Trying to market your business, but think it’s too early to issue press releases and make social media worthwhile? Think about it – is it ever too early to start generating interest and gathering information from prospects? Of course not! With a little creativity and the techniques outlined below, you can learn a ton, and create some valuable assets that will help you market your business now and well into the future.
But let’s get specific – what can you do?
Build up interest and audience.
Maybe you’ve seen some of these “coming soon” pages for products or apps that are not yet widely available? This is a great way to generate interest for your product or service, and stock your email contact list and social audiences with early adopters (who tend to be willing to accept a product with a few rough spots in exchange for being the first to have access!). Check out the example below.
This type of page lets you accomplish a few things:
- Quick and easy development cycle: Build a website landing page using tools like Unbounce or Optimizely to quickly create multiple versions of your “Coming Soon” page from a single template (you can create your own, or use one of the templates provided). Keep it clean and simple; you want to create enough interest that visitors give you permission to engage with them again via email or social media.
- Test your marketing message: Use those “Coming Soon” landing pages to try out a variety of messages, tag lines, calls to action, lead capture forms, etc.. Determine if there are specific messages that are more effective at engaging the folks that will ultimately become your customers.
- Build up your social audience: Start signaling what type of product this is and who it is for. Worried you won’t have anything “worthwhile” to tweet or post about your business yet? No worries – follow and “like” other people or companies that are in your general area of interest, and share items from those sources with your audience. Be sure to add a novel comment or perspective; don’t just pass on random items without showing how you add value!
Do social media via your personal network.
Share updates about your business via your LinkedIn status (not on LinkedIn? You should be!). If you blog, use the apps on LinkedIn to display your blog feed on your profile. Participate in discussions on question and answer sites like Quora. Have lots of coffee meetings. Get honest, constructive feedback from your network, and listen to the questions people have after you tell them about your business. Ask people to tell you why it won’t work. Would they recommend it to a friend? Why wouldn’t they use it? How would they describe your business to their colleagues? Value and take to heart feedback that indicates you may not have it quite right yet. If you can’t get the people who find YOU interesting and worthwhile to engage with your business, how in the world will you capture the interest of busy, distracted strangers?
Lighten up about press releases!
It’s not the daily briefing at the White House, and you don’t have to have earth-shattering news to do a press release. Did you sign a new partner? Make a key hire? Attend an industry event? Write a new eBook? Expand your service offerings? All of these are worthwhile subjects for a press release, as they give you a chance to put your key messages into context, and hand feed them to social media and search engines. Press releases get extremely favorable treatment by Google, and are a great way for a your fledgling business to “own” Page 1 of search results for your key phrases.
One other note on press releases: you don’t need to hire a PR firm to do a press release (though there are lots of really great firms that can help when the time is right). Use one of the services on our Best Free and Affordable Press Release Services list - they’re easy to use, and will often throw in some free SEO advice on your press release to help you get the maximum bang for your buck.
Looking for help with other online marketing, advertising, and social media questions? Then check out the online marketing and advertising resources section of the Leadtail website. We’ve compiled lots of helpful information to help you market and grow your business.
And let us know how we can help. Ask your question on Facebook, tweet us @Leadtail on Twitter, drop us a line – or just give us a call at 888.330.3236
[Editor's Note: Special thanks to Karri Carlson for this guest post. Karri leads Marketing & Customer Development at Leadtail.]
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