Monday, February 28, 2011

55 Reasons To Send Out a Press Release




55 Reasons To Send Out a Press Release




When should you send out a press release? You want to know my acid test? If it's newsworthy and if it's useful to the reader. It's that simple.


There are many factors to weigh when considering the need to send out a press release. As a publicist I have sent thousands of releases over the years and while there are no hard and fast rules, the most important factor is that you've got to make sure it's newsworthy and useful to the reader. Any thing else and it's just a waste of time for the members of the media.
A good press release can accomplish a lot of things too. It can be used to announce information to the public, your investors, the media, your customers and even your competitors about you and your activities. To help my clients determine whether something is newsworthy I compiled a list of fifty-five press release ideas I give to them to get their ideas flowing about their own businesses. Some are for general consumer media and some may not apply to all business types.
1. Announce a new service.
2. Announce a new product.
3. Tie in with a national holiday, a birthday or anniversary. 
4. Report a new study of your own and your analysis or forecast. 
5. Tie in with a controversy by commenting on it.
6. Co-op an event with the media. 
7. Utilize a national survey or study to your benefit. 
8. Announce your exhibit at a trade show or convention. 
9. Commission a survey and report the results.
10. Write a white paper and announce its availability at your web site. 
11. Create and promote a special event. 
12. Use a current news event to frame your release.
13. Host a seminar and announce the information discussed.
14. Announce an upcoming speaking engagement.
15. Schedule a speaking engagement at the local library?- for free.
16. Make reprints of speeches available at your website.
17. Create a contest and offer a prize that's newsworthy.
18. Pricing and policy changes. 
19. Patents and trademarks. 
20. Litigation won.
21. Announce the results of a new study. 
22. The number of hours your employees donate volunteering in your community. 
23. Involvement in various community events and activities.
24. Innovative use for your products. 
25. First person stories about people using your product or services. 
26. New clients you've obtained.
27. New testimonials. 
28. Celebrities that use your product or service.
29. Financial projections and forecasts. 
30. Announce a public appearance. 
31. Appointments by government officials to offices.
32. Retirement of well respected and revered employees.
33. Recognition of long-time employees with 25 years of service or more.
34. Internal promotion of key staff members.
35. Send a letter to the editor and CC the media and your audience, "in case they miss it." 
36. New members of important committees. 
37. Results of an election. 
38. The passage of an important resolution. 
39. Anniversary of the founding date of the organization or company.
40. Charitable donations by your organization. 
41. ISO 9001certification of your company.
42. New awards won.
43. Association membership.
44. Publicly release a letter from a soldier or someone with poignant thoughts.
45. Report on a public project and offer insight to the problem. 
46. Protest an activity or issue.
47. The sponsorship of a community event.
48. How to apply for internships in your company. 
49. How to apply for scholarships offered by your company.
50. Open house where people can tour your plant, office etc.
51. Create an award to honor individuals in the community.
52. The appearance in front of a public entity, i.e. testimony before the US Senate.
53. Host a public debate. 
54. Announce a fact finding trip and then report your findings.
55. Host a celebrity event and tie in your company.

Once you get the release written now what? How do you put it in the hands of the media? How can a company or individual know if it can handle media relations themselves or if it needs to hire a public relations firm, an independent publicist or a full fledged marketing firm? If you aren't completely certain after debating the pros and cons, ask these questions:
* Are we getting all the PR we deserve? 
* Is our competition getting more than their fair share of media coverage? 
* Would media coverage bring more business to the firm? 
* Do we have a PR strategy for continuous year round media coverage? 
* Is our in-house "PR person or department" overburdened with "in-house" work like the company newsletter?
First of all, let's define a PR firm. Some people interchange a PR firm with a marketing firm, or marketing agency, or even an ad agency. Basically a public relations firm handles media relations and is the interface between a company and the news media.
A public relations firm or publicist will "pitch" the media on a story idea involving a company, invention or author. A good pitch about a story that would interest the people who read, watch or listen to a particular media outlet gets coverage.
Many larger companies rely on in-house staff trained in public relations or marketing while others hire PR consultants or publicists to handle their PR campaigns.
Joe Nicassio, author of Guerrilla PR Brand Manager, says whether a company should conduct its public relations, marketing or advertising campaigns internally or externally should be determined by these factors"
Do you NEED solid, consistent media exposure week after week, or are you satisfied with "occasional" exposure?
Do you have the internal staff and expertise to commit the internal resources to your public relations, marketing, advertising efforts?
If you have the internal staff, and they understand Guerrilla PR principles, then there may be no reason to hire an outside agency. Paradoxically, the busier you get, the easier it is to parlay, or "set aside" consistent, important PR activities. Don't get caught in that trap!
"Public Relations is a craft that requires PASSION," says Nicassio. "You may need PR, and you may even have the people to conduct your public relations, marketing, advertising campaigns but that's not enough. To be truly effective, your PR campaigns must be conducted with PASSIONATE CONSISTENCY."

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Search Engine Use Increases Sharply, Edging Towards Email as the Primary Internet Application



Search Engine Use Increases Sharply, Edging Towards Email as the Primary Internet Application




Search engines have become an increasingly important part of the online experience of American internet users. The most recent findings from Pew Internet & American Life tracking surveys and consumer behavior trends from the comScore Media Metrix consumer panel show that about 60 million American adults are using search engines on a typical day.



These results from September 2005 represent a sharp increase from mid-2004. Pew Internet Project data from June 2004 show that use of search engines on a typical day has risen from 30% of the internet population to 41%. This means that the number of those using search engines on an average day jumped from roughly 38 million in June 2004 to about 59 million in September 2005 – an increase of about 55%.


comScore data show that from September 2004 to September 2005 the average daily use of search engines jumped from 49.3 million users to 60.7 million users – an increase of 23%.


This means that the use of search engines is edging up on email as a primary internet activity on any given day. The Pew Internet Project data show that on a typical day, email use is still the top internet activity. On any given day, about 52% of American internet users are sending and receiving email.


These findings have considerable consequences for the way people gather and use information online and the way e-commerce is conducted.


“Most people think of the internet as a vast library and they increasingly depend on search engines to help them find everything from information about the people who interest them, to transactions they want to conduct, organizations they need to deal with, and interesting factoids that help them settle bar bets and backyard arguments,” said Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet Project.


“The evolution of search engines as everyday consumer Web tools has made them a vital resource for marketers,” said James Lamberti, vice president of comScore Networks. “Search engines are obviously a critical vehicle in reaching consumers during the buy cycle, but they also offer a rich source for consumer profiling, segmentation, and measurement of product demand. To-date, we have only witnessed the preliminary impact of search engines on e-commerce.”


