Home » Archives for August 2008
6 Ideas for Viral Marketing
Here are six ideas to help you start your viral marketing campaign:
Purchase the branding rights to a viral E-book. Allow people to give away your free E-book to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet.
If you have the ability to set up a forum or other bulletin board, you really have a great tool. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own website. Some people don't have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.
Do you have a knack for web design? Create some templates, graphics, etc. and upload them to your site. Then, allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site. Make sure that you include a link back to your site in the copyright notice and require them to keep your copyright notice in tact.
Write an E-book. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free E-book if, in exchange, they give away the E-book to their web visitors or E-zine subscribers.
Write articles that pertain to your product or service. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their E-zine, newsletter, magazine or E-books. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.
You can easily find products on the Internet that will sell you a license allowing you to distribute the product free of charge to other people. Look for those products that provide "branding rights". That is where you can include your own name, website, and contact information.
Purchase the branding rights to a viral E-book. Allow people to give away your free E-book to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet.
If you have the ability to set up a forum or other bulletin board, you really have a great tool. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own website. Some people don't have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.
Do you have a knack for web design? Create some templates, graphics, etc. and upload them to your site. Then, allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site. Make sure that you include a link back to your site in the copyright notice and require them to keep your copyright notice in tact.
Write an E-book. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free E-book if, in exchange, they give away the E-book to their web visitors or E-zine subscribers.
Write articles that pertain to your product or service. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their E-zine, newsletter, magazine or E-books. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.
You can easily find products on the Internet that will sell you a license allowing you to distribute the product free of charge to other people. Look for those products that provide "branding rights". That is where you can include your own name, website, and contact information.
35 Powerful Ways to Get Noticed
If you want to make more money in business, become an expert, get famous, or many other things – the first thing you have to do is learn how to get noticed.But in today’s increasingly crowded world, getting people to pay attention to you isn’t easy -- unless you’ve got a list of proven tactics to fall back on.
With that goal in mind, we’ve created the following collection of 35 power ways to get noticed.
How to Get Noticed
1. Sponsor a contest. When you can find a larger business that’s running a contest, sponsoring it with your cash, products or services can put you in front of a lot of people throughout the entire promotion. People like to win – and you want to be associated with that powerful emotion.
2. Create your own contest. Don’t let the other people have all the fun – turn the tables and create your own contests. You can use your own offerings as prizes, or seek out sponsors who will spread the word to their audiences about the promotion.
3. Open your mouth. Public speaking is a huge way to get your brand seen – find relevant groups to speak to as often as you can. Teach what you know and position yourself as an expert that other influencers will talk about in the future.
4. Open your ears. Again, turn the tables and invite someone interesting to speak at your offices – and then put the word out to the people you want to reach to attend and hear the speaker for themselves.
5. Host someone’s event. Organizations and groups that can help spread the word about you often like to meet at different places throughout the year. Find a group you want to get noticed by, offer to host their next event, and use that time to network with them.
6. Host your own event. No matter what you do, there’s something interesting you can create an event around – for example, host a industry-relevant workshop or create your own networking event.
7. Write a book. There’s no mistaking it – business owners who write books get more attention and are perceived with greater authority in their field. Find something meaningful to your industry and write something worth reading.
8. Offer “meta”-consulting services. Another way to get people to see your business as an authority worth talking about is to offer consulting services around your area of expertise. For example, if you are a software company, you can offer a small workshop on how to write better software.
9. Get interviewed. Publications (both online and offline) are always hungry for content. Find a media outlet that serves your target audience and arrange an interview with them to get in front of qualified prospects.
10. Get reviewed. People make buying decisions – and judge your brand – by the reviews they read. Offer your products or services to reviewers in exchange for a thorough writeup on their experience.
11. Get “stepping stone” referrals. Think about the products and services customers go to right before they look for your offerings, and make arrangements with those providers to bring you up as a referral to their customers.
12. Be a newsmaker. Both local and national outlets are always on the lookout for compelling stories – so give them one. Find a way to showcase something your company is doing that is cutting-edge, human-interest or unique.
13. Get behind a cause. This goes beyond the one-time contest sponsorship at the top of this list – become part of the yearly fundraising efforts of a worthy cause and you can find yourself getting repeated exposure each time a new fund drive begins. The positive PR doesn’t hurt, either.
14. Create a referral program. Finding new customers is expensive, so create an incentive for people to spread the word about you. A generous referral commission program may get your company all the word-of-mouth business you can handle.
15. Start a blog. You don’t have to be a “pro blogger” to start a blog – a basic company blog that has regular updates can bring you significant amounts of web search traffic over the long run (and in today’s world, it’s also a sign of being a business authority as well).
