Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box a

Promotional giveaways
Have you ever received a coffee cup or a pen with a business's name printed on it? Of course you have. Have you ever received a pen or a coffee cup with a website printed on it? Promotional items – coffee cups, T-shirts, key rings, pens, fridge magnets and hundreds of other items that are available – can be great promotional ideas. When you select an item, think about what your customer demographics are and what would be appealing or novel to them. One important thing to keep in mind with these giveaway items – you need to have a way to give them away. This will dictate a couple of things – the volume and value of what you produce. It may be that you have few clients so something like golf shirts or tote bags may be what you want to give away, but if you are in a high-traffic area, something like pens or pencils may be more appropriate. Remember, giveaway items need to be given away so know in advance how you are going to accomplish this.

Circulars, flyers and door-to-door
Don't we all hate junk mail? Of course we do so why do we keep seeing it? Because it works. There are dozens of companies in most cities that can assist you in this. You need to know what your market is and how you want to distribute to them. If you deal with businesses or with the home market, you will need to know how to target these areas and there are companies that can help you with both. In many cases you can even partner up with other companies or suppliers for joint mail drops. The best thing here is to use your creativity to get the best bang for your buck.

Buses, taxis, airlines, public washrooms
I have never actually seen a commercial ad on the side of an airplane, but I have seen thousands of ads in airports. The idea of using transportation venues and vehicles for advertising has been around for a long time. Depending on what your ad looks like, you can attract attention. Think about how you would do this, ask a question, and give the answer on a website, run a contest where they need to enter online or give something away. To drive people to your website so think about all the novel ways you can. Join specialty, business "Sales Leads" clubs, business clubs and associations If you are a shy person, this is definitely where you want to spend some time. Why not grow your personality and business contacts while you grow your business? If you have never attended any of these kinds of functions, I think you will be amazed to see the type of people who attend these.

Few are outgoing, most are normal every-day, shy people just like you who are interested in advancing their business by mixing with other business people. There are many ways that you can benefit from attending these functions, and most are inexpensive to join, and most will welcome visitors. Check out a few to see which one you like best. If one doesn't suit you after a time, don't be afraid to move on to another.

Sell stuff on eBay and other auction houses
I love this idea. eBay is an auction website where people buy and sell items online. In recent years it has become increasingly popular with many businesses (even large organizations) who use eBay as a facility to sell clear-out product they no longer want or need. If you decide to to use eBay as a place to sell your products and get a greater exposure for your website, be prepared to accept a lower selling price for your products. This does not mean you will receive a lower price than a retail price, but it can happen. If you currently do not buy or sell anything on eBay, it will take some time for you to set up and understand the buying and selling process and their rules.

Depending on what you sell or provide, this can be a great way to promote your website. A slightly lower price for products sold on eBay can more than make up for the exposure it can provide.

Company vehicles
Every day company vehicles are seen that are owned by companies who have websites, but they have neglected to advertise their website on their vehicles. When such an easy form of displaying a web address to hundreds or even thousands of potential customers is not utilized, it is difficult to understand. The cost of having a sign painter add your web address to a company vehicle is minimal when you consider the number of people who will see this day after day and week after week.

Include your Web Address on EVERYTHING you send out
Every piece of paper that leaves your business should have your web address printed on it somewhere. This includes business cards, invoices, brochures, envelopes, letterheads, quotation sheets and even notepads. From time to time I receive business cards where a web address has not been printed on them. When asked why they don't have their web address on them, invariably the response is, "Oh, we simply forgot." The answer to this is THROW THEM OUT – for the small cost of getting them printed properly, this is a good investment. Would you ever consider handing out a business card where you "forgot to add your phone number"? Of course not. Your web address is JUST as important. There is one further comment on business cards. There are some decent quality business card forms that can be purchased that allow anyone to print off their own business cards. All that is necessary to remark on this matter is that no matter how good these cards appear, they are always recognizable as "self printed business cards." Is this the image you want to portray? For the minimal cost of printing business cards, you may want to consider a professional job. Business cards say a lot about a person and a business, and are especially important for first impressions.