The latest data from comScore show that Google was the most heavily used search engine in October 2005 with 89.8 million unique visitors, followed by Yahoo! Search (68 million unique visitors), MSN Search (49.7 million unique visitors), Ask Jeeves (43.7 million unique visitors), and AOL Search (36.1 million unique visitors).


The Pew Internet Project findings cited in this report come from a nationally representative telephone survey of 2,251 American adults (age 18 and older), including 1,577 internet users, between September 13-October 14, 2005. The margin of error on the internet user portion of the survey is plus or minus 3%.


The comScore data cited in this report come from comScore Media Metrix, an internet audience measurement service that uses a massive cross-section of more than 1.5 million U.S. consumers who have given comScore explicit permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing.


Friday, February 25, 2011

This Aint a Marketing Ploy: UFO'S ARE REAL.






Ret. Col. Says UFOs Are Real, 

but Denies Government Cover-Up




Whether you believe or disbelieve the notion that UFOs are visitors from another planet, a former highly decorated military officer now comes forward with information that may infuriate those on both sides in the ongoing ET debate.

Retired Col. John Alexander, using his military savvy and high security clearance, spent a quarter of a century going through the top levels of the U.S. government and military searching for the group of people who were allegedly responsible for UFO information and the supposedly decades-old UFO cover-up.

His conclusions: Not only is there no such group and no cover-up, but disclosure about UFOs has already occurred on different official levels.

Col. John Alexander
Courtesy John Alexander
Retired Army Col. John Alexander says UFO disclosure has already occurred, and the ultimate solution to UFOs is more complex than most people think.
With so many people crying out these days for the U.S. government or the United Nations or even the Vatican to issue some sort of "we are not alone in the universe" disclosure statement, Alexander says the information has been dripping out all around us, over decades, with top officials casually making statements about UFOs.

He references this 1950 remark made by President Harry Truman: "I can assure you the flying saucers, given that they exist, are not constructed by any power on Earth."

"Disclosure has happened," Alexander added. "It starts with former presidents Truman, Carter, Reagan and [the Soviet Union's] Gorbachev. I've got stacks of generals, including Soviet generals, who've come out and said UFOs are real. My point is, how many times do senior officials need to come forward and say this is real?" Alexander told AOL News.

"At one time, before a lot of this information was released, I could see both the classified and the unclassified material. And I will tell you that 98 percent of the information was already in the public domain. The only things that weren't there was stuff like sources and method, which is protected, but the information about the incident was already out there."

Several months ago, a group of ex-military officers came forward to discuss their experiences when UFOs reportedly tampered with American nuclear missile sites. While Alexander acknowledges the events, he suggests why there was no intense intelligence investigation of these incidents.

"They absolutely happened, but when it's a one-time event, the attitude of investigators is: If it happens again, we'll get nervous, but since it didn't happen, put it aside.

"It's sort of an indictment that says, despite overwhelming evidence of interaction with strategic systems, nothing was done. And in my view, it is put, like a number of things, in the too-tough-to-handle bin."

The 74-year-old former Green Beret A-Team commander and developer of weapons at Los Alamos, N.M., is one of many speakers presenting his views at this week's International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Ariz. He takes issue with both true believers (who assume any strange light in the sky is from another planet) and hard-nosed skeptics (who debunk any and all UFO reports and evidence to the contrary).

International UFO Congress




OpenMinds.tv
Nearly 30 speakers are attending this week's International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In his new book, "UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities" (Thomas Dunne Books), Alexander jumps right to the chase, saying, "UFOs are real! With no prevarication or qualification of terms, there are physical objects of unknown origin that do transit our universe. The evidence that supports those statements is simply overwhelming."

The evidence he speaks of includes the hard data of sensor technology that has frequently confirmed the reality of physical craft and the high quality of extremely reliable eyewitnesses who are "neither misreporting facts nor delusional."

After spending decades deeply embroiled behind the scenes, Alexander's assertion of the reality of UFOs still leaves the bigger question: What's the origin and purpose of these unexplained machines? (If, in fact, they are machines in the sense that we use that term.)

"The problem is, when you discuss UFOs, we are talking everything from little balls of light to hard craft a mile or more across, and everything in between. So what is it?" Alexander asked.

"I argue that, not only are we not solving the problems yet, we're not even asking the right questions, because we approach this wrong.

"I suspect that consciousness is a piece of the puzzle. We talk about UFOs, saying it's a technology that's 1,000 years in advance, but it really isn't. If you follow the history of these things, usually it is somewhat in advance, but not beyond our comprehension by any stretch of the imagination.

"The conundrum you get into is, yes, they are seen by sensors; however, at other times, they are not seen by sensors that should've seen them, and that's one I can't answer."

Alexander is a frequent guest on "Coast to Coast AM With George Noory," the popular overnight radio program. George Knapp, a multiple Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and a weekend "Coast to Coast" host, praises Alexander's stance and suggests his book "will almost certainly infuriate zealots on both ends of the UFO spectrum."


In his review of Alexander's book, Knapp wrote: "Alexander's military mind instinctively gets to the heart of UFO cases and issues, makes quick work of charlatans and fools, and will likely inspire a new round of speculation about his presumed role as an MIB-type spook who spies on the UFO community."

In the early 1980s, Alexander created a behind-the-scenes government UFO study group called Advanced Theoretical Physics, or ATP, that consisted of members of the military, scientific and intelligence communities. With a top-secret security clearance, Alexander also had a tremendous amount of flexibility.

A key outcome of that study group was, contrary to conspiracy theorists' beliefs, that nobody in the government was responsible for UFO information.

He says that after his ATP group looked at many UFO cases, they came to some key conclusions:

  • There was sufficient evidence supported by high-quality data to know that some UFO cases were real anomalies -- not just poor observation or misidentification.
  • There were cases involving military weapon systems that posed a significant threat and should be investigated.
  • Multisensory data supported observations of physical craft that performed intelligent maneuvers that were far beyond any known human capability.
  • There were cases that involved trace physical evidence.
  • Study of the UFO data could provide a potential for a leap in technology.
All that being said, Alexander also states that the infamous Roswell, N.M., UFO case of 1947 was not, in fact, a crashed alien spacecraft but a top-secret military project called Mogul.

"It was a real incident, no doubt about it. The Air Force played it abysmally, but I think there is a prosaic answer, and that was Project Mogul," Alexander explained. "It wasn't a weather balloon -- it was something really quite different. This was designed to listen to the Soviet Union.

"So when they say it was stretched out across the field, yup, exactly the way it was done. It was supersecret and it didn't involve UFOs."

