There have been a number of people promoting the idea that distributing bylined articles is no longer an effective way to market one’s online business. This is entirely untrue, as it is still an effective way to drive consumers to your site and increase one’s linking capabilities, help increase search engine rankings and ultimately increase sales; but while it is important, Web masters are finding that it needs to be just one part of the larger marketing mix.

As social media becomes a larger influence on your customers, and as they are increasingly drawn to different types of online mediums, business owners must adapt their communication strategy accordingly and expand their public and Web-relations efforts beyond simply writing articles and distributing them.

This can still be done in a free and easy way, getting links and publicity from multiple outlets and reaching consumers, but it takes a little more thinking and enthusiasm than submitting an article to an online article database. Effectively promoting your business easily, and increasing Web traffic and sales can be done if you follow four easy-to-implement tactics.

Tactic #1 – Identify where your target audience is

This is the most important step when promoting a business. As consumers are increasingly turning to Web logs (Blogs), pod casts and social media sites, mediums are increasingly becoming more focused, making it easier to reach a targeted audience effectively. To understand where your target audience is getting its information, take the time to become a part of their online community. Read the blogs that are targeting the consumers you want to reach and join the conversation by posting on these blogs. Get to know what e-newsletters they are reading and who is authoring the blogs and articles that are relevant

Tactic #2 – Find an angle

To promote a company or product, you have to engage your audience and give them access to the information and resources that they want. This means that you need to come up with an angle. Finding an angle means asking yourself, “why would anyone care about what I am writing about, or what I want written about?” This can be difficult to accomplish, but it is the key to having your article picked up by the maximum amount of outlets, and having the largest amount of potential customers visit and link to your Web site. To find the strongest angle, make sure to read as many articles and blogs as possible, understand the trends and “hot” topics that people are writing and talking about and make sure that your angle is relevant to what is going on in the world at the moment, in other words, make sure your angle is “timely.”


Tactic #3 – Network

Through the wonders of the Internet, we now have access to more information than we could ever know what to do with. If you are interested in marketing your company, get involved with people who know and understand how to drive consumers to your business. Social media, such as Blogs and forums provide great outlets where you can obtain information and resources that were previously unobtainable. I have met public relations professionals through online groups and forums that have helped me get press mentions for clients because they needed sources for stories they were trying to get written. It is this type of win-win networking that will allow you to solidify partnerships and to obtain resources that will help your marketing efforts ten-fold. I started Public Relations Chat, http;//www.publicrelaitonschat.com, as a resource for those who would like to know more about promoting businesses and clients to share and gain resources and knowledge.

Tactic #4 - Actively Pitch Your Angle


This is often he hardest tactic for many people, although it doesn’t have to be if you are prepared and have worked through the previous tactics in this article. This tactic simply forces you to use the contacts that you have built and the angle you have crafted and the knowledge you have gained by following and participating in the blogs and communities as outlined by tactics 1-3. Pitch your network by simply sending notes to the editors of blogs that your customers read and ask if they will accept your article that you have written, or if they will consider doing a story that will include your company. Get your article to people that tell you they are looking for copy; ask the people that you have met through your networking if they know of anyone looking. You will find that there are people everywhere looking for a timely, well-written article, or a great angle for a story, it is just a matter of getting the right information into the right hands.

Although this might seem like a lot of work, if you follow these four easy tactics, you will grow your business. In these fast-paced times, you need to keep working towards driving business, or you won’t be in business. Good luck!

Brian Flynn is a public relations professional and co-founder of the Public Relations Chat online Web forum (www.publicrelationschat.com), an online community a place for those interested in public relations and communications to gain valuable information, advice and resources from people who are in similar industries across the nation.

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