How to Win New Business With Free Marketing

The most powerful free marketing strategy I know -- and it works for any business, small or large -- has got to be free PR. Best of all, you don't need a PR agency to do it for you, because approach it the right way, and the media will bite your hand off they'll be so eager to promote you.

Because any time your name appears in print or on the radio or on the TV, you are an instant expert and celebrity. A great example of a free direct response marketing strategy for any small business.

And it's not hard, you don't have to be well-connected, or indeed appointed the expert by anyone. Here is one example from my own business.

My wife, The Lady Sarah knows a gal who knows a gal who runs a local free paper. She generates profits through selling advertising space. So, a few years back when we'd not been living here in Ireland for very long, Lady Sarah fires off an email and Lo! Within the week I'm West Cork's marketing expert -- and I could prove it because I have a column in the local free rag in West Cork to show it.

Easy.

Now, some freelance writers thoroughly loathe me because I'm writing for free. Not so. They say that because they believe themselves to be in the freelance writing business, not the marketing of a freelance writing business business. Here's a lesson: no matter what business you're in -- butcher, baker or candlestick maker -- your real business is the marketing of that business.

Why?

Because no marketing means no customers or clients; no customers or clients means no business; no business means... no business.

Thus instead of writing for free, I was actually getting a full-page of advertising a month for just 30 minutes' tapping on a keyboard.

It brought in enquiries, and it brought in business. It made me money and took me less than 30 minutes a month to write. On one occasion the MD of a web-design firm up in Cork saw it and sent me an email. Next morning he calls me and we talk. The long and the short of it was 30,000 Euro consulting contract -- all from free PR. I also appeared in other publications and as a guest-blogger on websites. Every time I did, people were searching for my name and coming to me for advice.

In fact, it didn't take the lady who owned the paper too long to realise what was happening... so she set up her own marketing department and my column was history (that's called being a victim of your own success...).

Now, I'm smart and good at my job. But so are a lot of other people... including YOU. The difference is, I put myself out there as an expert and it's my name appearing as an expert, not theirs.

And... with direct response marketing, perception is everything.

I don't do this any more because my business has evolved and I no longer get involved with clients on an individual basis like this, but the principle remains rock solid -- the people I do advise and consult with pursue the same strategy with great success.

The Big Lesson to take away from this is... it's really not hard. These media opportunities are out there waiting for you now. Local publications are crying out for useful, informative material to put in front of their readers (because they make their money from advertising, and to please the advertisers they've got to have circulation and circulation comes from having interested readers).

Any business in any town, city or locality can do this, and do it successfully (I live in a sparsely populated part of the least populous county in a very sparsely populated country, so if I can do it, then you definitely can, unless you live in Antarctica or on the moon!).

So get chasing them. Push your name out there as frequently and often as you are able, labelling yourself as the expert, the 'go to guy' or 'go to gal' in your field.


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Lead generation and email marketing expert Jon McCulloch is the author of "BIG Marketing Muscle for Small Business". This book reveals the strategies he has used to get response rates 300% better than traditional methods.

Your book is here: http://www.jonmcculloch.com/big-marketing-muscle