…by Suzanne Falter Barnes
Summary: Love your business but hate selling and marketing? Thanks
to the Internet, there are now a number of great systems you can set up
to actively market your business while you\’re busy doing other things.
This article outlines some of the key ones.

For many Net marketers, marketing is a love-hate relationship. We love
the traffic and sales that a good push brings … but we have to force
ourselves to do it.

So lately, I\’ve been looking for systems anyone can implement that get
the job done while you\’re pursuing other interests. The Net really is
designed to do exactly this – so let\’s take advantage of it.

Please do note, these tasks are specifically chosen for anyone who is
interested in building platform – or attracting a much broader audience
so they can be appealing to media, publishers, etceteras. (Please see
my bio box below for more on this.)

Also, please note some of these tasks rely on a virtual assistant to
implement. These are long-distance assistants who help you get things
done via email, phone and the Net. They can be found simply by googling
‘virtual assistant\’.

Basic Monthly Marketing System:

1. Regular ezine submission. There\’s no getting around it. Ezines
aren\’t quite as important as they once were, but they still need to be
on your to-do list. So automate the process by getting an easy to use
template from Constant Contact or one of the other broadcasters – or
finding a VA who will set up and broadcast the issues for you.

2. Use ezine articles to generate online articles. Simply take the
essay out of your ezine, and turn it into an online promotional
article. That means adding a bio box at the bottom that leads folks
back to your ezine sign up list. Best way to do that is by adding a
valuable bonus. Then use an article submission service to submit your
articles. You can also purchase a really good submission list to email
your article to.

3. Additional paid spots that match your market. In addition to your
own submission list, consider adding a few high profile paid positions.
I like www.ideamarketers.com and the article bank at www.accpow.com for reaching the coaching/therapist/speaker market. Make sure any paid spots you choose are targeted to your people.

4. Monthly PR release on PRWeb. Once per month, decide on a newsy
aspect of your business you\’d like to promote and then post a PR
release on prweb.com. The key is to find something to talk about that
mainstream media folks can honestly use. You may need to generate a
survey or track down research in your field to make it newsy. Then post
away. You can do this relatively inexpensively.

5. Quarterly postcard to TV, print media, using media short list. Once
you\’ve put together a ‘short list\’ of your favorite top mainstream
media contacts (I have a great list of 50 contacts on my site at
getknownnow.com) … send them a note. I like making up a short run of 50
fun postcards, and then sending one out each quarter. Make sure the
card has a helpful tidbit they might consider posting on a wall.
Continuity counts here! You can hire a VA for this one.

6. Regular blog posts using old ezine content. No time for blog
posting? Don\’t worry. Do this with the help of your VA. Just have them
go through your old ezine archive, and select choice bits to post. Make
sure you alert your ezine list when you\’ve posted on your blog.

7. Automate your blog promotion. Include your blog in a MyYahoo page
on http://www.my.yahoo.com, so it gets spidered by Yahoo robots.
Cover blog directories and SE\’s, like http://www.submitfire.com,
http://www.blogdex.net, http://www.popdex.com, and
http://www.technorati.com.
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/ is the most comprehensive list
of these. Get a VA to spend a day submitting … that\’ll help for sure!.
Also take full advantage of pinging, RSS feeds, and Trackback
capabilities available through most blog creation sites.

8. Pitch five speaking possibilities per month. Have a VA do some
hunting on Google and Yahoo for conferences that are just being set up.
Specifically have them look under RFP + Conference + [YOUR FIELD].
RFP\’s are ‘Requests for Proposals\’. Then have them do the submission,
using an electronic speaking kit that you\’ve already got set up online,
as well as your suggested topics.

9. Set up free teleclasses through partner sites every month. Ideally,
you\’d deliver two to four teleclasses per month. While your VA is
searching out sites that offer conferences, have her contact the same
sites to see if you can speak to their members in a free or fee
teleclass.

10. Promote your teleclass on www.seminarannouncer.com. I love this
site. They really get the word out and help you fill teleclasses. And
if your class is free, so is their service! Just make sure the topic is
one people genuinely want to know more about, and it will fill up with
targeted prospects. Make sure to close your teleclass with class notes
that lead people back to your ezine sign up and more.

Former Associates