Include your Web Address in your signature line of e-mails
Just like the web address printed on the sides of company vehicles, it is astounding how often business e-mail is sent without a signature line. This is free and very simple to do. If you don't know how to do this, ask someone. It only takes a couple of minutes but looks very professional. Trade Shows & Conventions The key with trade shows is that you have to make them work for you. If you get the opportunity at the last moment to acquire a booth at a trade show, turn it down unless you are experienced and know what needs to take place. Trade shows normally take weeks and months to plan. If you are offered a course on how to use trade shows effectively, take it. You will discover a world of ideas that will make the next time you enter a trade show something worthwhile. If you are involved with a trade show and you can’t take a course, here are some suggestions that can make or trade show adventure more rewarding.

If you want to attract people to your booth you MUST demonstrate something. This could be the demonstration of a product you sell, or how the product you sell interfaces with something else. If all else fails, demonstrate it on video or computer but live is best. People at trade shows are attracted by motion and commotion (remember the “live” demos that caught your attention at previously attended trade shows). You don’t have to have a “slick snake oil salesman approach”, but demonstrating something (or even anything) at your booth at a trade show will boost the number of people who visit your booth (and hopefully boost your sales too).

The second thing to remember about trade shows is you MUST have something to either give away, or a way of collecting peoples names (like a contest) so that you can contact them later. After all, isn’t part of the reason you have the trade show space to help promote your business and website? I suggest giving away something like pens, key fobs, mugs or something like that WITH YOUR WEBSITE ADDRESS on them. Unless you have some fantastic product of service, standing in a trade show booth handing out brochures can be little more than a waste of time and money. Trade shows and conventions can be great places to do business and to promote your website but they do take planning.

Contribute Content
Everyone has some sort of knowledge on a topic. Why not share your knowledge with the rest of us; write some articles for newspapers, magazines or other credible sources. There are thousands of magazines, newspapers and other periodicals printed every day, every week or every month. These publishing firms are always looking for content for their readers. This doesn't mean they will take just anything. They want to convey a sense of quality to their readers, too, so if you are submitting articles they will need to be of top-notch quality. It is a good idea to enquire as to what the publication's guidelines are before you submit anything. Most are quite willing to entertain questions on content and what their readers are expecting. Think of these more as a way of educating the audience than that of self-promotion. If you think this way, the self-promotion will follow. Make sure to include your Web address in your signature for everything you contribute.

Send out CDs or DVDs
These medias are becoming more and more popular (a great thing to hand out at trade show and conventions). CDs and DVD can contain a lot of information in the form of text, graphics animation, video and sound. With this media-rich facility you have an enormous amount of creativity you can tap into. Imagine for example putting together a CD for “Investor Relations”. You could use video clips of your company or production lines, text to show financials and all of this can be displayed within an animated presentation interface with full sound. What investor wouldn’t be impressed with this kind of attention to detail.

There are a few advantages to sending out CDs. First of all, because they are a "delivered media" there is a higher likelihood they will be viewed; and secondly the content you can create on a CD is much richer than you can deliver over the Internet with its speed constraints. CDs are similar to television in that they can display both audio and visual messages and, unlike TV, they can be repeated over and over and even passed along to others. Here at E-State Media Group we produce multi-media CD and DVDs for our clients, so I am biased toward them. I think the real message that needs to be conveyed here is that if you are considering producing CDs or DVDs you need to use the rest of this manual as a guideline to understanding your audience and how you will use and distribute them.

It is easy to go out and produce CDs – it is quite another matter to distribute them to an appropriate audience. Sponsor a sports team and do some community work at the same time What a great way to get your website recognized in your community. Like some of the other forms of promotion, this form of promotion has two benefits: one is to you and your business; the other is to the sports team and community. If you are really serious about promoting your business in this way, pick sports events and teams that tend to get some media and fan recognition. Like many things, this will take some research but often a sport supply store can be a good resource for information. Remember what I said about branding and building TRUST? This is a great way to gain consistent recognition and sustained visibility in the community and to build trust through familiarity.

Sandwich-board signs
These have been around for decades. They are unconstructive, inexpensive and they work. If your business can make use of sandwich-board signs to promote your website, use it. I have yet to see a sandwich board that promotes a website. If you are in a high-vehicle traffic area, this is particularly good. If you really want to make an impact use the sandwich-board idea and turn it into a walking-sandwich-board. Just make sure of two things. Number one, make sure your sign is readable, uncluttered and to the point and, number two, make sure you are within the legal bounds of signage for your area. There are regulations on signage in most areas and contravening these could result fines.

