Nothing helps you make sales like owning your own established brand name. Many times, when you ask someone why they bought from a particular company, their reply is, "I've heard of them."
Work to make your name familiar to people in your industry. If you have a medium to large company, make your company name well known. If you are working solo, you're best bet is to make YOUR name a household word.
You don't need millions of advertising dollars to do this. In fact, advertising can run a distant second to the simple methods I'm about to tell you.
Start by learning all you can about your industry and the products and services you sell. More than low price, people like to buy from someone they can trust to lead them toward a good value.
You can build your image as a trusted expert by participating in online discussion groups. Check popular sites, e-commerce providers, and newsgroups for discussions on your subject. When someone asks a question, offer an answer along with links to places where they can get more information.
You won't reach a great many prospects this way, but you CAN make an impression on other leaders in your business. You will soon find they recommend you as an expert to others.
Get a web site that is packed with good information. It is important that your site looks professional. Find sites whose look you like. Find out who designed them. Get their designer to build a graphics template for your site. This can include a logo, a background, and navigation graphics. You can easily add your own copy, even use one of the handy online web building systems available (see our acclaimed system at Bizland.com).
Get your web site listed high on search engines. With tens of millions of people using major search engines daily, a prominent listing on even one can send an avalanche of traffic to your site.
Use Web Position Gold to build doorway pages and check the inexpensive shareware selection continuously updated at Tucows.com. You can get personalized search engine help from experts at WebMarketingNow.com and FirstPlaceRanking.com.
Write a one page article each month and send it to newsletter editors and appropriate discussion groups. People automatically respect an author as an expert. With so many ezines looking for content, writing your own articles is easy free promotion.
There are a lot of substandard articles floating around. You can get a jump on the competition by finding a professional editor to help you write and/or polish your article. You can find low-cost help at CheapEditing.com.
More than anything else, be consistent. Customers and prospects notice when your name and good information turn up time and again, year after year.
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice, copywriting, and promotional packages. See all his tips to help your business or career at http://DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at kevin@drnunley.com, or 801-328-9006.