After many years of deep research into UFOs, Alexander is convinced from both a personal and military point of view that it's a much more complex issue than the idea of Earth being visited by extraterrestrials. He proposes a concept called precognitive sentient phenomena.

"The point is there is something out there that is sentient. When I say precognitive, it knows -- whatever it is -- not only what it is going to present, but how we are going to respond to it.

"The public is interested but ambivalent in general. The public believes in UFOs, but it doesn't affect their daily lives," Alexander explained. "In the military, you learn very quickly it is not career-enhancing to bring up anomalies that you don't have good answers for.

"There's a euphemism in the military: If you bring me a problem, bring me a solution."

Thursday, February 24, 2011

What are you doing to creatively market yourself?








What are you doing to creatively market yourself?


Creative Ideas for Marketing Promotions



In your frenzy to get prospects to notice you, remember you and ultimately hire you, what are you doing to capture their attention? Remember, you are not in the business of Home Staging but rather you are in the business of marketing your Home Staging services.
What are you doing to creatively market yourself?
We know it is important to be in front of your prospects all the time. They must automatically think of you when they have Home Staging needs. It is not enough to network and market only on an ‘as needed’ basis. By then, you’re desperate and desperation is not client attractive.
My recommendation is to get a year-at-a-glance calendar and map out your marketing schedule on a monthly, then yearly basis. For instance, if you know that your local realtor association meetings are on a Thursday, block out your calendar so that you know you will be attending those meetings every Thursday.
Most realtor association meetings allow vendors to display fliers, stand up to introduce themselves, as well as sponsor tables or become affiliates. If your budget does not allow for sponsoring yet, bring fliers or brochures.
Since you know this is something you’ll be doing weekly, put a little more effort into it and run monthly specials and create a marketing promotion on a regular basis, tied to the time of year. For instance, January is a great time for New Year’s specials and Chinese New Year promotions.
Almost every month there is a holiday or seasonal theme you can tie your marketing to. As creative types, you can take a minute to write down a few ideas that come to mind and start work on implementing them right away.
Here we have a list of five fun, successful promotional marketing ideas that you could customize for your own business that are absolutely guaranteed to get the attention of your prospective clients.
The first one is one of my favorites and was tied to the Chinese New Year which came on January 26 this year. I’ve used it in my Staging business as well as in other applications.
1) Fortune Cookies with customized fortunes such as “It is our good fortune to have you as our client” or “Good Fortune comes to those who Stage”.
To go a step further you can make them more irresistible by getting chocolate dipped fortune cookies. I would highly recommend getting individually wrapped cookies. Fill a plastic or paper Chinese takeout box with the cookies and customize the outside of the box with your company information. I guarantee you will get rave reviews with this!!!
2) Mini Trash Can with “You’d be NUTS to Trash This
Opportunity” printed on it.
Put a few peanuts in the trash can (the kind with the shells work well) along with a marketing flier crumpled up inside. Even if you didn’t get the printing on the trash can, you can use the headline on the marketing flier itself. Other headlines could be “Don’t trash your equity by not Staging” or “Don’t risk throwing your commissions away in the trash!”
3) Shredded Money in a plastic bag - “Without my Staging
help, your commissions could end up like this!”
Do you think this one will get their attention?
4) Stress Toys - stress toys are great because they come
in all shapes and themes and you can really play with the marketing line depending on what you use.
Examples: “Staging Reduces Stress” or “Listings Stressing You Out? Call Your Stager for Relief” (use the phone shape stress toy) or “Your Listings Making you Crabby?” (use the crab shape stress toy).
5) Key - “Unlock the Profits in your Listing with
Staging” or “Home Staging Unlocks Profits in Your Listings”
(you can use different types of keys or even a key shaped stress toy)
For several years, I sponsored the Holiday Party for my local Realtor Association. If my memory serves me right, they had a wine themed dinner one year so I created a card that read - “Staging works like a Charm” and hung a wine charm on each one and they were placed on every plate.
Another year, they had dinner on a yacht so I bought little plastic toy boats and had labels made that read “Cruise into Escrow with a Quick & Profitable Sale - Use Home Staging”. I believe I also filled the little boats with individually wrapped Lifesavers candies. Again, these were placed on each plate.
Your Marketing Goal is to consistently get your business message out there, so that your prospects get to know you, like you, trust you, and inevitably want to work with you.
Doing just one thing won’t be the end all of your marketing efforts, but it’s one piece of the pie that can help launch your pursuit to becoming a client magnet. Plus, it’s a lot of fun - and it works!!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

“U Can’t Touch” MC Hammer When it Comes to Social Media




“U Can’t Touch” MC Hammer When it Comes to Social Media







We are looking forward to attending the Gravity Summit today, where old-school rap artist MC Hammer is being awarded the Social Media Marketer of the Year Award presented by Jeremy Blacklow, managing editor of AccessHollywood.com. You might be wondering: how did the maven who brought us “U Can’t Touch This” and Hammer pants transform into a social media guru with more than two million followers on Twitter?
He claims that Silicon Valley technology has inspired him over the years to spread his messages globally and get an early jump on the Internet, social media platforms and techniques like using streaming video. So the question is for brands — are there any lessons to be learned from MC Hammer?
As Hammer pointed out at a recent presentation at Harvard, “Our DNA is made for us to communicate.” This can’t really be refuted: after all, aren’t we creatures who like to confide, discuss and converse on topics not only close to our heart but that pertain to the latest TV show, fashion trend or office gossip?
One unquestionable tactic we can all learn from MC Hammer is his perseverance. He has spent his time tweeting, creating YouTube videos, building his community and updating his blog in way that has not only kept him relevant but has also given him an ‘influencer’ status in the social media world and – more importantly – among his fan base. Hammer seized the opportunity to use social media to create deeper connections with fans and became a beacon for musicians looking to use social media to connect directly with their fan base. Furthermore, he’s used this opportunity to give back by co-founding a community around dance (DanceJam.com) which was invested in by local Bay Area tech influencer Michael Arrington.
In a recent interview in San Francisco, Hammer was quoted saying, “Anyone who’s not participating in social media, in the long run, is doing a disservice to their business.” We couldn’t agree with this more: social media is game-changing and provides an unprecedented opportunity to understand your brand from the perspective of the largest and most vocal focus group on Earth. It enables brands to stay relevant and fosters innovation by offering a more agile and immediate way to react to market opportunities and uncover market gaps.
I’m looking forward to attending the Gravity Summit and hearing what my favorite Hammer-pants wearing star has to say about becoming a social media hero. We will keep you posted on the day’s events live from the show on Twitter from @Visible_Tech, and if you have a question for our new-age social media hero just let us know! We’ll do our best to keep you updated – especially if we meet Hammer ourselves! Lastly, what do you think of @MCHammer receiving this award? Look forward to your thoughts.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Yes, China Has Their Own Version of "Facebook"




