The 5 W's of Self Promotion: Who, What, Where, When and Why

Whether promoting yourself in print, online, or verbally, always focus on the benefits – people are interested in "what's in it for them".

You only want to target people who will be interested in your products, services and business opportunity, otherwise you are wasting your time (and theirs).

Use active voice, not passive voice. Grammar not your strong point? Here's the difference. Active voice is: Serious Anglers prefer Our Lures. Passive voice is: Our lures are preferred by serious Anglers. Active voice is more powerful.

• Local community newspapers. You can place small, cheap ads in your local community newspapers, and you should. You can also place ads in larger papers, but choose the right paper and the right day – do your research. Check the papers and see which days certain ads are run. You can also try doing a press release but as it is likely to read like a promotion you may find it is rejected by editors. If you can tie your business in with local news, such as a charity event you might sponsor, you will have a better chance of making it into print. If you can afford it, you can also place ads in magazines. Make sure your ads cover the 5 Ws: Who, What, When, Where and Why, and include a call to action.
• Direct Mail. You might want to drop flyers in your local letter boxes and place flyers in shop windows or wherever your target market might see them, but realize this is expensive and a lot of direct mail ends in the bin. You might have to do a lot to see little reward. Is it worth it if it attracts new customers? Yes but if there are other cheaper ways of reaching the same people, it would be wiser to use those options.
• Google pay-per-click advertising.
• Free online commercial sites where you can post your ads for free. Sign up first for a free Gmail account and use that rather than your own email address otherwise you may be hit by spammers. At least with a Gmail account you can easily cancel it and get a new one when you need it.
• Internet. You should have a website so you can include your URL in your promotional material and advertising, including your business cards. You can also place ads on other appropriate websites. Having your own web page to sell your services and products and promote your business opportunity means people looking for these will find you and come to you. This mean s no more trying to overcome people's objections trying to "sell" your products or business opportunity.
• Social Media. At the very least you should have Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and use them to promote your business, your website (so people can find you and your products and services online), and create a world of new contacts! Learn social media techniques and strategies unless you can afford to hire an expert to do it for you. You can also hire Virtual Assistants who do this sort of work to manage your social media.
• YouTube. Do a series of videos to upload to YouTube in which you can market your business opportunity and your individual products/services.
• Blogging. Start a regular blog, writing about your area of expertise relating to your business and your products and send the links to each new blog to your social media accounts. Each blog can educate the public on how to use your products and services and how to reach you for more information. Don't overwhelm your readers. Focus on one product at a time and one benefit. That way you will always have plenty to write about.
• Write articles and distribute them to online article sites. Write about topics related to your business, to create credibility and create more online presence opportunities for yourself and your business. You can write about how JooJoo beans have been scientifically studied and found to help 90% of migraine sufferers and explain how it works. (Note: I made up JooJoo Beans – this is just an example.)
• Attend networking events in your area and make sure you have pamphlets and business cards to exchange with others. Always have business cards with you and have your "elevator speech" prepared. That's your twenty five word or less description of what you do, so when someone asks you in an elevator or waiting for a bus, you can tell them before you lose them or their attention.

To be successful you should allow yourself plenty of time to plan your promotions. You need to research the various medium you want to explore for your marketing so you can choose the right papers, magazines, online sites, etc. and study the type of ads that are successful so you can adapt them to your needs.

If you don't promote your business, how will people know about you?

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