For small businesses, resources can be tight. Not just now during the pandemic, but even in the best of circumstances, small businesses struggle to maintain consistent marketing spend. It is a catch-22. You need more brand awareness resulting in more customers and higher sales, but you need the capital to market accordingly. Over 1/3 of small businesses state that a limited marketing budget is one of their most significant barriers to growth.
So, what can you do if you have a limited budget? Simple, get press coverage for no cost. Did you know that media outlets are always looking for new and exciting content? Journalists, Podcasters, and Bloggers are consistently putting out content requests. As a business owner, you have to seek out which ones are dealing with the keywords or topics that best fit your business offerings.
The most challenging thing to this approach is that the requests can be spread across the internet and sometimes hard to find. Below are a few popular places you can explore.
- Help a reporter out: Link
- ProfNet: Link
- Spot A Guest: Link
- Radio Guest List: Link
- All local media outlets (TV News, Papers, and Radio Stations)
There are a few things you should keep in mind as you move forward. First and foremost, make sure you are a good fit with the information they are looking to address. Before you commit to anything, do some research. Read the content they have produced, in the case of a podcast, listen to some of their productions. Finally, can you address what they are looking for while making it newsworthy?
This approach requires you, the business owner, to position yourself as a topical or industry expert. As an expert, make sure that information is on your business site, most likely in the “About” section. If you are currently not promoting yourself as that expert, maybe it is time to consider doing so.
This method may take some leg work and time, but free publicity is worth it. Being views as an industry expert also goes a long way when promoting your business down the road.