5 Marketing Strategies to Make You a Celebrity
Leonardo da Vinci was a great artist. But art was not just talent. Leonardo da Vinci also understood very well the cult of celebrity.
And as small business people, we need to understand it, too, and do what we can to become celebrities in our own right.
Why? Because as consumers, we view some people as “worthier” or “more expert” than others, just because they’re better known. In fact, these people may not be any more talented or do a job better than someone completely unknown, but we assume that they are more skilled or talented just because they’re more famous. And because they’re famous, their names become currency in themselves. We like to point out that we have a garment or a window treatment designed by a famous name rather than by Tania Unknown.
And, of course, we’re willing to pay much more for a garment or window treatment designed by someone well known.
Now as small business people, very very few of us will ever become as well known as Leonardo da Vinci. But it’s still important for us to do what we can to add some sparkle of celebrity to our own names. The payoff is literal; the better known we become, the more customers or clients we’ll draw and the higher the fees we’ll be able to command.
If you’re just starting out, here’s a cheat sheet of what you should or could be doing to get known. And if you’re already established, read through the list and see if there are any strategies you’ve missed that could do even more to spread your fame. These “get known” marketing strategies are ranked from least common to most common. The less commonly employed strategies tend to take more effort.
1. Get on TV.
The beauty of TV is that viewers see you and if they see you in action, they start to think they know you.
The most effective version of this marketing strategy is to have your own TV show. Think of Mike Holmes and Debbie Travis, for instance, and what having their own shows on the Home and Garden Network has done for their careers. Think they have any trouble getting all the business they can handle?
However, even if you can’t manage to get your own show, you can still be on TV. Many programs, such as news programs, are looking for guests for expert segments. You can also buy your own TV time, creating ads and/or infomercials about your products or services.
How to get started: Search for TV programs that regularly feature guests and might see you as a suitable candidate. Then find out who the right contact person would be and make your pitch for a guest appearance.
2. Create /sponsor an event.
Publicly supporting charitable causes isn’t just fashionable anymore but de rigueur for savvy businesses. The charity event is a lovely piece of PR, of course, but it’s also an attempt to sway the influencers to prefer one company’s products or services over another.
While large corporations can afford to sponsor many different events, one of the best ways for a small business to employ this marketing strategy to get known is to select one charitable cause and connect their charitable giving to an annual event. You could be one of the main sponsors of a walk or drive, or even start such an event of your own.
How to get started: Choose a cause that you believe is important and see if any annual fundraising events for that cause already exist in your community. If they do, find out how you and your company can become a sponsor. If not, start brainstorming what kind of fundraising event for that cause might be successful and how you could get other interested parties on board.
3. Create and send out a newsletter.
The newsletter is the workhorse of self-promotion. Sending a newsletter to your customers or clients, either through the mail or via email, lets you contact them on a regular basis, and, if done well, lets them form a connection with you and your company.
The kind of newsletter you send out should not be a product pitch but more a sharing of information that should be useful to the customer or client. You might include information on a special offer or product, but the bulk of the newsletter should be articles or tip lists. The keys to a successful newsletter are readability, usefulness and publishing on a regular schedule. For more about creating your own newsletter, see Newsletters Are Smart Marketing by Janice Byer.
How to get started: Collect the email and/or mailing addresses of customers (and potential customers if possible). Design and write a sample newsletter and decide on a publishing/sending schedule.
4. Write articles.
If you can write well and are prolific, writing articles can be an excellent marketing strategy and turn you into a household name! Well, maybe I exaggerate a little here, but certainly writing articles can establish you as an expert in your field and draw more business your way.
The tricks to using this way of getting known successfully is to get your articles published in the right places and to be sure that your articles give the interested reader somewhere to go to learn more about/get in touch with you – such as your own Web site. (See Way to Get Known # 5.)
What are the right places? Web sites, magazines, ezines, newspapers that your ideal customers or clients have a good chance of using and gives more information about writing articles.
How to get started: Research to find “the right places” to send your articles. Examine these sites, magazines or papers and brainstorm suitable article topics that would interest their audience and relate directly to your business. Writing the article(s) is next…
5. Create a Web site.
Most of the people who try to use this marketing strategy to get known fail. They make the mistake of creating a Web site about the wrong thing – themselves. Sure, your potential clients want to know the basic information about you, such as your name and contact information. But frankly, they don’t care about your vital statistics or your personal life.
What they care about is your expertise, and that’s what your Website has to showcase if this marketing strategy is going to work for you. So make sure that your Web site displays your expertise and gives your site visitors a way to sample it. You can do this by providing articles or tips about subjects related to what you do on your site, by having a visual portfolio, testimonials from satisfied clients, or even take and post questions and answers from site visitors.
How to get started: Design a Web site focused on your expertise yourself or hire a professional to do it. Buy a domain name, get a Web host and publish your site on the Internet.
Yes, it’s going to take some effort and obviously getting known is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but this is one marketing strategy where you’ll be amply rewarded for your efforts. And don’t forget, you can shortcut the process by hiring a publicist if you wish.
Processing your request, Please wait....
