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Using Technology to Market your Business
Added: (Tue May 13 2008)
If you’re looking to make your marketing more fun and do something a bit different, there are all sorts of options out there now, thanks to technology. Even if you’re not particularly IT savvy, there are things you could consider that won’t cost a lot to do. I’ve highlighted five ideas below:
1) Podcasts
Hopefully you’ve heard of IPods and know that you can play music on these. Well, what you might not know is that you can also record and play talking files on them too – podcasts! This is dead easy to do. All you need is a Dictaphone (ideally a good one that cuts down on background sound and can also copy the file to the computer). Record your piece and copy it onto your PC and then turn the file into MP3 and upload it. A site like http://faq.garageband.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=17&id=269&artlang=en&highlight=podcast will tell you how to do this for free. Once you’ve put it on the web, you can then use it on your website, in your emails and also give it to your customers as a free gift.
2) Viral marketing
You know when you receive a joke from a friend and then you forward this onto your friend and so on, well this is known as viral marketing. Companies will often record a funny video with their contact details in there and send it out to promote their company. Hotmail also used this very successfully to drive people to sign up for emails. Could you create a joke, video or some free sample that would be interesting enough for people to send to their friends and keep sending on?
3) Add games or quizzes to your website
There is a site out there called Widget Box http://www.widgetbox.com/ which has thousands of games, quizzes and useful information that you can put onto your website or use in your emails for free. If you can find something that is related to your business, this is an excellent way of getting people to log onto your site and stay on it to look around.
4) Make a video
There are packages out there now that allow you to make your own videos for a relatively small cost. Packages like My Video Talk can be very good for this. You could demonstrate your product or service or record a workshop you’re presenting and use this on your email, website or post it onto YouTube, My Space or Facebook. Be warned though, the quality isn’t always there and if you’re thinking about doing this professionally, you might want to consider a professional video production company.
5) Text messaging
If you appeal to consumers, text message can be a very effective way of reaching many of them at the same time. I was at a networking event yesterday where a hairdresser was telling us how they used text messages to tell their customers that a new brand of hair straighteners had come in. They sold all of them before they had even got them into the shop – not bad eh?
Technology is moving so fast out there now and in your business, you really need to make sure that you keep up with it because it can really help your business. If you want to be a bit creative in how you market your business, technology can be excellent for this and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either!
Exceptional Thinking (http://www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk) provides marketing help and advice for small business owners and people starting up a business.