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.]

Brand advertising is only for big brands right? McDonald’s, Coke, Apple… they pay for splashy ad banners on websites and billboards by the road side. Not to mention sexy TV ads. What about your online business? Guess what… you also need to invest in brand advertising. Surprised? Read on.

Spending all your advertising dollars on paid search (i.e., Google) to drive traffic to your website is crazy. Okay, maybe not crazy… but really, really expensive. That’s why everyone tells you to search engine optimize (SEO) your website. That way your site will show up in “natural” search results when a prospect types in a keyword you care about. And that’s huge since natural search clicks are free of charge!

But while most people click on sponsored listings based on ranking (that’s why marketers splurge to get ranked number one), many will click on a natural search listing based on recognizing the brand. So brand awareness matters big time if you want to increase the likelihood that prospects will click on your search listing. This is especially true since research shows that people click on natural search listings more than 70% of the time!

Not convinced of the importance of brand awareness? Then let me say it another way: people are more likely to buy from a brand they’ve heard of.

Here are some ways to create brand awareness for your online business:

• Issue press releases. Doesn’t matter how big or small your company is. Let your prospects know when you have important news that they’ll find compelling. And these days it’s pretty easy and costs only $25 to $100 to issue a press release. Interested? Take a look at PR Newswire and 1888 Press Release to get started.

• Run ad banner campaigns. Yes, buy ad banners! Banner advertising is a great way to generate brand awareness with your target prospects. And there are lots of ad networks and websites that cater to advertisers with limited marketing dollars to spend. For example, check out these ad networks: BuySellAds and AdBrite.

• Publish content. Creating and publishing informative content is more important than ever in making prospects aware of you and your brand. So write articles, comment on blogs (create your own!), participate in online forums… and always mention your brand. Just be patient as it does take awhile. But before you know it you’ll start to create brand awareness (and website traffic too!)

• Leverage social media. There’s a lot of buzz about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… to name just a few social media sites. And whether or not you understand what these sites are all about… your business needs to participate. It really does. So invest the time to learn how social media can help you get the word out about your brand.

There’s a lot to chew on here… so make sure and pace yourself. You don’t need to do it all at once to start getting prospects to recognize your brand.

How about first doing a press release on that big customer you just landed? Meanwhile, get started running an ad banner campaign that really cements your brand in the mind of your target market. And get in the habit of commenting on blog sites you like to read. Then see who in your company (maybe you) likes to write and put them in charge of your website’s blog. Next up is launching your website’s Facebook page, Twitter account, and then some videos for YouTube.

As I said… there’s a lot to do! The good news is that every step you take generates more brand awareness. Did I mention that prospects are more likely to buy from you if they’re already familiar with your brand?

It’s not like the good old days when a press release was only issued by a big company with quotes from way too serious executives. In today’s web world, press releases can and should be an important part of your strategy to get the word out about your business… even if you’re a one person start-up working from your kitchen table.

Of course, you need to be realistic. Your press release is probably not going to be “picked up” by CNN or USA Today. But many people will read it including potential customers. That’s the power of the Internet. And who knows… a blogger that follows your industry could see it and comment. And the buzz begins… nothing wrong with dreaming!

In any case, issuing a press release is about creating content. And content is king. Why? Because content gives people something to talk about and helps you generate natural (free) search traffic… which is definitely a good thing.

With that said, here are some tips for writing your press release:

• Make it news worthy. There’s a lot of “noise” out there so you need to break through the clutter with news that’s truly interesting, relevant, and compelling to your audience. And even better, if it’s about something that solves a problem for them.

• Tell a story. Sure it’s news but write it like a story. Grab your reader’s attention with a strong headline and an initial paragraph that tells the essence of your story line. Use the rest of the release to cover the basics of who, what, why, and when.

• Use real life examples. Use quotes and examples from real people to bring your story to life. And adding “success stories” is a great way to show the benefits of using your service while making it easy for prospects to relate to your offering.

• Stick to the facts. Hopefully your press release will be an attention getter. But if you want prospects to take you seriously, then don’t write your release like an advertisement. This means stick to the facts and resist the temptation to over-embellish (no promo fluff please!)

• Keep it lean and mean. Attention spans are short… especially on the web. So keep your press release concise, impactful, and action-oriented. Just like that last sentence!

Now the most important thing… always write with your audience in mind. Here’s a good test: if you wouldn’t want to read your press release then your prospects won’t want to either.

At this point you’re probably wondering what you should issue a press release about. Why not cover the launch of your new website or service? How about that important customer you just landed? Did a retail chain just decide to carry your product? Or maybe you’re presenting at an industry conference or event? You get the idea!

And issuing a press release is not that costly. You can expect to pay $25 to $100 per release at quality services such as: PRNewsWire.com, PR.com, and PRLeap.com. There are also free services available like: PRLog.org, 1888PressRelease.com, and OpenPR.com that you can try out.

Keep in mind the free services tend to only show your press release on their site while paid services will also distribute to other websites plus make it easier to optimize your release for the search engines. So the extra cost may be worth it to you.

Are you ready to get started? Do a search for “press release samples” to find examples and templates to check out. Then pick one of the services… now go ahead and make some news!