Today I’d like to encourage you to think about different ways that you can promote your business by giving.
Watch the video below for more details or continue reading below.
(Or CLICK HERE to watch this video direct in YouTube.)
Now I understand some people are not too keen on the sounds of this, but let me explain.
What I mean is to give away some of your services, goods, time or knowledge and this can be a way of marketing your business.
If you’re busy and you don’t have a lot of time or a lot of money then this may sound a little bit daunting. But, trust me … if you do it right, the benefits and the increased profits will be well worth the time and money commitment that you make.
Some different ways you can do this are:
You can give a donation – whether a financial donation, some of your products or your services – to a local community group or to a charity of some sort.
Quite often when you do this you’ll be able to get some sort of a thank you or public appreciation. It might be a link and message on their website or in their newsletter. Just the word of mouth messages from that can bring you more clients … if you do it correctly.
Something else that you can do is to offer your services. When I first started my business I offered to create the newsletter for a local community group.
I did this free of charge, it was a monthly newsletter. As a thank you for me creating their newsletter for them they were happy to include an ad for my business and they also allowed me to include my business’ contact details on the footer of each page of that newsletter.
That was a printed newsletter that was sent out to about 500 people every month. For me, this was well worthwhile and it brought in a lot of local business for me.
Another suggestion is to give your knowledge.
A good way to do this is to offer to give a talk for local groups, if you know of any local groups that might be relevant for your area of expertise.
Libraries will often encourage community members to come in and give a talk about a specific topic that might be of interest to locals.
This is another strategy that I used well. I regularly gave presentations at my local libraries and community centres. Libraries worked extremely well for me but sometimes I’d organise them on my own, out of a local community centre.
I would give a presentation for 1.5 to 2 hours and would often get 30-50 people attending my free information session. During this time I would share everything that I could. I was quite happy to share my knowledge, for no cost.
What would usually happen was that a select number of those who attended would ask for my business card and contact me later or they’d ask if I could help them and would buy my book or pay for my services.
I would also invite those who attended to subscribe to my newsletter. Some of those people who attended the information sessions are still on my newsletter list more than a decade later and are still customers of mine today.
These sorts of things can be done for a very low cost.
Keep in mind also that when offering something for your local community – and especially for no cost – you can often get publicity from the local newspapers and community radio stations. So always send a press release to announce your events.
There are multiple benefits to this:
1. You’re meeting new people and have the opportunity to share your skills, products and services;
2. You have a greater chance of getting free publicity for your business; and
3. You’re providing a great service to your community.
So no matter how small your business marketing budget may be or how much time you don’t have, remember that there’s always way that you can give.
In doing so the results will pay off, often several times over. This can be a great help for your business … and it also feels pretty good to know you’re helping others.