You will agree with me that the startup stage is like the most difficult stage of every business; at this point you are trying to find your foot in the business, strategize ways to make it progressive, work towards getting a seemingly commendable Return On Investment (ROI) and also striving to make it go public. The “making it go public” part is quite important because the more people know about the products and services you offer, the more your customer base expands.
Which brings the question to the fore, “How do I get free media publicity as a startup?” In the next few paragraphs, I will be dishing out ways on how to go about gaining free media publicity.
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Video Marketing for Free Media Publicity
Here are shocking video marketing engagement statistics that was culled from Wordstream:
- 51% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI.
- Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
- Sixty-four percent of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos (via tubular insights).
- 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video.
- Social video generates 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
Now, the above statistics show you how effective video marketing is. It stems from the fact that most humans are designed to find visuals more appealing than texts; people will rather watch a detailed video that describes your product and services than reading a text that serves the same purpose.
Which is why more brands are taking the cue, to organize more video contents and sharing on some social media platforms – in which one of the highly favored social media platform for sharing video contents is YouTube, it is even more encouraging that there is an overwhelming number of YouTube users which guarantees a wider reach.
So if you are looking out for one sure means of gaining free publicity as a startup, Video marketing should be highly considered. Be creative, be professional about it, create quality video content and you are sure of getting results in no time.
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E-Mail Marketing for Free Media Publicity
E-mail marketing is forever the king and with the below statistics extracted from, Optinmonster you will understand why that is the case:
- Total number of users ————– 6 billion
- First online “check” of the day —- 58%
- Use this channel at least daily ———- 91%
- Prefer this channel for permission-based 77%
Promotional Messages
- Most frequently used channel for personal 45%
Messages
- Users check here for a deal from a company 44%
They know
- Users who made a purchase as the result of — 66%
A Marketing Message from this Channel
- Customers Acquired ————————– 7%
- Inbox Placement Rate/Organic Reach ——— 79%
- Open/Click-Through/Engagement Rate ——- 18% OR / 3.7% CTR
- Distribution of Global Content Sharing ——– 4%
Activities
- Delivers an Excellent ROI ——- —————- 21%
- Customer Lifetime Value ——————— – +12%
Ownership Full ownership
Basically, every business that is looking at gaining publicity online should subscribe to the idea of email marketing for the following reasons:
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Consistency in terms of reaching a targeted audience:
With email marketing you can consistently pass your message around to your subscribers; they become the first to be informed about your recent blog posts and promotions. And with every click to your blog posts, the reader gets enlightened about your brand and all it entails.
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Easy To share:
All that is required in this case is for a subscriber to click the button “forward” and they can forward to as many contacts as possible; that way your mail gets a wider reach, even to those that weren’t initially subscribed.
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Very Cheap
Email marketing is like the cheapest form of digital marketing there is; you get to promote your brand at little costs
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Keeps track of progress
With this medium, you could analyze how your customers think and what they are more responsive to based on different parameters like click-on-click rates etc.; that way you get to have an idea of what your customers want, which will enable you to strategize well enough to make your emails get as many conversions as possible.
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Organize Freebies And Competitions for Free Media Publicity
This is one fast way to get people to talk about your brand. Though you have to invest some money into it, depending on the extent you’re willing to go. You could simply be organizing occasional giveaways where customers can win stuff – mostly your products – as they answer questions about your brand; that way you are indirectly creating awareness to your brand and also building a larger prospect of customers.
Or you could take it up a notch by organizing competitions – it could be talent hunts – where applicants get the chance to win cash prizes, gifts etc. To ensure more people get to know about your competitions or freebies, you could collaborate with web influencers – since they have wider followings – to talk about it.
Though the response rate is not quick, over time, you will be able to win the hearts of many.
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Get Featured On High Profile Websites for Free Media Publicity
This is another form of advertising or publicity. These high-profile websites already have a large fan base of readers that trust and beliefs in whatever is featured on the website. In most cases, you pay a certain amount to get published on their websites, take it as you are paying for a TV or Radio Ad, only this time, it is digital. Most brands subscribe to this idea because there is a high chance of amassing customers from the regular posts you feature on high-profile websites.
Another way is to get featured on those authority websites that review companies’ products and services when your products or services is being given positive reviews on such websites, you are more likely to attract prospects to your brand.
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Be Active On Social Media Platforms for Free Media Publicity
This point cannot be overemphasized. Social media is one of the fastest means to get the word about your brand out there. Open social media accounts, employ social media managers to help you manage them; in terms of content creation, interactions, and customer service. With time, your brand will begin to get the publicity it deserves.
Leave no stones unturned when you are trying to gain publicity as a startup, employ the aforementioned tips and you are on your way to achieving that.