Renren, Facebook Copycat, Poised To Make History With 

Rumored IPO





One of the first social networking sites in the world to go public may be an unknown quantity for even the most avid tweeters and Facebookers: Renren, a six-year-old company that has been dubbed "the Facebook of China."
Renren's rumored initial public offering, which willreportedly take place in the United States later this year, marks the rising stature of China's homegrown technology sector and provides a window into the unique set of challenges facing Internet startups there.
At the same time, Renren's IPO ambitions highlight China's evolution from follower to trendsetter. Though Renren was initially a Facebook clone, offering equivalent features and even a matching color scheme, China's social network appears to be leading the way as it preps the stage for a slew of expected IPOs by better-known brands like LinkedIn, Groupon and Facebook.
Launched the year after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "thefacebook.com" went live, Renren, then called "Xiaonei," was at first available only to college students. The site was sold to holding company Oak Pacific Interactive in 2006 and has grown to over 160 million members as it has worked to expand its user base beyond campuses.
Though conceived as a Facebook knockoff, Renren has displayed remarkable innovation and adaptation, launching new features and offerings that are tailored to Chinese users and distinct from those of Zuckerberg's site.
As Fast Company noted in a profile of Chinese startups, Renren has been far more aggressive than its Western counterpart in pushing social gaming and advertising, a tactic that appears to be boosting the company's bottom line. Renren claims it grew ad revenues by more than 100 percent in each of the last two years.
"China's social media has a long tradition of borrowing heavily from what's happening outside, then adapting it," explained Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence, a social media marketing service.
Given the many public clashes between Chinese officials and U.S. companies struggling unsuccessfully to make inroads in the world's most populous nation, outsiders might assume the Chinese government, with its blocks, firewalls, rules and censors, represents one of the most formidable challenges faced by China's social networking sites, which ostensibly give voice to the masses.
Beijing has a robust arsenal of tools it uses to maintain its "Great Firewall" and crack down on online services and conversation it perceives as running counter to Party interests. In the hopes of preventing the protests in the Middle East from spreading to China, the government recently blocked searches for terms like "Egypt," prevented users from sending messages or posting updates online containing phrases it deemed sensitive, and disabled certain functions, such as search, on social networking sites.
Even Renren was not immune: the Wall Street Journal reported that "status updates with the word 'Jasmine' [a reference to a post calling for China to lead a 'Jasmine Revolution'] were met Sunday with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with 'political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content.'"
In the past, the government has gone so far as to shut off sites entirely, including as Fanfou, a Twitter-like service launched by Renren founder Wang Xing that was blocked in 2009 after riots shook Urumqi.
But some business experts downplay the risk China's government poses to these social startups, all of which are subject to some level of state intrusion, and argue that the greater threat comes from the industry's ever-more-numerous competitors.
"Government censorship is a level playing field for anybody who operates here," said Richard Robinson, a tech entrepreneur working in China. "I would say the challenges [facing Renren] have much less to do with the government and are much more about the ferociously competitive environment here."
China-watchers predict that the kind of draconian rules Chinese officials impose on Facebook and Twitter, both of which are blocked in the country, will not dramatically hamper the fortunes of Chinese sites like Renren, which focus more on entertainment -- though it's unclear how their users will fare when forced to deal with censorship and service interruptions. These online networks are not exempt from censorship and other restrictions, yet they are perhaps more accustomed than outsiders to negotiating Beijing's bureaucracy and its many stipulations. Cooperating with state censors is the norm and the cost of doing business.
Redundancy, not government crackdowns, is most likely to keep China's entrepreneurs awake at night.
Whereas Facebook is virtually without peer in the United States, China has a slew of social networking services, from Twitter-like microblogging sites to bulletin board systems buzzing at all hours with activity, all battling for their share of the world's populous web market. Renren faces competition from a host of other "Facebooks of China," such as Kaixin001 and 51.com, and new rivals are constantly joining the playing field: Major portals, such as Sina, Tencent and Baidu, will frequently clone successful startups, rather than acquire them, then drive traffic to their own versions of properties like Twitter and YouTube.
"People often think of China's Internet culture as a collection of warring states," said Guobin Yang, a sociology professor at Barnard specializing in Asia and the Middle East. "The Chinese Internet sector is more diversified: you don't have a Facebook that dominates the whole social networking scene. In China, it's usually quite a few of these sites competing with one another."

Competition may be fierce, but Renren and its rivals all stand to benefit mightily from China's huge and growing online population. The world's most populous country now boasts around 457 million Internet users -- roughly one and a half times the total population of the United States -- and they are choosing to express themselves online in ever-increasing numbers.
"The usage of social media in China is off the charts relative to almost any country in the world," Crampton said.
NOTE: A previous version of this post stated that Renren would be the first social networking site to go public. In fact, Xing, a "social network for business professionals," previously filed its IPO in 2006. 