16. Interview others. By featuring interviews with other people on your blog or website, you can tap into their audience as most people like to promote their own interviews.
17. Write a guest post. Guest posting on a well-read blog is a powerful way to get in front of a new audience and get noticed. Find blogs that are targeted to your audience and follow some basic guest posting guidelines to get the most out of what you write.
18. Feature a guest post. Tap into other’ audiences a second time by offering others the chance to guest post on your blog. As with interviews, they will spread the word and point people to your site.
19. Participate on blogs and forums. Join comments and conversations on blogs and forums to boost your visibility in front of your target audience (and learn more about them at the same time).
20. Take a stand. When you take an unconventional or controversial stand on something because you believe it’s right, you can get a lot of attention. Be true to yourself and don’t be afraid to speak up and be known as someone who takes a passionate stance on issues.
21. Work on SEO. Whether you have a blog or a website, your search rankings are only as good as your search engine optimization. If you don’t know where to start, read this article to learn how to get noticed by Google and company.
22. Write a press release. People still write press releases because they work – when done right. Find a company that does it well and get the word out there.
23. Start a newsletter. Having a regularly published newsletter tells people you have something worth reading and something worth passing along to others. Write useful content let your subscribers spread the message.
24. Write articles. Another useful way to show up in search engines is to submit short, relevant articles to article directories around the web. You’ll not only create useful back links to your site, but position yourself to be found by more web searchers.
25. Make a video. YouTube and other video upload sites can be powerful ways to get a fast-spreading message about your company out there. Learn from those who do “viral video” well.
26. Do a podcast. Do a web search for ‘podcast’ and discover just how many web sites do interviews with people every day – and then line yourself up for an interview of your own.
27. Get on the radio. Radio ads are expensive – but interviews are free. Brainstorm something newsworthy and contact your local radio stations to see if they’ll interview you about it.
28. Offer a discount to other companies. Many employers and membership sites offer discounts on products and services to their members. By offering a discount of your own, you can get our name in front of all those people quickly and effectively.
29. Trade ad space with a partner. Find a related company that has an audience you want to reach and swap ads on your website, blog or print publication. It’s easy, free, and can get you noticed by new prospects.
30. Go “half-and-half” on ads. Big ads get noticed, but are expensive; consider splitting the cost with a relevant partner and making an ad that promotes both of you.
31. Give publicity to others. In this world, givers get. Take opportunities to publicly spread the good word on other companies and what goes around will come around.
32. Work the influencers. Get on good terms with industry influencers and help them find valuable contacts and solutions to their problems, and many will repay you by putting you in front of their audiences.
33. Focus on a niche. It’s a lot easier to become a big fish in a small pond than the other way around. Once you’re a big fish in one pond, it makes hopping to the next one easier.
34. Give incredible customer service. Nothing beats great customer service for generating word-of-mouth advertising. Go the extra mile for a customer and they’ll come back to you – with their friends.
35. Do the right thing. In today’s world, people are jaded and skeptical of businesses – and with good reason. Surprise people by always doing the right thing and acting with integrity in all you do, and what goes around will come around. And that’s just good business.
Did we miss anything? Leave a comment below if you can think of any other good ways to get attention.
Freelancing Lessons from Tech Support
When I left my full-time job to strike out alone, I wondered whether the past couple of years had been a waste of time. Two years working in technical support didn’t seem like good preparation for a freelancing career involving writing and website creation.
But then I realized that a number of the “lessons learnt” during my time in tech support could help me in my freelance career as well. Dealing with clients is a priority in any business, and a lot of the tricks I learned from tech support apply to freelancing as well.
Here are a few client relationship lessons I learned from working in tech support:
Have stock email responses ready in a file
In my support team, we were used to some simple questions or problems coming up frequently (such as “Help, I’ve lost my password” and “I need to deactivate an account”.) There was no point typing out new replies to these each time. Instead, we created a file of stock responses to use.
As a freelancer, you’ll probably find yourself sending a lot of emails. Some will be very similar: applications for gigs, information about your prices, a quick run-down of the services you offer. If you find yourself typing out the same paragraphs repeatedly, create a “stock response file”. Good things to include are:
* A few sentences of biographical information
* Your history in your industry (with links to sites you’ve designed, articles you’ve written, past clients, etc)
* The summary version of your contract, or terms of service
* Any common explanations that clients need
Send more information than the client asks for
When you’re racing through a full inbox, it’s tempting to dash off emails as quickly as possible. But it’s worth taking an extra couple of minutes to include some extra information – it reduces the chance that you’ll get into a game of email ping-pong as your client asks, “OK, but now what?”
