Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

8 Low-Cost (or No-Cost) Public Relations Strategies for Business Growth

By Margie Zable Fisher, President, Zable Fisher Public Relations

Need to jump-start your business? Here are eight low-cost public relations strategies to grow your business:

1. Send an E-mail Newsletter or E-mail Update. The only cost is your time and a bit of money (if you use a newsletter program like Constant Contact) – and the benefits can be huge. Not only will you be perceived as an expert, but you may also get direct business and/or referrals from people who see your name often. Jeff Gitomer, who writes a sales column for Business Journals around the country, sends out a weekly e-mail newsletter to over 100,000 subscribers. He directly attributes hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in new business just from his newsletter.

Consistency is important: If you can’t commit to a weekly newsletter, send it out monthly. Newsletters should contain valuable information that helps your readers, and promote your business as well. Providing timely information increases the likelihood that recipients will actually open, read — and act on — your E-Mail Newsletter.

2. Hold free or low-cost seminars. When you present a seminar, you gain instant credibility just by being the speaker. This can lead to new prospects, referral sources and strategic alliances. One local plastic surgeon (and former client) has been giving free seminars for years. He brings in actual patients who have had surgery, shows their “Before� pictures, then lets the audience see the patients after surgery. He has more business than he can handle.

3. Use testimonials. What’s more effective – you tooting your own horn, or someone else tooting it? Testimonials are powerful – use them as much as possible – in marketing materials, on your Web site, during promotional activities.

4. Send a personal thank-you note and/or gift. Nobody has ever gotten annoyed or insulted by a thank-you. An E-mail thank-you note is fine, but a hand-written, snail-mail note is even better. You have to decide whether or not to send a gift – some industries or businesses aren’t allowed to accept gifts. But a thank-you note is always welcome. Realtor Becky Woodbridge of Becky Woodbridge Properties is a master at this. Whenever I meet with her or help her with anything, she sends a thank-you note and sometimes a small gift (bottle of wine, t-shirt, backpack, etc.). This helps me think of her fondly, and often.

5. Remember birthdays. There’s only one company that sends me a birthday card every year, a local spa that offers a 20% discount on services during the month of my birthday. And every year I use the discount coupon. The moral of this story: Everybody (and every body) likes to be remembered on their special day. So if you don’t forget to remember, it can mean business for you.

6. Work with charities. You have lots of options here. Obviously, you can give money. But you can also give your time and talent, whether you help with fund-raising or sit on the Board of Directors. You can donate to silent auctions at events. You can sponsor an event or a local kids’ sports team. Or you can offer services or products that charities need, such as printing, food, etc. Whatever you do will establish you as someone who cares about the community. And studies have shown that people would rather do business with people who contribute to the community. Most important of all – it’s the right thing to do.

7. Write a guest column. In most Chamber newsletters, and often in business and industry-specific publications, you have the opportunity to contribute information that will help members. Sure, this takes time and effort, but it’s a free opportunity to showcase your own ideas and abilities. It’s also free advertising for you and your business, since your name and contact information are also included.

8. Get involved in a leadership position within your industry group. A few years ago, Milwaukee, WI-based Barb Friedman, owner of Organize IT, served as President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers. At that time, the Dr. Phil Show was putting together a story about a woman who was very disorganized and also happened to live in Wisconsin. Because Barb was President of the Organizers Chapter, she was the person contacted to appear on the show — reaping P.R. dividends and business ever since.

Here’s my promise: Any one (or more) of these strategies, done correctly and consistently, will put you in the driver’s seat. And what better place to be when you travel on the Road to Success!

Margie Zable Fisher is the president of Zable Fisher Public Relations (ZFPR), based in Boca Raton, FL. ZFPR is a virtual agency, with team members throughout the U.S., Canada and internationally. Each team member has a unique specialty, such as media relations, events and specialized writing. To get the Free Special Report, “10 Killer Publicity Ideas,” visit www.zfpr.com.

Copyright 2006 Margie Zable Fisher

Posted on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 at 3:48 pm and is filed under PR, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.