Monday, February 21, 2011

100+ Free Marketing & Self Promotion Ideas





100+ Free Marketing & Self Promotion Ideas


(1) Give Away Freebies With Your Design Business’s Name and Contact Information. 
Go to where your target customers hang out and set up a booth or table. Give out some freebies and a flyer or leaflet as well. Some examples of freebies include free magnets, rubber bands, rulers, note pads, etc. All of these items should have your information printed on them.
(2) Free Demonstrations of Your Services. 
Go to local print shops, office supply stores, and other local stores and offer to give free demonstrations of your services. You can also offer lessons as well.
(5) Speaking Engagements.
Contact local schools and associations about classes, colleges, seminars, lectures that you can speak or teach at.
(6) Go to Your Local Library or Book Store and Place Business Cards in Relevant Books.
This one is a little iffy. Go to your local book stores and libraries and find books that a potential customer might read and place your business card in it.
(7) Shave Your Logo into Your Hair or Get a Logo Tattoo.
Want to strike up conversation easily? Shave your logo into your hair or get a tattoo.
(6) Flyer / Business Card Exchanges.
Network with other local non-competitive businesses. See if they will display your business card or flyer in exchange for referrals, etc.
(7) Incorporate a Referral Incentive Program.
Offer your customers an incentive for referring customers to you. An incentive could be a discount on future business, a gift certificate, a gift, or whatever you decide that they incentive should be. You might also consider implementing a referral fee.
(8) Hold a Contest.
Offer a contest with a grand prize that would interest your target audience. Promote your contest through flyers, local newspapers, and local radio stations. This will get the word out about your business and will more than pay for itself. (however you have to have the startup cash to place ads in local newspapers and on the radio. If you don’t have startup cash, just use hand printed flyers and place them all over your the place (such as libraries, grocery stores, malls, etc). By holding a contest, you can also get your site listed on dozens of online contest directories.
(9) Directory Listings.
Make sure to list your company in all appropriate free directories. If you can afford it, get yourself listed in directories that require a fee (as long as you have researched that directory and it is a directory that will land you business).
(10) Wear Your Business Information.
Create t-shirts, hats, buttons, and bags with your company’s information and web site listed on them. You might feel like a walking advertisement but that is the point. :-)
(11) Magnet on Your Vehicle.
Shameless self promotion is the key. Custom printed magnets for your car are very inexpensive but very effective. Placing a magnet on your car gets everyone to know about your business. You will even get neighbors to refer you to other people without even having to say anything to them.
(12) Sponsor a Charitable Event.
Sponsor a charitable event that you care about. You will receive free PR for your business and it will feel good to do something for a cause that you care about.
(13) Sponsor a Client’s Event.
Sponsoring a client’s event can get your name out to all of the client’s contacts as well as remind your client that you are a valuable resource to them.
(14) Offer Free Consultations to Potential Customers.
Sometimes just offering the free consultation will land you the job, however, sometimes it won’t. When a client meets with you, you already have your foot in the door, so I think that it is worth the risk (if you are just starting out that is).
(15) Friends and Family.
There is nothing shameful in asking your friends and family to spread the word about your services and how talented and skilled you are. This is what family and friends do naturally anyways. When you first start out, ask them to send out an email to their close friends and family members regarding your new business. It is hard to ask even your closest family members to do this, but it is also important to do everything that you can to start your business.
(16) Is it a Business Card or a Coupon Code?
Instead of leaving all of that white space on the back of your business card, why not place a coupon for your services?
(17) Press.
Find interesting angles about your company to send press releases about your business.
(18) Set Up An Account on Flickr and Other Photo Sharing Sites.
Flickr is very popular and if your designs are really good, you will make a name for yourself by placing your images on Flickr and similar sites. Here is a list of alternatives to Flickr (Photo Sharing Sites). Make sure to place good tags on all of your images. Also try to get your images into groups of similar items. Such as a group called ‘Cool Brochures’.
(19) Print a Calendar for Your Customers.
Wouldn’t it be a nice thought to print out a calendar filled with your designs and give it out to your customers? A calendar is usually displayed where everyone can see it and needs to be constantly referred to for dates. A calendar is a perfect promotional item for your business and is well worth the money.
(20) Networking.
Network (without over schmoozing) every chance you get. Continuously give your business card out to as many people as you can. The easiest way to do this is by asking people that you talk with for their business card. You then have an easy way to give them yours. Take notes and if you were able to get a business card, take the time to send them a short email to thank them for their time.
(21) Printed Newsletters.
Although you are used to emailed newsletters, printed newsletters still exist. Utilizing printed newsletters is also an effective way to promote your business. Also by having a printed newsletter, you are collecting mailing address information about potential customers. Printed newsletters can be virtually free if you use your own printer.
(22) List Yourself in the Yellow Pages.
Get yourself a yellow pages listing. Although I have heard that it isn’t such a great deal anymore since so many people use the Internet.
(23) Promote Yourself on Printed Materials.
Promote yourself by placing your contact information on all of your printed materials.
(24) Professional Groups.
Attend meetings for local professionals groups such as The Chambers of Commerce, etc. You can introduce your business and get the word out about your services and what you can do.
(25) Send an Email to Everyone That You Know.
When you are first starting your business, it is important to put your neck out and send an email to everyone that you know. You should let them know that you just started a design business and that you would appreciate it if they kept you in mind if they ever needed your services. Also, ask them to pass on your information to anyone that they know.
(26) Contact Local Printing Service Bureaus, Office Supply Stores, ISPs, etc.Contact your local printing service bureaus, office supply stores, ISPs, etc. to see if they will consider referring business to you in exchange for a referral fee.
(27) Participate in Trade Shows.
Participate in trade shows. This is a great way of getting your name out to industry leaders.
(28) Holiday Promotions.
Take advantage of the holidays. The holidays are a great time to send out a card or gift to past and current customers to show them that you appreciate their past business and to remind them that you still exist. Be innovative and you can think of a low priced option…even if it means homemade cookies with your logo baked into the middle.
(29) Write a Book
If you know enough about your trade to write a good book, then this book will be the best promotional piece for your business.
(30) Contact Publishers Regarding Your Availability.
Purchase the following book in order to gain access to the list of contact information for publishers and other companies on the market for a graphic designer … Artists & Graphic Designers Market 2007 (Artist’s & Graphic Designer’s Market)
(31) Get Involved in Social Events.
Social events are a great place to network too. Just don’t overdo it. Just be friendly and there will be an appropriate time to mention what you do. Some examples of social events are church, synagogue, and school events.
(32) Make Sure to Incorporate ‘Thank You’ into Your Marketing Plan.
Say ‘thank you’ to new customers, existing customers who hire you for a new project, referrers, to clients or vendors after a meeting, to vendors or associates after a job well done, peers who give helpful advice to you, or any other act of kindness that is associated with your business. Writing a hand-written note to say ‘thank you’ is the best route because it shows that you took the time to write an actual letter instead of an email. But, if you can’t get yourself to do this, then say ‘thank you’ with an email instead.
