101 ways to get your business noticed

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101 Quick Tips To Get Your Business Noticed By Lynnaire Johnston © 2015

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Copywriting specialist, Lynnaire Johnston, shares ways you can get your business noticed through advertisements, advertorials, brochures, flyers, emails, newsletters, publicity, events, networking, sales letters, social media and websites.

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  • 101 Quick Tips

    To Get Your Business

    Noticed

    By Lynnaire Johnston

    2015

  • 2

    101 Quick Tips to Get Your Business Noticed These quick tips have been taken from the book 9 Proven Methods for Communicating with Clients. Details can be found at www.supersizeyoursales.com//ljsbooks/ Advertisements

    1. Your company name is not your headline! Put your name at the end of the

    advert, not the beginning.

    2. Make your headline attention-grabbing and targeted at the audience you want to

    attract.

    3. Write your advertisement from your prospects point of view not yours! Think

    about whats in it for them.

    4. Test your advertisements so you know what works and what doesnt. Dont

    spend money on adverts that dont bring in sales.

    5. Advertise where your target market is. Know your demographics and those of

    the media youre advertising in.

    6. Advertise in your chosen media on a regular basis so you get seen by your

    prospective buyers. The effect of advertising is cumulative.

    7. Dont cancel your advertising when times are tough. Thats exactly when you can

    stand out from the crowd.

    8. Plan your advertising a year in advance so it will be more effective than the hit-

    and-miss effect of ad hoc adverts.

    9. Make your call to action a compelling one so people know what you want them

    to do and have an incentive to do it. Coupons can be very effective.

    Advertorials

    10. Use advertorials to stand out from the crowd of advertisements. They give you

    credibility and show you to be the go-to company in your field.

    11. Write them from an objective viewpoint so people will read them, not ignore

    them.

    12. Include testimonials in your advertorial to give it even more third party credibility.

  • 3

    13. A good advertorial, written as an interesting case study, could be published on

    your own site and your clients website, as well as in the newspaper or magazine

    it was written for.

    14. When preparing an advertorial know the requirements of the publishing

    company so its not too short, too long, has too many photos or not enough.

    15. Include at least one, preferably more, interesting and eye-catching photograph.

    Brochures

    16. Spend adequate time and money on your brochure so it reflects the quality of

    your products and services.

    17. Plan it properly and in plenty of time so it is not rushed and therefore not as

    good as you would like it to be.

    18. Have your brochure professionally designed, written, photographed and printed.

    19. Make it benefit-oriented as opposed to feature-oriented. Eg airbags are a

    feature; safety is the benefit.

    20. Make your call to action very clear so the reader knows exactly what you want

    them to do next.

    21. Include links to websites where people can find out more. For this to be useful,

    there must be more information on the website than is in the brochure.

    Flyers

    22. Use flyers for promotions or other short-term advertising.

    23. Flyers arent usually as big or as expensive as brochures so print lots and

    distribute them far and wide.

    24. Flyers dont need lots of text but what you do have needs to be convincing.

    25. Keep sentences short. This gives them more punch.

    26. Bullet points work well on flyers as they make the text stand out.

  • 4

    Emails

    27. After your name, the most important part of your email is the subject line. Its job

    is to get the reader to look at your email and not delete it. Make it memorable.

    28. Unlike a sales letter, a PS after your signature is wasted. It often falls below the

    bottom of the page and gets missed.

    29. An email can be sent as frequently as you have something of interest to say. Be

    clear on what you want it to achieve: increase sales, promote a product, make

    an announcement etc. Emails are exceedingly versatile.

    30. To send a sales-style email you must by law have the recipients permission.

    Newsletters

    31. Send a newsletter to everyone on your database, clients, potential clients,

    suppliers, in fact anyone you can think of.

    32. Send your newsletter regularly more frequently than quarterly will get you the

    best results. But dont overdo it. Too often will cause people to ignore it or

    unsubscribe.

    33. Include items that are useful to you your clients. For example, real estate agents

    often put recipes in their newsletters. As cooking is not part of the sales process

    it would be more relevant to give tips on how to get a house ready for sale.

    34. Have your newsletter professionally written, edited, designed and produced. It

    will pay dividends because good quality outperforms shoddy quality every time.

    35. If your newsletter is being sent by email include live links to your website and

    other useful places like your blog. This helps drive traffic to your website.

    36. Dont send a newsletter once or twice and expect results. Commit to it for at

    least 12 months.

    37. Set up a programme with deadlines for each stage and stick with them.

    38. Between issues collect material for the next one so you have plenty to choose

    from when youre ready to put an issue together.

