Think of all the ways you market your business. Personal branding aside, there are multiple social media channels, flyers in letterboxes, brochures in shop windows, car detailing…
I would like to suggest another way to advertise. It’s cost-effective, could take as little as five minutes of your time and would make you look like the go-to person in your industry. What could it be…?
Get into print
First of all, work out which magazine would reach your target market. Then see how much it would cost to submit an article – some don’t even charge. Ask to read their contributor guidelines as some are very strict regarding self-promotion (but there are ways around that).
When you’ve chosen the magazine, decide if you’re going to write it yourself or hire someone else to do it for you. An editing and writing service could write a whole page about you for the same cost as a ¼ page ad in the same magazine.
3 ways to writing that article
1 Write it yourself
If you write it yourself, you look intelligent, it makes you look great, and you are judged as the expert in your field.
Isaac Newton was the scientist who discovered gravity and how the eyes work, among other things. There were other cleverer scientists in his day whom he acknowledged when he said that ‘if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’.
Sir Isaac Newton
So why is Newton famous? Because he wrote it down and had it published!
2 Get someone else to write it
There are several advantages to employing an editor to write about you and your business.
First of all, it saves you time. Choose someone who you know writes well and get them to interview you. Giving them ten minutes of your time could produce marketing material for you that lasts for months.
Getting another person to write about you gives an unbiased and different perspective. Imagine the boost to your confidence seeing yourself favourably through someone else’s eyes!
3 Get quoted
If your chosen magazine is prohibitive about self-marketing, write in a way that hides your name and business, but promotes your ideas. In other words, they quote you through the article. You may also choose to pay for that ¼ page ad to position alongside your article to reinforce your brand.
Being quoted also makes you look like the authority in your industry.
So, next time you pick up a local or trade magazine, study the articles, who wrote them and how they promoted the business they wrote about.
If you would like to see your business there on the page, feel free to contact me at susan@creativetext.com.au. I’d be happy to help.
Creative Text Solutions 