So, attach your terms of service “just for your reference”, even if you’ve not yet closed the deal. Send a link to your portfolio with every application, even if samples weren’t specifically requested. If a client needs a brand new site designed and you also write (like the Men with Pens), then mention that you can offer this too.
Don’t make assumptions about how much your client knows
When you’re an expert in your field, it’s easy to forget how confusing things can be to people outside it. In tech support, I knew not everyone would understand terms like “radio button”: if your client is struggling with filling out your contact form, you might need to tell them to “click in one of the little circles” instead. Screenshots can be a big help.
This applies to writers and designers too, not just techies. Don’t assume that terms like “copywriter” and “sans serif” will be understood: give clear, concise, non-patronizing explanations when you use any words that might be considered jargon. Nobody wants to be made to feel stupid by having to email back for a definition of all the acronyms in your message.
Respond promptly to emails – but take your time to look into problems
Stay on top of emails: you don’t need to respond to everything the same day, but don’t leave messages sitting in your inbox for weeks. Even if your reply can only be “I need some time to look into that, I’ll get back to you next week”, it reassures the client that you’ve received their email and that they’ll be receiving a considered response.
On the flip side, take your time to look into any issues that the client has raised. Perhaps they’ve asked about a particular sentence in a piece of copy you’ve written: double-check that the grammar really is correct before firing off a snappy email telling them that you’re the writer and you know best. If they insist that the website you’ve designed for them is “looking all funny” on their computer, check it out in as many browsers as possible on several different sized monitors to see if they might be right.
If you currently have, or have ever had, a “real” job – what did you learn that’s helped you as a freelancer? Source
But then I realized that a number of the “lessons learnt” during my time in tech support could help me in my freelance career as well. Dealing with clients is a priority in any business, and a lot of the tricks I learned from tech support apply to freelancing as well.
Here are a few client relationship lessons I learned from working in tech support:
Have stock email responses ready in a file
In my support team, we were used to some simple questions or problems coming up frequently (such as “Help, I’ve lost my password” and “I need to deactivate an account”.) There was no point typing out new replies to these each time. Instead, we created a file of stock responses to use.
As a freelancer, you’ll probably find yourself sending a lot of emails. Some will be very similar: applications for gigs, information about your prices, a quick run-down of the services you offer. If you find yourself typing out the same paragraphs repeatedly, create a “stock response file”. Good things to include are:
* A few sentences of biographical information
* Your history in your industry (with links to sites you’ve designed, articles you’ve written, past clients, etc)
* The summary version of your contract, or terms of service
* Any common explanations that clients need
Send more information than the client asks for
When you’re racing through a full inbox, it’s tempting to dash off emails as quickly as possible. But it’s worth taking an extra couple of minutes to include some extra information – it reduces the chance that you’ll get into a game of email ping-pong as your client asks, “OK, but now what?”
So, attach your terms of service “just for your reference”, even if you’ve not yet closed the deal. Send a link to your portfolio with every application, even if samples weren’t specifically requested. If a client needs a brand new site designed and you also write (like the Men with Pens), then mention that you can offer this too.
Don’t make assumptions about how much your client knows
When you’re an expert in your field, it’s easy to forget how confusing things can be to people outside it. In tech support, I knew not everyone would understand terms like “radio button”: if your client is struggling with filling out your contact form, you might need to tell them to “click in one of the little circles” instead. Screenshots can be a big help.
This applies to writers and designers too, not just techies. Don’t assume that terms like “copywriter” and “sans serif” will be understood: give clear, concise, non-patronizing explanations when you use any words that might be considered jargon. Nobody wants to be made to feel stupid by having to email back for a definition of all the acronyms in your message.
Respond promptly to emails – but take your time to look into problems
Stay on top of emails: you don’t need to respond to everything the same day, but don’t leave messages sitting in your inbox for weeks. Even if your reply can only be “I need some time to look into that, I’ll get back to you next week”, it reassures the client that you’ve received their email and that they’ll be receiving a considered response.
On the flip side, take your time to look into any issues that the client has raised. Perhaps they’ve asked about a particular sentence in a piece of copy you’ve written: double-check that the grammar really is correct before firing off a snappy email telling them that you’re the writer and you know best. If they insist that the website you’ve designed for them is “looking all funny” on their computer, check it out in as many browsers as possible on several different sized monitors to see if they might be right.
If you currently have, or have ever had, a “real” job – what did you learn that’s helped you as a freelancer? Source
