For years, I've been advising marketing clients to grow their website
traffic--and their business--through Internet discussion forums --e-mail
lists, newsgroups, web-based forums, bulletin boards...
Whatever technology you choose, you want to find at least one community
where you can grow personally and professionally and at the same time
market to your constituency. For those who understand the medium and use
it patiently, it can be the most effective free marketing tool you can
find.
Participation in discussion groups brings me dozens of clients a year,
plus numerous book orders. It takes time, but costs nothing out of pocket.
I look for groups where I can both learn and teach, so that my reading
is not only mining for contacts, but also professional development. I'm
a much better publisher, for example, because of my participation in publishing
discussion groups online.
My experience: outside of an occasional book order, I usually figure on
about six months of active participation before people start inquiring
about doing business with me. But sometimes the cycle is faster: I once
posted to a brand new list for the first time--and immediately got four
inquiries from prospects--two of whom became clients in the next two months.
And other lists I've joined since then also already generated inquiries
quickly (on the first post on at least one other occasion). Either my
name is simply getting more known in Cyberspace, I'm getting better at
using the medium to self-promote while providing genuinely helpful information,
or Internet Time has speeded up again and the curve has shrunk significantly.
Here's this super-successful post, and then following is some analysis
of why it worked so well:
Kumar Verma wrote,
My firm does not offer a tailored pr solution to our clients. However,
we want to offer some pr service and are looking at partnering with
a email distribution service. None of our clients are large enough to
generate huge amounts of publicity, however we are looking to service
around a 1000 small to medium sized clients covering a broad spectrum.
This is as good a time as any to introduce myself,
having been listening (the PR-guy's version of lurking, with a more
positive spin) since Issue #1.
My name is Shel Horowitz. I've been online since 1994 and doing PR since
1974. I know many of you from I-Sales, I-Help, I-Adv and various other
lists.
For many years, I've operated a rather limited PR shop, doing just the
parts I enjoy: writing and strategic planning, always emphasizing low-cost,
high-return solutions. For example, I let other people *send out* the
releases and get on the phone with reporters to actually *place* stories.
But I get a great deal of satisfaction when my clients send me newspaper
clips that are verbatim reprints of my news releases, or close to it.
And I also get the good feeling in my heart from helping people who
thought they couldn't afford professional PR, but find the $150 or so
they pay me to write a release is within reach if they can do the distribution
themselves. In fact, I've even subcontracted to more full-service agencies.
To me, one of the greatest things about the Internet is the ability
to develop partnerships that expand one's reach. Since I'm not a one-stop
shop, it's been crucial to me to have resources either to partner with
directly or to refer out. For instance, there's a news distribution
service I've recommended to many of my clients--and the service provider,
in turn, has sent me some copy writing work.
The other thing that was interesting to me about Kumar's post was the
client base: small fish with limited budgets. Those have always been
the kinds of clients I go after most actively. They may only have a
couple of quick jobs every year, but there's essentially no hassle factor.
And I find some of these smaller businesses are actually much more appreciative
of the value of my skills, and they make space in their budgets for
frequent work from me. I've even been put more-or-less on retainer by
some companies with only one employee (the boss).
Kumar doesn't say what he intends to do for these folks--but clearly
there'd be room for partnerships if they need services he doesn't offer.
My only dealings with Kumar are that he offered me the first affiliate
commission program I signed up for, several years ago, on a pay per
action to visit a freebies list he had--and there was a card deck associated
there also, I believe. Now for me, as a copywriter, to be able to partner
with someone who mails card decks, for example, makes a lot of sense.
One final point: the Internet allows people to appear much larger than
they are. I have put together a 450+ page website,
with lots of articles aimed at helping entrepreneurs run their businesses
more effectively and with less outlay of money. This makes my shop seem
much larger to the casual cruiser than it actually is. It's been easy
to get writers to donate content in exchange for exposure, and I've
built the site into a major resource, working on it just an hour or
two per week on average. This, in turn, has helped me expand from a
local client base to one that spans three continents--at a cost I couldn't
touch through any other medium.
Best, Shel Horowitz
_______________________
Some theories about why this post worked so well:
I started with a very lighthearted but important point: that I'd
been "listening") (respectful, interested) rather than "lurking"
(shark-like, waiting for prey).
I reminded those who know me of our previous contact in cyberspace--and
reassured others that I've been kicking around the ether for a while.
I described what I do for work--but did so in the context of responding
to Kumar's question--and at the same time, was able to point out my
far-below-the-competition price structure without any screaming headlines
full of dollar signs 4) I used Kumar as a jumping-off point to expand
the discourse into a new but related discussion on virtual partnerships
(while subtly plugging both the usefulness of my website and my expertise
that's good enough to attract clients internationally as well as those
willing to put me on retainer)
Find discussion lists at http://www.liszt.com,
http://www.topica.com, http://www.yahoogroups.com,
http://www.listbot.com, and many
other places.
Internationally acclaimed copywriter and marketing
consultant Shel Horowitz specializes in affordable, effective marketing
solutions both on and offline. He has seen his press releases used in
the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, and many other prominent publications.
Three of his five books are on low-cost, high-return marketing, most recently,
Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, currently a finalist
for ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award. His award-winning website
offers many articles for entrepreneurs and marketers, including four years'
archives of his FREE Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips. If you'd like to discuss
your next marketing project with Shel, contact him as follows:
Accurate Writing & More, P.O. Box 1164,Northampton, MA 01061-1164,
USA,(1-413) 586-2388 (voice) (617) 249-0153 (Fax), e-mail,
website.
