Are you ready for more free marketing tips from Growth Nation?  Thanks again to Francine Hardaway, Ed Nusbaum and Phillip Blackerby for inviting me to share these with the current Tempe Fast Trac group of entrepreneurs last month.  There are 51 free marketing tips, and here's 10 more.

21. Get some content out there. Francine Hardaway is the queen of content. She's unique - you won't be able to keep up with her. But you can do enough to get your information found if you do a little thinking ahead of time. Consider your audience as we discussed previously and then maintain a regular pattern of content-writing on key platforms like a blog, twitter, facebook and linkedin. In the case of these 51 free marketing tips it would be a lot to bite off all at once, and so I'm doing 10 a week and sticking to that pattern.  Do something similar to fit your own personal style.  It won't always work out - I skipped a week while traveling in Utah last week - but hopefully you can keep close to a pattern going.  Good content focused on your key audience(s) will get you found and build awareness and credibility for you and your business.

22. Tweet. Building on #21, twitter is just about the easiest way to get info out there. You're limited to 140 characters AND it's easy to log in and out of. Once again - know yourself and your audience! Provide bite-sized morsels that are refreshing, interesting, or both. Retweet items that you think would be of interest to your audience. In effect you're giving props to people you know who have something to say and you're creating a connection between people that may not have been there before. Rules of courtesy apply in twitter for professional usage as they do everywhere else on the web. And don't forget to stay professional. If you're going to rag on people or institutions, it's better not to do it online.

23. Link in. Again building on #21, linkedin is THE business social networking site. Anyone in business should have a professional linkedin profile - it's free, used by nearly everyone and it is an extremely valuable tool.  I have Ed Nusbaum to thank for encouraging me to join way back in February 2005 when it was easier to add connections, and so I've got a few. Find folks like Ed and recognize that almost everyone worth their salt is already connected to him - and so if you connect to him, you'll be only one connection away from nearly everyone.  Pretty cool, eh?  Of course I welcome connections, too ;-) You might also try joining an open networker group if you're looking to grow connections. Another good strategy is to absolutely ONLY link to people you know very well.  That's also effective although it will limit your reach somewhat.  Either approach works.  People ask me 'with all those connections does it take a lot of time to maintain?'  Maybe 3 minutes a day - hardly a problem and well worth the time and effort for the value it brings.

24. Facebook.  Is facebook a verb? Either way, again building on #21, facebook is fast-becoming a great place for business to communicate. It's still pretty retail and consulting-oriented, but fan pages are a hot item these days even for B2B firms. I suggest setting up your own page and then creating a fan page for your business.  Reach out to your customers, friends and partners and let them know about what's going on. Keep your info focused on things that can directly or indirectly benefit them or people that they know.  If you do, they'll pass along your info to people they know, and well, you know how that works.  Before you know it, people you don't know know about you - and that's what we call MARKETING.

25. Have a guest blogger.  What a cool idea to have a guest blogger. I haven't done it yet and I've only seen it done a couple times, but it seems like such a win-win. For your guest they are introduced to your audience and have a chance to expand their scope. For you, you take a break for a week AND you get the potential of really good information communicated to your audience that adds value for them.  To set it up, discuss your audience with the guest and then some ideas for them to write about.  Have a general agreement up front, and then let them go.  Be clear in the posting that the writer is a guest.  Encourage comments - was it useful?  Informative?  Cool?

26. Embrace cause marketing.  One of the best uses of cause marketing I've seen is Coldstone Creamery who encourages every franchisee to donate some percentage of store-opening proceeds to Make-A-Wish. It helps a great charity do more great work. It helps kids and adults who benefit with fulfillment of a wish. It helps the franchisee because it attracts more people to the store. It helps the customer because they're giving to a great cause and that feels good.  It helps Coldstone because they've facilitated a good thing and can take credit for an ever-increasing donation amount.  How about that for a win-win-win-win-win?

27. Put up a sign.  Signs work - on buildings, walls and cars.  They don't need to be expensive: a sandwich board sign can be $150 or less, and a vinyl sign $100 or less.  A see-through sign on the back window of your car is even less investment.  If you're going to do it, do it professionally.  So if you have a sign on your back window, don't put other stickers on your car advocating your college or political view. Keep it all focused on your business.  Again if it's your car, don't put it on your door - that's hard to see.  Put it on the back where more people will see it.  Finally, don't try to put too much information on the sign.  Keep it simple - which will have a greater impact.

28. Personalize your license plate.  This could be the best $35 you can spend. Put your business name on your license plate for all the world to see.  Everyone will be decoding it if your company name is a little long to fit the 7 letter maximum. How about GRWNATN, or GRTHNAT, or GRW NAT?  Which one works for us?  Oh by the way, if you do this, drive professionally, OK?  No cutting in and out of traffic, or road rage!  Drive just like your business, keep it cool.

29. Pick up the phone.  For goodness sake reach out to people you know and talk to them. This is so easy NOT to do when you get busy.  Stay engaged if for no other reason to see how folks are doing - perhaps you can help in some way.  Subsequently they might put you top of mind and consider you for that next project that comes along.  That's good nurture marketing - stay in touch by calling and asking how they're doing.  What's new?  What has changed?  What types of things are they doing now?  What groups are they in?  What types of clients?  Are they using social media?  Do they have any suggestions for you?  It's all good - just carve out the time to do it!

30. Have coffee with people.  Like #29, this sounds so simple but it can be so difficult if you have the kind of schedule that I have.  It hurts me that I can't meet with more folks regularly because we're SOOOO busy.  I'm working on that!  Anyway, figure out your own situation and don't lock yourself away hoping something will happen.  Have coffee with people you know and don't know, have rich discussions, and ask for people they know who you should connect with.  In this way one meeting becomes three, becomes 9, becomes 27, etc - you get the drill.  Once I received 10 contacts in a coffee meeting - wow!  It took me two months to follow-up, and they were great contacts.  If you can manage to have coffee with some key folks for your business, do it today.  Force yourself to do it if you're an introvert, and perhaps have meetings with three so that you don't have to do all the talking.


Well those are the first 30 of 51 free marketing tips.  Sorry that #30 isn't quite free - it'll cost you a coffee and the gas to get there, but that's a pretty inexpensive way to do marketing if you chose the right people to meet.  Reach out, and enjoy! 

Next week: free marketing tips #31 through 40.

All the best, Doug

Doug Bruhnke
CEO, Growth Nation
Scottsdale, AZ  USA