(33) Stay in Contact with People You Used to Work With.
Stay in contact with past companies that you worked for as an employee. Make sure to let them know that you are available for outsourced projects.
(34) Newsletter Cross-Promotion Works.
Find other industry leaders who publish newsletters. Cross promote in each other’s newsletters. Don’t cross promote in a direct competitor’s newsletter, but rather find someone who is in a similar field. For example, print designers could promote themselves with web designers, photographers, writers, etc.
(35) Learn More and Get More Work.
By taking classes and attending seminars, you are not only learning more and keeping up to date in your field, you are also meeting contacts, and that could mean more work for you. There is nothing wrong with staying ahead of the pack.
(36) Market to Past and Present Clients.
As a business owner, your biggest asset is your client list. Your customers are your biggest fans (if you have done a good job). They are the only people (other than family and friends) who believe in you and your work. You can communicate with them without them thinking that you are a telemarketer. Make sure to take notes on personal information such as family member names, how many kids they have, whether they are married or not, etc. Keep this information on an index card and reference it before you speak or meet with them.
Regularly communicate with your customers and make sure to remind them of discounts you offer for referrals. Make sure to ask previous customers for a testimonial and for referrals. I also suggest sending gifts and cards on holidays and birthdays. You should also consider asking existing and previous customers advice on how to improve your quality of service.
(37) Offer an Online Newsletter.
An emailed newsletter is a free and effective way to promote your business. Also by having an e-newsletter, you also are getting email / contact information about potential customers. Make sure to display a newsletter subscription box on your home page and on the top third of all other pages.
(38) Start and Write an Informative Blog.
A blog is one of the most effective forms of self promotion. If you write an effective blog, you can get thousands to your blog within a week (if you write well that is). Make sure to utilize SEO tactics … i.e.
  • Domain Name with Keywords – Try to purchase a domain name that has your number one keyword in it…such as flyergraphicdesign.com … just don’t be spammy about it.
  • Search Engines Like Text - Flash sites are beautiful but search engines like text more than images. Try to utilize a design that considers both SEO and beauty.
  • Use Meta Tags – Meta Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords. Meta Title is the most important.
  • Utilize Header Tags – Use header tags in your content to emphasize the important headers within your articles.
  • Create Great Content – It is important to also make sure that some of your most important keywords are within your articles. However, you must place these keywords naturally within the article. You aren’t trying to be scammy about it, you just need to make sure that the search engines can recognize your article for what it is.
  • Link to Other Similar Blog Articles – Link to other similar blog articles for trackbacks (blogs normally links back to any blog that links to them)
  • Post Helpful Comments on Other Blogs - Make sure to visit similar blogs and post helpful comments to lead people back to your blog.
  • Add Your Blog to Blog Directories – Add your blog to blog directories as well as search engines.
  • Add Social Bookmarking Buttons – Add social bookmarking buttons such as digg and stumbleupon to your articles. Here is a large list of social bookmarking buttons and widgets.
  • Ping. Make sure to ping blog directories.
  • Technorati. Claim your blog at technorati.com and place technorati tags on all of your articles.
(39) Run Your Own Web Site.
Your web site can be your best friend when running a business. It is essential (if you ask me). Make sure to utilize SEO tactics … i.e.
  • Domain Name with Keywords – Try to purchase a domain name that has your number one keyword in it…such as flyergraphicdesign.com … just don’t be spammy about it.
  • Search Engines Like Text - Flash sites are beautiful but search engines like text more than images. Try to utilize a design that considers both SEO and beauty.
  • Use Meta Tags – Meta Title, Meta Description, and Meta Keywords. Meta Title is the most important.
  • Utilize Header Tags – Use header tags in your content to emphasize the important headers within your articles.
  • Create Great Content – It is important to also make sure that some of your most important keywords are within your articles. However, you must place these keywords naturally within the article. You aren’t trying to be scammy about it, you just need to make sure that the search engines can recognize your article for what it is.
  • Add Social Bookmarking Buttons – Add social bookmarking buttons such as digg and stumbleupon to your articles. Here is a large list of social bookmarking buttons and widgets.
  • Add Your Site to Search Engines & Directories – Add your blog to blog directories as well as search engines.
(40) Offer a Lower Cost Version of Your Services.
Offer a lower cost version of your services. If someone can’t afford using your services, then you might as well try to make at least some money from them. An example of this would be to offer template designed leaflets instead of custom designed leaflets.
(41) Offer a Discount for Orders Via Your Web Site.
Offer a discount for orders place through your web site.
(42) Think of Innovative Designs for Your Business Cards to Stand Out.
There are many ways to design your business cards, but there are some ways that are just outlandish. Find your own innovative way to stand out in the crowd. Take a look at these cool business card designs (and Part II) to get some great ideas of your own. One person even created their business card on a rubber band. All offices use rubber bands, so why not hand out a bunch of them and get noticed on a regular basis. Here are some cool flyers / leaflets too.
(43) Build a Great Portfolio and Submit it to Beautiful Design Portals.
There are sites on the net that accept submissions of personal design portfolios. Submit your beautiful portfolio to as many of these sites as possible.
(44) Offer a Very Low Price on One Service in the Expectations of The Customer Buying More.
Low prices often bring in more customers. Marketers use this tactic often. Offer one item at a very low price in the expectations that the customer will purchase another service as. An example of this would be to offer business card design for a very low price in the expectation that at a later time the customer will also want brochures, letterhead, envelopes, etc.
(45) Say Something Funny and Set Yourself Apart as The Funny Designer.
Sounds silly, but if the potential customer likes you, he is more likely to hire you. Here are some humorous graphic design jokes and here are some humorous web design jokes.
(46) Incorporate Video on Your Site and Go Viral with a Video.
Video is one of the hottest things on the web today so you should be incorporating it into your site. Of course you have heard of YouTube. If you create a video that evokes strong emotions, people will share it and share it faaaaaaaaaaaaaast. That’s the essence of viral success. You will know quickly if your video clip is a success. Submit videos to YouTube.com and other video sharing sites listed in this article.
(47) Post Free Ads on BackPage.com
Post free ads on BackPage.com to see if this gets you any work.
(48) Improve Your Content
Don’t have content for content’s sake. There’s been a big push recently to get as much content as possible on websites so that search engines see keywords in that content. But as users get savvier about the web, they are getting increasingly interested in the quality of content. No one is going to spread the word about content that is bad.
(49) Implement Social Bookmarking and Social Networking Tactics (Of Course)
What better way to spread the word about your work than through sites that are specifically designed for users to spread the word about what they like. Make the most of social bookmarking by getting your content on the best, most appropriate, sites on a regular basis through a targeted social bookmarking campaign. If enough people pick up on your content through these tools, you can see viral success just from this alone. I wrote an article on “˜Boosting Your Traffic Through Social Networking Sites‘ and Here is and article on ‘Tips for Viral Success’ that should help you if you want further help on this topic. Here is a huge list of social networking and bookmarking sites. Make sure to place social bookmarking buttons on all of your pages, especially on your articles. Here is a large list of social bookmarking buttons and widgets.
