotlinks" back to your own Web site, which is a great way to further promote your online business Web site. Make sure that you include your e-mail in the byline of any articles and opinions that you write.

•Radio (including streamed radio) is a valuable resource for what is called "re-used" media. Make sure that you always get the most leverage out of anything you write or develop for any type of media. Make sure that you're prepared for any media opportunity that comes your way. Try to have several articles or press releases ready ahead of time so that you can read your article on the radio and promote your business offline.

Writing for print media, such as newspapers and magazines, allows you to add your business byline at the end of a column that has to do with the products or services that you're selling. Write an article that describes new products or reviews successful ones.

You want to optimize your print exposure in any way that you can. The possibilities are endless when it comes to where you can submit your articles and subtly promote your business, as some quick research on the Internet will show you. Consider submitting articles to newspapers, trade publications, and any other possible outlets. Eventually, you will triumph, and once you are in print, it is easier to have subsequent articles published.

by:Shonda Miles