Enterprise UK Blog

If you read my first MYM blog post, you’ll have made your first sale and now be up and running in business. Right?!

Once you’ve made that first sale, it’s time to shout about it! So let me offer you my ten steps to marketing success.

1. Define your story
What is your story? Imagine your life is being turned into a movie and plot the script; this should help define the message you convey to the media.

2. Make friends with the media
Research the journalists who are interested in your industry and trade. Approach them, get to know them and send them ‘exclusive’ stories.

3. Become an expert
The media will be beating a path to your home office door if you set yourself up as an expert in your chosen field. You can do this by developing a blog, writing a report, making predictions or writing a book.

4. Communicate often
This applies both online and off. Develop and distribute a regular e-newsletter for online visitors and, in the offline world, agree to attend and speak at events to get yourself known.

5. Enter Awards and competitions
This offers an opportunity to get your name and face in the press and a nice night out too! There are Awards for people just like you such as Enterprising Young Brits and our own Home Business Awards.

6. Use good imagery
This applies on your website, business cards and any other printed material.

7. Create a virtual window to the world
Develop a website or blog, keep it updated and watch it rise up the search engine ranks.

8. Paint your car with the company name and logo
Well, why not?!

9. Do things that make you stand out
But do keep it legal!

10. Tell us your story
So we can pass it on to journalists who write in asking us for case studies of successful home business owners.

And there’s something you can do right now. We launched a brand new category in our Home Business Awards this year… the Young Home Business Owner of the Year. It’s open to anyone who’s trading from home and is under the age of 25. It’s free to enter and the lucky winner will receive lots of profile and £100 in clothes vouchers from fashion website www.osoyou.com Entries are open until 15th August so get writing!

Find out more at www.enterprisenation.com

Emma Jones is founder of the home business website, www.enterprisenation.com and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’ published by Harriman House.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am and is filed under Emma Jones, Guest bloggers, Women's Enterprise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.