Publicity is one of
key components in any marketing and sales plan...because your customers and prospects have to KNOW about you in order to buy from you. Besides traditional news release, here are 5 online publicity ideas to help you drive sales for your product or service:--Use Others to Promote You
Create something "viral"--or something that people LOVE to pass on to their friends and associates--and you can really rake in sales. When you think "viral," think fun, useful or something that everyone wants. For instance, free email service Hotmail continues to grow because it is accessible from any computer and it adds a footer touting its free service on every email that is sent. Why does Hotmail do this? Because it gets all its users to come to Hotmail website to retrieve their email. Hotmail can charge premium prices for its ads and create other revenue streams because it has so many users.
--Write Articles for Online Outlets
When you write articles for online publications and people then use a search engine to find out about you, your company, your products, or even general subject, your article will likely be returned in search results. That means that more people will learn about you, and more who know about you, more sales you will make. There are many, many places that you can write and submit articles that highlight your products and services.
Just go to http://www.google.com or another search engine and search for publications about your industry. Often, print publications also have an online outlet so start with these if you don't know where to begin. Remember to get and follow writer's guidelines for greatest success.
--Post Comments on Listservs
It's likely that every industry today has some sort of listserv (or ongoing chat among members) that you can join. Don't jump right in to conversations, however; "lurk" or read ongoing emails for awhile before you begin to post comments. As time goes on, if you can add something to conversation, do so whenever possible. Always remember to include your name, company, tagline and website in every post.