Semi-trailer billboards
The first time I saw this I thought, what an innovative idea. The promotion idea is this – you get a large semi-trailer truck, place large ads on either side of its box, then drive it around in areas where your potential clients, live, work or play. In order to make this promotion work, it will be necessary to have a message on your semi-trailer ad that tells the viewer to "go to your website" in order for them to take part in the promotion. Because we see semi-trucks on a daily basis with advertising on the side, what you do with this one must be unique and grab people's attention. The whole purpose of this promotional idea is to send people to your website.

Website decals
Decals are another medium that have been around in various forms for many years. You can use them in a variety of places but they work best when attached to glass surfaces. One place for decals is in the windows of your company vehicle. (Ensure sure they do not interfere with the driving safety of the vehicle.) Decals are relatively inexpensive and can be used on a variety of window applications like your building, on company vehicles or as giveaways to customers. These can be ordered from most sign shops.

Develop a "free service"
This won't work for everyone but if you have the ability to offer a free service on your web site (like a foreign-dollar exchange facility or free e-mail accounts for people) this will help boost your viral marketing. One site I visited had an "estimator" for determining the amount of air your furnace used and what kind of a filter was best to use in it. Another one had an "estimator" for determining the amount of kitchen cabinet space you had. Any of these types of services will make someone want to bookmark your website as a place to return to because there is something there they can use. Other ideas could be to offer free advice on something you know or in which you are a specialist. If you make sure the free advice is constantly being updated and refreshed, people will continue to come to your website to view it. It is this kind of repetition that builds trust and helps develop viral marketing.

Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box an

Sell stuff on eBay and other auction houses
I love this idea. eBay is an auction website where people buy and sell items online. In recent years it has become increasingly popular with many businesses (even large organizations) who use eBay as a facility to sell clear-out product they no longer want or need. If you decide to to use eBay as a place to sell your products and get a greater exposure for your website, be prepared to accept a lower selling price for your products. This does not mean you will receive a lower price than a retail price, but it can happen. If you currently do not buy or sell anything on eBay, it will take some time for you to set up and understand the buying and selling process and their rules.

Depending on what you sell or provide, this can be a great way to promote your website. A slightly lower price for products sold on eBay can more than make up for the exposure it can provide.

Company vehicles
Every day company vehicles are seen that are owned by companies who have websites, but they have neglected to advertise their website on their vehicles. When such an easy form of displaying a web address to hundreds or even thousands of potential customers is not utilized, it is difficult to understand. The cost of having a sign painter add your web address to a company vehicle is minimal when you consider the number of people who will see this day after day and week after week.

Include your Web Address on EVERYTHING you send out
Every piece of paper that leaves your business should have your web address printed on it somewhere. This includes business cards, invoices, brochures, envelopes, letterheads, quotation sheets and even notepads. From time to time I receive business cards where a web address has not been printed on them. When asked why they don't have their web address on them, invariably the response is, "Oh, we simply forgot." The answer to this is THROW THEM OUT – for the small cost of getting them printed properly, this is a good investment. Would you ever consider handing out a business card where you "forgot to add your phone number"? Of course not. Your web address is JUST as important. There is one further comment on business cards. There are some decent quality business card forms that can be purchased that allow anyone to print off their own business cards. All that is necessary to remark on this matter is that no matter how good these cards appear, they are always recognizable as "self printed business cards." Is this the image you want to portray? For the minimal cost of printing business cards, you may want to consider a professional job. Business cards say a lot about a person and a business, and are especially important for first impressions.

Include your Web Address in your signature line of e-mails
Just like the web address printed on the sides of company vehicles, it is astounding how often business e-mail is sent without a signature line. This is free and very simple to do. If you don't know how to do this, ask someone. It only takes a couple of minutes but looks very professional. Trade Shows & Conventions The key with trade shows is that you have to make them work for you. If you get the opportunity at the last moment to acquire a booth at a trade show, turn it down unless you are experienced and know what needs to take place. Trade shows normally take weeks and months to plan. If you are offered a course on how to use trade shows effectively, take it. You will discover a world of ideas that will make the next time you enter a trade show something worthwhile. If you are involved with a trade show and you can’t take a course, here are some suggestions that can make or trade show adventure more rewarding.

