If you start a business, customers will not come beating a path to your door on their own unless you undertake deliberate measures to attract your target market. Don’t believe the hype that when you build a great mousetrap the world will automatically come marching to your door! The challenge for many small businesses is that cash is in short supply and they can’t afford a huge marketing budget. Here are some low-cost approaches you can use to get the needed publicity for your business and build a brand following while boosting sales.

Try to Beat or Set a Record

There is a drive in each of us to go for greatness, so drumming up publicity about your attempt to beat an existing record or set a new one is sure to attract plenty of attention to your business. Be creative and think of a record that is in line with your business or can positively impact your brand. Don’t go for something that will portray your business in bad light!

For example, if you own a hair salon, why not try to set a record for the highest number of haircuts completed within a 24-hour period? Think of a record connected to your industry and attempt to beat that record. You are likely to get lots of free publicity and it doesn’t matter whether the attempt succeeds or doesn’t. The fact that you tried in such a public way will be a win in itself and the media will love it!

You can even add another twist to your effort by pairing the record attempt with a charitable cause, such as raising funds for a local cancer hospital during breast cancer awareness month. This will put your business in the hearts and minds of the community and you may have no shortage of people streaming in to support your undertaking.

Leverage Big Contracts

When your business wins a big contract, don’t be shy about tooting your horn! Such big contracts often attract plenty of other big contracts, so send out press releases to local and industry media outlets about your big win. Heck, you can even lobby for interviews about that big contract you just bagged!

Don’t forget to add another newsworthy angle to your story by indicating how many more people you will need to hire in order to deliver on that new contract. The bonus of doing this is that prospective employees will quickly contact you and you may not need to hire an agency to search for possible candidates for you.

Take on an Industry Giant

Think of a way to position your business as an underdog taking on an industry giant. This is best done by pointing out a major flaw in the customer experience of people who patronize the businesses that are at the top of your industry and say how you are fixing that flaw.

For example, if you own a local mom and pop convenience store, take a dig at how the retail giants in the country have become so robotic and impersonal that they treat their customers as just numbers. Offer to bring the personal touch back and bring back the memories of how shoppers enjoyed being on first-name basis with the owners or staff of the local stores they shopped from. 

Leverage Influencer Endorsements

One way to gain publicity and boost sales is by working with influencers. The best to target are micro influencers (those with a following in the range of 10,000-50,000 followers). These are ideal for a number of reasons.

First, they don’t cost a ton like the Kim Kardashians of this world, so you aren’t going to break the bank to work with the micro influencer.

Secondly, there is a close bond between these micro influencers and those who follow them, so any product endorsement the influencer makes will sure attract a positive response from that tight community of followers.

Write a Book

Believe it or not, you are an expert in your field. This is because you managed to observe the world around you and saw something that needed fixing, hence the founding of your business.

Tap into that expertise and share your thoughts about your area of expertise. This book will serve your business in a number of ways, such as getting you interviews to talk more about your journey. Excerpts from the book can also act as lead magnets on your website to build a community around your brand.

That book can very well become another major income source for you in addition to marking you out as the authority that should be trusted in your industry.

Organize a Giveaway

Another way to get plenty of publicity for your business is to organize a worthwhile giveaway. We all love free things, so such an undertaking is sure to create some buzz around your business.

The giveaway doesn’t necessarily have to be a product, although this is also great. Think about giving away your skills, time and other resources to a local cause. For example, you and your staff can go and work at the local soup kitchen over the weekend and drum up support for other businesses to join you in this effort.

For product or service giveaways, organize a kind of contest or raffle so that excitement about the giveaway builds up to the finale when the winner is announced.

Find a Milestone to Celebrate

Always be on the lookout for something to celebrate publicly if you want easy publicity for your business. For example, you can celebrate the first/fifth/tenth anniversary of your business. You can celebrate hiring your tenth employee, getting your 100th or 1,000th client, and so on. 

These milestones show that your business is beating the odds and growing, and such growth has to be shouted about on the rooftops so that current, future and past customers can keep your business at the top of their minds.

If you make it a habit to publicize your different milestones, don’t be surprised when local and industry media begin contacting you for the latest developments when you are quiet for a while!

Tell a Compelling Story

Did you get into freelancing as a desperate attempt to put food on the table despite your health taking a turn for the worse due to a life-threatening illness? Did you suffer a great personal loss that motivated you to start your business and help others in your situation?

People buy from people, so craft a compelling story to connect with other humans who can relate with your story. You will get tons of publicity and win ardent believers in your brand if you do this well. Think Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and other icons who have communicated great stories and have catapulted to business success. Replicate this on a smaller scale for your small business.

Your small business will not get much traction if you lack a deliberate strategy to drum up publicity for that business, and the tips above can get you on your way to getting publicity in a few minutes. Which ones will you start with?

To Your Success,

Jairek Robbins