    39. An email newsletter must have an opt-out button or a way to unsubscribe.

  • 5

    Publicity

    40. Send out a media release promoting your event or promotion. Include an eye-

    catching photo. This will increase the chances of your release being published.

    41. Upload it to as many places as you can to get backlinks to your website.

    42. Use accepted press release format. A professional writer can help you with this.

    43. Come up with a novel and innovative angle for your release. Just because its

    new doesnt mean its newsworthy.

    44. Put your most important information first and the least important last. If it gets

    cut everything the reader absolutely has to know will still be included.

    45. Ensure your release answers all these questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why

    and How.

    Events

    46. Hold a newsworthy event you can generate publicity for.

    47. Invite trendsetters, opinion leaders and influencers so you spread the word far

    and wide.

    Networking

    48. Word of mouth referrals are the single best way to bring in business so join

    networking groups and widen your circle of business acquaintances.

    49. Give as much back as you can by helping wherever you see the need.

    50. Join in the events where possible and get to know people at a personal level. You

    never know who knows whom.

    51. Be involved in the running of your group if possible so you get to know as many

    members as you can.

    Sales letters

    52. Long copy always outsells short copy so get as much detail in as possible.

  • 6

    53. For best results follow a standard formula eg AIDA attention, interest, desire,

    action.

    54. Always include a PS when sending a hard copy letter. Never include a PS if your

    letter is via email.

    55. Your PS should include a compelling reason to take action and a roundup of the

    benefits of your product or service.

    56. Have an outstanding headline (4 Us see below)

    57. Include plenty of benefits detailing why they should buy from you

    58. Use sub-heads to break up the text and make it easy to read

    Check and double check your letter before it is sent. You dont want mistakes.

    59. Use formatting techniques like bold, underline and italics.

    Social media

    LinkedIn

    60. Have a full profile that is well written and showcases your skills and abilities.

    61. Include video, presentations and examples of you and your companys work

    62. Set up a company page and put up regular updates.

    63. Get involved in groups and contribute to discussions.

    64. Give recommendations; they will come back to you and you want a profile full of

    recommendations.

    65. Aim for 500+ connections

    66. Post useful updates regularly

    67. Contact your connections regularly

    Facebook

    68. Set up a company page and update it regularly

    69. Find ways to engage people questions, competitions, polls etc

    70. Put up posts that are both interesting and useful

  • 7

    Twitter

    71. Know whether your company would benefit from Twitter ie you have special

    deals regularly

    72. If you are going to send out tweets do it frequently.

    Pinterest

    73. If your product is visual, make use of boards to get noticed

    74. Link it back to your website the more backlinks the better

    YouTube

    75. Set up your own channel and post videos to it

    76. Create your own videos. They dont have to be studio quality.

    Websites

    77. Update your site and pages regularly

    78. Increase the size of it constantly by adding new content

    79. Include a call to action on each page

    80. Every page needs an attention-grabbing headline that is different than the page

    name

    81. Give information freely

    82. Set up a blog that you can link to from other platforms like LInkedin, Facebook

    etc.

    83. If using blogs and newsletters, update them regularly with thought-provoking

    items and material

    84. Keep up with latest trends eg include video

    85. Include plenty of third party endorsements, in the form of testimonials or case

    studies.

    86. Spend some money on SEO so your site ranks well.

    87. Dont leave out-of-date material up on the site, for example events that have

    already happened. Keep it regularly updated.

  • 8

    General

    88. Planning know what you want to achieve from every piece of communication

    you send

    89. Attitude its not about you, its about the client. Write from their perspective.

    What do they want to know, what benefits does your product or service offer

    them? Put yourself in their shoes.

    90. Appeal to their emotions fear, greed, vanity etc

    91. Write as is you were talking to them (the bar stool method).

    92. Headlines Every document or piece of communication should have one.

    93. Target your headline to appeal to the exact reader youre trying to reach. Eg,

    Attention Arthritis Sufferers!

    94. The 4 Us of headlines urgent, useful, ultra-specific, unique

    95. The job of headlines is to grab the readers attention and to intrigue or promise

    enough that the reader will go on to the next paragraph.

    96. Tone dont use jargon, weasel words or formal speech

    97. Structure have an appropriate beginning, middle and end.

    98. Make the copy flow, each section should be related to the next in an orderly way.

    99. Simplicity dont try to be overly complicated. Make it simple to understand and

    follow.

    100. Design dont use reverse text. It is hard to read.

    101. Accuracy check and double check the copy to make sure there are no

    mistakes.