In our first year in business we have spent the princely sum of £30 + VAT on promotional activity, paying for an insert service which interestingly had a zero return on investment! However we have managed to appear in the local press 3 times, the national press once, and have been interviewed on our local radio station. We have had a double page spread in a local parenting magazine distributed to over 10,000 mums through the school book bags, been featured on numerous websites and been promoted by several business agencies. We have also secured free venue use, free business advice, free business books and had over 20 prizes donated to a recent raffle. And we’ve done all this without ever having to resort to bribery or blackmail. So, how have we done it?
We are proud to unveil the Mum’s The Boss Guide to free (or very cheap) publicity!
1. Be Friendly – if you are approachable and friendly when you meet people, chances are people will remember you and be more willing to help you out in the future. A warm smile and taking an interest in people costs nothing at all.
2. Barter – if you can’t afford to pay the going rate for a service, barter some of your product or a service of your own in return.
3. Think Outside The Box – publicity doesn’t have to be paying for advertsing space. Think creatively about what is newsworthy about your business – or make something newsworthy happen – and submit it as editorial to the press. And think about all your contacts, and whether they could promote you to their client base, spreading the word through word of mouth.
4. Know your audience – if you know exactly who your audience is it will be much easier to reach them by targetting your promotion accordingly. That way, if you do end up having to pay for advertising, you will save a fortune by reaching the right people first time.
5. Use the Internet – take full advantage of the many sites and forums that you can list your business or event on for free. All it will cost you is your time. Make good use of all the social networking sites you belong to, such as Twitter or Facebook – they are perfect for spreading a message ‘virally’ as well as a fantastic way to make invaluable business connections and pick up free business advice.
6. Blog! – if you haven’t already done so, start a blog. If you can attract a good level of readership your blog can become a fantastic medium for you to barter with, offering to promote businesses or review products in return for a favour.
7. Be Different – the press likes good news stories or things that are quirky or unusual. If there is something unusual about you or your business then capitalise on this. If not, can you engineer a story with added interest, by linking your business to an event, charity or something topical?
8. Add Value – if you are asking someone to do you a good turn you must be able to show them what’s in it for them. This may be something tangible like a complimentary product, or it could be as simple as giving them access to your contact network or promoting them on your website or blog.
9. Be Cheeky – if you don’t ask you don’t get, and sometimes if you just have the confidence/brass neck to ask for a freebie or a discount people are surprisingly happy to oblige
10. Pay People in Cake! – This one NEVER fails. When bartering for people’s time, expertise or use of a venue always offer to bring homemade cake. Works every time!!
We are by no means PR Gurus and these tips are non industry-standard – they are just things that have worked for us and allowed us to enjoy a certain level of publicity for free! Do you have any creative ideas or tips for getting free publicity? We’d love to hear all about them (mainly so we can try them out ourselves)!
Thank you very much for this interesting article. From personal experience I can tell you that bartering is a wonderful idea. Last month I started bartering my accounting skills for swimming lessons for my 6 year old, she has never been happier and neither have I, furthermore I use http://barterquest.com to barter her used clothes instead of throwing it away.
Brilliant post, there are loads of ideas here that I’m going to use. Have you ever considered going into the PR business? :0)
Just found this post which has more ideas along the same lines. Great minds think alike
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2009/10/7-free-or-cheap-ways-to-effectively.html
Mmmmm Cake!
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
Some great tips – it is so true – nothing like a good barter! Nothing like a bit of lovely cake either!!!
Great article. Bartering pretty much got my business off the ground almost 8 years ago.
We’ve traded website design for PR services but also with one client for a pram and some duplo (as my son at the time was very small).
Fantastic way to do business and I am always up for trading services as a direct swap or even partial payment!
What a wonderfully informative article, I started my premature baby clothes and personalised baby gift business in August this year and have found that if you’re willing to offer others a helping hand the rewards come back two fold.
I have met some wonderful people via the internet and at craft fairs many of whom have gone on to become friends.
Brilliant tips, going to start setting some of these into action straight away for The Vanilla Bakery…but ‘pay people in cake’ hmmm, now how does that one work for us!