Beyond press coverage: creative promotion

 

Getting media attention is just one piece of the promotional puzzle.  While press coverage remains valuable, smart entrepreneurs know that business promotion needs a range of strategies to elevate your small business's visibility, reputation, and customer base.

Business Awards: The Credibility Multiplier

Business awards serve as third-party validation of your excellence.  They build instant credibility and provide opportunities to showcase your business to new audiences.

• Industry-specific awards: Look for recognition programmes within your industry or professional body or association
• Local business awards: Chamber of Commerce, city business awards, or ‘Best of’ local publication awards
• Specialised awards: These often have many categories recognising innovation, sustainability, workplace culture, leadership or entrepreneurship.

If you win an award, make sure you add the award logo on your website, email signature and marketing materials.  It’s also an opportunity to get press coverage, and often award organisers will also publicise winners.  Don’t hold back on your social media about your nominations, short listing and wins!

Use the recognition to approach potential clients or partners with enhanced credibility.  If you’ve been short-listed, be sure to attend award ceremonies as they are excellent networking opportunities.

Author a book: become the authority

Publishing a book positions you as a thought leader and subject matter expert.  For potential customers, the business owner who ‘wrote the book’ on a topic often wins their trust.

What can you write about?

• How-to guide: Share your expertise by explaining how to do what you do!
• Case study collection: Use your successes to create a series of stories demonstrating how specific strategies worked.
• Industry transformation: Discuss how your industry is evolving and position your business as a change leader
• Business memoir: Tell your business story with lessons that will help your readers to enhance their own businesses.

When your book is published, host at least one book signing event, either in a local bookshop or at relevant industry conferences, exhibitions or other events.

Make sure there is a dedicated landing page for the book, and ensure it features on your website.

Offer the book as a premium gift for potential high-value clients.

You can use content excerpts for blogs, social media, and email marketing.  With a book under your belt, you may also find podcast hosts and event organisers are interested in you appearing in their broadcast or event – but don’t be shy, ask them.

Stand up and speak

Speaking engagements allow you to demonstrate your expertise, connect personally with potential clients, and build trust with larger audiences than most marketing channels can reach.

There are lots of opportunities, if you look for them.  Start small with your local networking groups and then you can approach:

• Industry conferences and trade shows
• Local business organisations: Rotary Clubs, Chamber of Commerce, branches of professional bodies and associations
• Educational institutions: Community colleges, university business programmes
• Virtual events: Webinars, online conferences, and panel discussions

Develop two or three signature presentations and create valuable handouts or digital resources audience members can take away.

Record your presentations (with permission) for content marketing.  Some organisers may already be videoing the event and may give you access to your presentation (but you’ll have to follow up to ensure that you get this when it’s been produced).

Request testimonials from event organisers that you can use in your marketing.

The strategic value of giving back

Strategic charity partnerships create goodwill, demonstrate your values, generate positive publicity, and often introduce your business to new networks of potential customers.

• Choose causes aligned with your business values or industry
• Develop structured programmes rather than one-off donations
• Consider skills-based volunteering that showcases your expertise
• Explore co-branded initiatives that benefit both organisations

Most charities have good relations with the press, particularly locally.  There can be opportunities for joint press releases if you’re sponsoring an event or your whole team is getting involved in a fundraising project.

If you and/or your employees volunteer for a charity, make sure you feature this in your social media, blogs and newsletters.

Become a community resource

Offer free or low-cost workshops that position your business as a valuable community resource, while subtly demonstrating your expertise to potential customers.  These might include:

• Skills training: Teach practical skills related to your industry
• Problem-solving sessions: Help attendees work through common challenges
• Industry updates: Share new developments that impact your customers
• Demonstrations: Show how to use tools or systems in your field

While you’re giving your time at no fee, your registration systems will capture contact information that can build your list and allow you to communicate with a wider audience.

Ensure that attendees get branded materials to take away with them, ideally with value, so they aren’t just filed in the recycling bin!

Offer special incentives for workshop participants who become customers

The power of strategic partnerships

Collaborating with non-competing businesses creates win-win promotional opportunities.  There are many businesses that have the same target audience as you do, and lots of opportunities for both businesses to benefit:

• Co-hosted events: Pool resources and audiences for greater impact
• Joint special offers: Create packages combining complementary services
• Shared content: Develop guides, webinars, or tools together
• Cross-promotion: Recommend each other to existing customers, sharing information in each other’s newsletters is a great strategy.

Make sure that your partners share your values and quality standards for authenticity.

Set clear expectations for both parties, with formal agreements covering responsibilities and outcomes.  These don’t have to be complicated, but protect both parties.

In a nutshell

While each of these promotional strategies can make a difference, a combined approach is more effective. For example, winning an industry award might lead to speaking opportunities, which could generate content for your book.

Start by selecting one or two approaches that align best with your strengths and business model.  Get each one up and running effectively before adding another. Remember that consistency and quality matter more than quantity - being excellent in a few promotional channels will yield better results than being mediocre across many.

When you think beyond traditional press coverage, you’re creating a promotional ecosystem that generates visibility, credibility, a stellar reputation and new business opportunities.

Quirky marketing strategies

If you’re a small business owner or a solo consultant, finding marketing ideas that make you stand out can be tough.  Marketing specialists often recommend all kinds of approaches, but they’re pretty much a version of what everyone else is doing.

Here is a basketful of ideas that lend themselves to small businesses and are perfect to get attention, whether it’s on your website, on social media or out networking.  People will remember you!