(50) Placing ‘Invite Friends’ or ‘Send Article to Friends’ Buttons on Your Web Site.
At the minimum, you should place an ‘Invite Friends’ button to your web site’s front page. However, it would work really well if you placed a ‘Send article to friends’ button on all of your article pages as well.
(51) Get Articles Published in Online Magazines / e-zines.
Try to get your articles published in online trade magazines and e-zines. Here is a list of graphic design and web design magazines.
(52) Watch the Major Freelancing Job Boards.
Make sure to keep on top of the freelance job postings. Here is a huge list of approximately 150 freelance job sources. And here are some graphic design job & career resources.
(53) Use Google AdWords or Similar Advertising Services.
Implementing an ad campaign on Adwords or similar type services. The way that this works is that you will pay a certain amount of money (usually at least 5 cents per clickthrough) per referral to your site. This type of ad campaign usually works perfectly for a service based site. Here is a link to Alternatives to Google Adsense / Adwords.
(54) Competitions and Awards.
Enter yourself in design competitions and awards and win. Here is a list of graphic design events, competitions, and awards.
(55) Start an Affiliate Program.
Starting an affiliate program is sometimes the best way to go. The way that this works is that you pay a certain set fee for every referral. This is good for people who don’t want to pay anything out of pocket for advertising, unless they get a referral that is. Here is an article on how to start an affiliate program.
(56) Find Poorly Designed Web Sites and Offer Your Design Services.
This idea might backfire on you in that people might yell at you. Find web sites that are poorly designed and contact the owner of the site and offer your design services. This works sometimes if you are able to use tact and constructive criticism.
(57) Ask for Testimonials.
Ask for testimonials from existing clients. Good testimonials are perfect for your web page and promotional items.
(58) Send Promotional Items for Your Services Along With Your Invoices.
There isn’t a better time to send a promotional item than with your invoice. Why? Because you know that the client is going to open that envelope if they are expecting an invoice.
(59) Submit Your Designs to Design Compilation Books.
Submit your best designs to design compilation books. Authors usually announce ahead of time that they are creating a book. Do some web research and find these authors.
(60) Pitch Articles to Design Related Magazines.
Pitch articles to graphic design and industry related magazines, e-zines, and other publications. Even if they don’t let you write the article, maybe they will consider you for a future article.
(61) Hang Out on Design Message Boards / Forums.
Make helpful comments on graphic design forums. When people have questions, try to answer them when nobody else knows the answer. Here is a list of graphic design forums and message boards.
(62) Join a Word of Mouth Referral Club. 
Join a word of mouth referral club and get qualified leads.
(63) Visit Topic Specific Chat Rooms.
You can visit topic specific chat rooms. While visiting you can help people and display yourself as an expert. The word will get around. Of course mention your business but in a non blatant way. Most chat rooms have a profile in which you can mention your credentials.
(64) Create Your Own Locally Published Directory Online and / or Offline.
Create your own local business directory to get to network with other local business owners and to get your name out there in a unique way.
(65) Find an Agent to Promote You.
Find an agent to promote your services. Give your agent a percentage of your profits.
(66) Ask The Customer to Place Credits for Your Work on Published Materials.
Whether your designs are published on the net or in print, ask for your credits to be listed on the published materials. Don’t be pushy about this since they are still the customer.
(67) Open a Free Shop on Cafe Press.
Create a Shop on Cafe Press. Sell your designs on their items. It pays to try to come up with funny sayings and designs. If you make something funny enough, you will probably land up on Digg or StumbleUpon and get yourself a ton of traffic.
(68) Start Podcasting.
Start podcasting to your audience.
(69) Design a Beautiful Web Site and Then Submit it to a Best of Designs Type Site.
You will get tons of traffic if you get your site listed on an site for inspirational designs. Here is a list of sites that list inspirational designs.
(70) Design Open Source Templates and Traffic Will Come.
Why not design templates for web sites or for web scripts such as PhpBB, Drupal, Mambo, etc ? You might have to take a course to find out how to do this, but it will pay off because the user is required to keep a link to your site at the bottom of the template.
(71) Submit Mini Articles to Article Banks.
Write articles for original content on your web site. However, write a smaller version of this article for distributing on article banks. Article banks are databases of reusable articles. The way that this can help you is by placing a descriptive blurb about yourself at the bottom of the article. Something like: John Smith of John Smith Designs is available for brochure, letterhead, and business card design. Please call him at xxx-xxx-xxxx or visit him at johnsmithdesignsco.com.
(72) Submit Helpful Tutorials.
Submit helpful tutorials to tutorial directories. You will get tons of links back to your business’ web site if it is a quality tutorial. Plus, you will distinguish yourself as an expert in that field.
(73) Offer Free Information / Write an e-Book.
When people are desperate for information, it is easy to get them to download a free ebook. If one person reads your ebook and it is helpful to them, they will tell everyone about it. You will soon have a huge number of people coming to your site to download your free ebook. Of course there will also be people who send other people to your ebook. How will those people know about your web site? They will know your url because your will plaster your url all over that ebook so that people who get your ebook from someone else will visit your site. Essentially, it is one huge advertisement for your site”¦unless your ebook is a piece of junk. Make sure to write valuable content that actually is helpful to readers, or nobody will send it to anyone else or add a link to your site.
(74) Make Friends with Other Graphic Designers
Make friends with other designers who will hand off to you their extra work. There are many places to meet graphic designers, such as forums, social networking sites, and communities. We are launchingThe Graphic Design Community tomorrow, this is a great place to meet other designers. It already has approximately 7,000 members from our design forum.
(75) Make Friends with Other Freelancers in a Different Field.
Make friends with other freelancers who will hand off work to you that they aren’t able to complete.Career Buds is the perfect place to do this, it is a social networking sites for freelancers and a place for people to meet people either in their own career field or different career fields.
(76) Pull a Publicity Stunt.
Do something semi-nuts to get yourself recognized in the media. Maybe not…since I don’t know any of you, I’m afraid of what you may do.
(77) Use a Signature on all Emails.
An email signature is very important. Even one person catching a glimpse of your signature could save you when you are in a tight spot. Also, one good customer, could mean leads to many more customers. The way that you should display your signature is as follows:
John Smith
John Smith Designs Company
Providing brochure, letterhead, and business card design.
xxx-xxx-xxxx
johnsmithdesignsco.com
(78) Text (SMS) Messages
People these days love to text one another so give them something short and easy to remember to text to others. Brand yourself with a great phrase that reminds people of who you are and what you do; your own slogan if you will. Make it text-worthy and brief and you’ll see your name cropping up in conversation.
(79) Get Listed with Trade Associations.
Sign up with relevant trade associations and get listed in their online and offline directories.
(80) Comment on Blogs.
Visit blogs and make thoughtful comments to lead people back to your business’s blog or web site.
(81) List Your Design Samples on Portfolio / Gallery Sites.
Make sure to list your portfolio on as many portfolio sites as possible. Here is a list of portfolio sites.
