I think this is quite an interesting idea to discuss, especially when considering marketing a new business. It may also be of use to Marcela, who features in reality website inafishbowl dot com, and who wrote this blog post about marketing her Mexican food business: http://www.inafishbowl.co.uk/rico/20...game-what.html
I can certainly see benefits in forms of marketing which are paid for. However, I think that a lot of businesses, particularly at start up stage, may lack the funds to pay for a full marketing campaign. And even if you can afford to pay for an advert, how do you decide which publications/media to place it in? Can anyone answer this for me?
With regard to free publicity, I believe a lot can be achieved with minimal outgoings.
Take PR activity as the main example of this. Of course, working your way to using a PR agent or company may bring better results, but starting out, PR can be done by you, the business owner. In my experience, PR is all about getting the word out there, letting me know what you're all about and what you're up to. Saying that, a press release that simply says you're starting a business may not be interesting to a journalist/publication, so try to find the "hook" for the story - something on which the whole story rides, which is an interesting element in itself.
So, finding your USP (unique selling point) could be a good place to start. Write your press release about this unique selling point - what it is, how it's unique. Make the reader think it's the most awesome idea ever, then go on to tell them more about the business as a whole and, obviously, always include a link to your website or some kind of contact details.
Alternatively, create a PR event which you can let people know about through press releases. This could be a launch party or promo event - see here for some tips from an entrepreneur: http://www.inafishbowl.co.uk/hg/2010...omo-event.html.
Aside from these things are social media like Twitter and Facebook. Perhaps you guys could tell me your thoughts on these, but personally, I think they're good, cheap ways of getting your name out there whilst also creating a brand personality.
Take Twitter, as an example. I currently use http://www.twitter.com/fishbowlhq to tweet about things happening with my website, http://www.inafishbowl.com. If the Fishbowlers upload a new blog, I tweet about it. If they tweet, I retweet it. If there's anything we're upto that I think is interesting, I tweet it. I'll also tweet about the awful snow conditions, or how much I'm enjoying my i-Phone etc - little things that create a person behind the brand.
On top of this, I follow other interesting people, and if they say something which I think will be interesting to my followers or is related to the website I run, I'll retweet that too (this has the added benefit of people showing their gratitude for your retweet by retweeting you, therefore getting your name out to even more people).
I think my last tip would be to use Google Analytics if you're running a website. It's free, but comprehensive enough for you to track where your traffic is coming from an how.
Has anyone got any comments or anything to add on this subject? I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts.
Don't forget you can learn from the experiences of other entrepreneurs at http://www.inafishbowl.com