If you sell a product:

First-timer royalty programme

New customers get treated like royalty – special rates, extra perks – set out to Wow them!  Then they will go through a ‘back to normal’ ceremony, where they attain ‘regular’ status.  People will remember their onboarding experience and talk to friends.

Name your price day

Once a quarter, let customers name their price for certain items.  You'll be surprised how many people pay fair value or even over-value items.  The psychological impact of feeling they got a deal they created builds extraordinary loyalty.

Product adoption ceremony

Don't just sell items; have customers ‘adopt’ them with mini-ceremonies.  Provide adoption certificates, taking photos of the customer with their new ‘family member’, whether it's a houseplant, a coffee machine, or a pair of running shoes.

If you provide a service:

Secret Client programme

Similar to secret shoppers, but reversed.  Tell clients that one person each month gets their service completely free—but they won't know until after they've paid.  This creates a buzz where every client interaction could be ‘the one,’ and people share their experiences hoping they'll be selected.

The Failure Guarantee

Instead of promising success, guarantee spectacular failure if customers don't follow your advice.  If you’re a fitness trainer you might offer before/after photos of clients who ghosted them, or if you’re a business coach could showcase ‘what happened when they ignored my advice’ posts.  This reverse psychology approach stands out in a sea of typical success guarantees.

Skill swap days

Partner with a completely unrelated service business and swap skills for a day.  If you're an accountant, spend a day at a local salon giving ‘financial health checks’ while the stylist offers ‘hair consultations’ at your office.  The bizarre crossover creates memorable experiences and introduces both businesses to new clients.

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These ideas are just to get your creative juices flowing – what else might work for your business?

7 newsletters strategies to engage and inspire your readers

As a small business owner, your email list is pure gold — but only if you use it well. Newsletters are a powerful tool to stay connected with your audience, build loyalty, and drive sales. Yet too many newsletters end up unopened, deleted, or unsubscribed.  This all impacts on your statistics.

Ideally, you should be tracking your open and click-through rates.  If you’re using a professional e-marketing platform (e.g. AWeber, MailChimp, Mailerlite, GetResponse, etc.) these stats will usually be available on their website.  What are you measuring your newsletter’s success by?

If you want your subscribers to look forward to hearing from you, not ignore you, follow these seven proven tips:

1. Write for your reader, not yourself

It's tempting to focus your newsletter on your business updates — but what your readers care about most is how you can help them.  Always ask: What's in it for them? Share valuable insights, practical tips, or exclusive offers that make their life better or easier.  Make your newsletter feel like a gift, not a sales pitch.

✅ Quick tip 1: Use the word you more than we or I, to keep the focus on your reader and help them to connect with your message.

2. Lead with value

Very few readers want to be sold at!  If your newsletter always leads with a value based article, they’re more likely to stay engaged.  An article that helps them in some way, tells them how to do something, explains something or gives them useful guides or checklists are usually a great start to a newsletter.

✅ Quick tip 2: If you write a blog post regularly, you could use a good post as your lead article – although limit yourself to 100-150 words, then add a ‘read more’ button to take them to your blog link.

3. Develop a unique style

One of the things that makes a newsletter stand out is when the message is written in an individual style.  When it sounds like the writer is talking directly to you, the reader, it’s much more likely that they will open the next one, as they feel as though they actually know you.

It doesn’t matter how big your organisation is, a personal approach will always win over a more polite and distant style.

✅ Quick tip 3: Write as though you’re telling a friend about the subject.  Try dictating to a voice to text app to help to create this conversational style.  You can always edit the result to tidy it up.

4. Create a consistent (but flexible) schedule

Consistency builds trust. Whether you send your newsletter weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, stick to a rhythm your audience can expect.  But don’t be rigid — stay flexible enough to send special editions when something truly newsworthy happens.

✅ Quick tip 4: Pick a frequency you can maintain realistically, even during your busiest seasons.

5. Make your subject line impossible to ignore

Your subject line is your first (and sometimes only) shot at getting opened. Boring or generic lines will bury you in the inbox.  Great subject lines create curiosity, promise value, or spark emotion.

✅ Quick tip 5: Test out subject lines that tease a benefit – How to Save 10 Hours This Month, or ask a compelling question – Are You Making This Common Mistake?.

6. Keep it easy on the eyes

No one wants to read a giant wall of text. Break your newsletter into short sections with clear headers, bullet points, and white space.  Use bold text and formatting to highlight the most important points.  Think like a newspaper; headings and subheadings allow the reader to decide which articles are of most interest to them.

Remember that readers are attracted by images, so ensure that relevant images are used to make your newsletter look more attractive.  However, every image should help you to get your message across – they’re not just decoration!

✅ Quick tip 6: After writing your draft, do the 5-second scan test — can you get the main ideas just by skimming?

7. Always include a clear call to action (CTA)

Every newsletter should have a purpose.  Whether it’s clicking a link, replying to a question, downloading a guide, or shopping a sale, make sure you tell your readers exactly what you want them to do next, they’re not clairvoyant!  A strong CTA keeps engagement high and helps you measure your newsletter’s effectiveness.

✅ Quick tip 7: Use one primary CTA per email to avoid overwhelming your readers with choices.  Tell them what to do – and make it easy to do it (e.g. a big fat button to click!)

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The bottom line:

A successful newsletter isn’t just about broadcasting your message — it’s about building a relationship.  Focus on delivering value, writing like a real person, and making it easy (and enjoyable) to engage.  Do that consistently, and your subscribers will actually look forward to hearing from you — and that’s where the magic happens.