(82) Contact Writers, Photographers, and Web Developers.
Contact writers, photographers, and web developers and let them know that you are looking for work. You can also mention that you will refer them to your clients if they do the same for you.
(83) Call into Radio Shows.
Call up radio shows and plug your business and web site address. Free PR.
(84) Write a Useful Guide that People Must Subscribe to In Order to Read It.
Write very useful content that is hard to find free on the Internet. Offer this guide for free as long as the user subscribes. Plaster your companies information all over the guide. You now also have added subscribers to your newsletter.
(85) Exchange Links.
Exchanging links use to be a big deal on the Internet. It still is important to have links from other sites to yours, however, link exchanges have some how lost their credibility. There are too many web sites owners who have abused the concept and have 100s of non-related links listed on their site. However, I believe that the link exchange could still be utilized in a positive way if you only partner with related web sites. You should also break up your links into useful categories. If you don’t break your categories of links, you haven’t created a useful resource for your users.
(86) Yuck…Cold Call Potential Customers.
I don’t like cold calling, but I have done it. I wrote an article about cold calling a few years back. You can refer to it right here.
(87) Ask Questions on Your Site and Hide the Answers in the Site’s Content.
A good tactic to get people to your site is to offer prizes and contests. One way to do this is to hide answers within your site’s content. Offer prizes or rewards to the people who find out the answers.
(88) Write a Column in Your Local Newspapers and Magazines.
Submit your ideas to local newspapers and magazines. Publishers are always looking for content.
(89) Keep Your Eye on Craigslist.
Craigslist might not be very pretty to look at but it is great for design work and other type of computer work. It is also a great place to network.
(90) Ask to Be a Guest Blogger on Other Blogs.Most webmasters can’t turn down free, unique content. Offer to be a guest blogger on their blog and offer a spot for them to blog on your blog as well.
(91) Submit Your Web Site and Blog to Directories and Search Engines. 
Submit your web site and blog to directories. One way links are important so spend at least a week or so submitting your site to relevant directories and search engines.
(92) Join Listservs for Other Designers and Business Professionals.
Listservs are a great way to network with other professionals.
(93) Create an Online Video Seminar and Invite People to Attend.
Create your own online seminar or class and invite people to attend. If you are good, your business will boom.
(94) Create Positive Testimonials for Services and Software You Try. 
Many sites list their positive testimonials directly on their site along with the writer’s web site’s address. This is a perfect way to get a one way link to your site.
(95) Create an Elevator Spiel to Spew. 
Create and practice what and how you will chat up your business with complete strangers. It works sometimes.
(96) Offer a Guarantee.
Potential clients might be concerned with changing designers and using your services for the first time. Address this concern by offering a satisfaction guaranteed claim.
(97) Get a List of New Businesses in Your Area and Contact Them.
Find out who just started businesses in your area and contact them about your services. All new businesses need designed materials.
(98) Get a List of New Web Sites and Newly Purchased Domain Names.
If you are a web designer, find sites that list newly purchased domain names. Contact the webmasters and personally offer your web design services (without spamming lists please).
(99) Host or Join a Blog Carnival.
Join or host a blog carnival.
(100) Provide Monthly Advice Chats.
Provide monthly advice chats where people who need help can chat online with you if they need help in your expertise.
(101) Everyone Loves Compliments.
Start out your blog, web site, or newsletter by doing a positive profile on other web sites or designers in the same niche as you. You will start off in their good graces and possibly get a link from them as well.
(102) Avoid Using Free Articles on Your Site.
It is tempting, and I’ve done it myself in the past, but try not to use redistributed articles on your site. These articles normally aren’t written well and search engines might penalize you for duplicate content. Additionally, if you take the time to write original content, you will get much more traffic to your site, as well as loyal subscribers.
(103) Link Back to Your Web Sites and Profiles From Social Networking Sites.
On your social networking profiles, make sure to link to your home page as well as your other social networking profiles. After all, social networking profiles get spidered by search engines too.
(104) Link to As Many Other Similar Blogs from Your Own Blog.
Believe it or not, linking out to other blogs is important because of trackbacks, pingbacks, and incoming links plugins. Here is a list of incoming links plugins for Wordpress.
(105) Use Linkbait.
Create useful and fun top 10 lists (or top 100 lists) to bring in lots of traffic. Submit these articles to social networking sites like Digg.com and see if it goes viral.
(106) Make Sure to Provide an RSS Web Feed.
Cater to the web savvy and provide an RSS feed of your content.
(107) Go Controversial.
Say things that are really controversial to strike up free publicity.
(108) Try Getting a Review.
Use ReviewMe.com to get reviewed.
(109) Build a Funny 404 Page.
Build a funny 404 page to get some viral action going on. Your site will probably be all over the networking sites.
(110) Print Out Funny Bookmarks.
Print Out Funny Bookmarks (with your biz info on it as well) and Place Them in Book Stores and Coffee Shops.
(111) Sponsor a Local Little League or Other Sports Team.
Buy uniforms for a local sports team with your branding on them.
(112) Place Your Business Card in a Restaurant’s Card Bowl.
Many restaurants have business card dishes that you can place your card in and / or take one out. It is worth a shot.
(113) Service Exchange.
Offer a local business free services in exchange for presenting your flyers, posters, or business cards.
(114) Schedule Radio Interviews.
See if you can get on radio shows for some free coverage.
(115) Get Articles Published in Magazines.
Try to get your articles published in trade magazines.
(116)Forwarding Viral Emails Might Work.
According to a study done by MarketingSherpa, the top viral marketing strategy used by B2C companies in the US last year was email forwarding. I find this hard to believe, but I will explain to you what the process of viral email forwarding is:
You have received email forwarding campaigns before. I get them from my Mom, my Dad, My husband’s Grandmother and his Mother, as well as many of my friends. These are emails that have been forwarded from one person to another to another to another and so forth. Usually the ones from my family are emails that say things like “Don’t honk your car horn because there is a murderer out there who will shoot you if you honk your horn”. Do you get those too? I consider forwarded email junk and throw these emails away, that is why I am not the best person to explain email forwarding to you since I hate these campaigns. The great thing about email forwarding campaigns is that they can continue to accelerate as new groups of people are exposed to the campaign. How Do I get people to forward my email to other people?
· The only way that someone will forward your email to other people is:
· There is a mutual benefit for them to send the email to others.
· Person shares your interests and thinks their friends will be interested as well
· Email has a great deal or free item.
· Upcoming event that they would like to share with others
· Scare tactic (like the above example) – please don’t do this.
(117) Stand on a Corner with Balloons and a Sign.
If you want to shameless promote your services, stand on a corner with a sign and some balloons. :-)
(118) Send Your Portfolio to Publishers and Advertising Agencies.
Make a CD or a mailable portfolio and send it to publishers and advertising agencies. You can even just send it to local agencies, print shops, other designers who might need help, and new or existing businesses. Read this article, it will tell you how to do it all.
(119)Become an Expert on Questions / Answers Sites. 
There are Question and Answer sites all over the Internet. By offering answers on these questions, your name (and url) will get around quickly. Some Question / Answer sites are:
· MyLot
120. Just Be Amazing and Work Will Come to You.
Just be amazing and the work will come to you.

NEED A WEB SITE?