If you want to attract people to your booth you MUST demonstrate something. This could be the demonstration of a product you sell, or how the product you sell interfaces with something else. If all else fails, demonstrate it on video or computer but live is best. People at trade shows are attracted by motion and commotion (remember the “live” demos that caught your attention at previously attended trade shows). You don’t have to have a “slick snake oil salesman approach”, but demonstrating something (or even anything) at your booth at a trade show will boost the number of people who visit your booth (and hopefully boost your sales too).

The second thing to remember about trade shows is you MUST have something to either give away, or a way of collecting peoples names (like a contest) so that you can contact them later. After all, isn’t part of the reason you have the trade show space to help promote your business and website? I suggest giving away something like pens, key fobs, mugs or something like that WITH YOUR WEBSITE ADDRESS on them. Unless you have some fantastic product of service, standing in a trade show booth handing out brochures can be little more than a waste of time and money. Trade shows and conventions can be great places to do business and to promote your website but they do take planning.

Contribute Content
Everyone has some sort of knowledge on a topic. Why not share your knowledge with the rest of us; write some articles for newspapers, magazines or other credible sources. There are thousands of magazines, newspapers and other periodicals printed every day, every week or every month. These publishing firms are always looking for content for their readers. This doesn't mean they will take just anything. They want to convey a sense of quality to their readers, too, so if you are submitting articles they will need to be of top-notch quality. It is a good idea to enquire as to what the publication's guidelines are before you submit anything. Most are quite willing to entertain questions on content and what their readers are expecting. Think of these more as a way of educating the audience than that of self-promotion. If you think this way, the self-promotion will follow. Make sure to include your Web address in your signature for everything you contribute.

Send out CDs or DVDs
These medias are becoming more and more popular (a great thing to hand out at trade show and conventions). CDs and DVD can contain a lot of information in the form of text, graphics animation, video and sound. With this media-rich facility you have an enormous amount of creativity you can tap into. Imagine for example putting together a CD for “Investor Relations”. You could use video clips of your company or production lines, text to show financials and all of this can be displayed within an animated presentation interface with full sound. What investor wouldn’t be impressed with this kind of attention to detail.

There are a few advantages to sending out CDs. First of all, because they are a "delivered media" there is a higher likelihood they will be viewed; and secondly the content you can create on a CD is much richer than you can deliver over the Internet with its speed constraints. CDs are similar to television in that they can display both audio and visual messages and, unlike TV, they can be repeated over and over and even passed along to others. Here at E-State Media Group we produce multi-media CD and DVDs for our clients, so I am biased toward them. I think the real message that needs to be conveyed here is that if you are considering producing CDs or DVDs you need to use the rest of this manual as a guideline to understanding your audience and how you will use and distribute them.

It is easy to go out and produce CDs – it is quite another matter to distribute them to an appropriate audience. Sponsor a sports team and do some community work at the same time What a great way to get your website recognized in your community. Like some of the other forms of promotion, this form of promotion has two benefits: one is to you and your business; the other is to the sports team and community. If you are really serious about promoting your business in this way, pick sports events and teams that tend to get some media and fan recognition. Like many things, this will take some research but often a sport supply store can be a good resource for information. Remember what I said about branding and building TRUST? This is a great way to gain consistent recognition and sustained visibility in the community and to build trust through familiarity.

Sandwich-board signs
These have been around for decades. They are unconstructive, inexpensive and they work. If your business can make use of sandwich-board signs to promote your website, use it. I have yet to see a sandwich board that promotes a website. If you are in a high-vehicle traffic area, this is particularly good. If you really want to make an impact use the sandwich-board idea and turn it into a walking-sandwich-board. Just make sure of two things. Number one, make sure your sign is readable, uncluttered and to the point and, number two, make sure you are within the legal bounds of signage for your area. There are regulations on signage in most areas and contravening these could result fines.

Semi-trailer billboards
The first time I saw this I thought, what an innovative idea. The promotion idea is this – you get a large semi-trailer truck, place large ads on either side of its box, then drive it around in areas where your potential clients, live, work or play. In order to make this promotion work, it will be necessary to have a message on your semi-trailer ad that tells the viewer to "go to your website" in order for them to take part in the promotion. Because we see semi-trucks on a daily basis with advertising on the side, what you do with this one must be unique and grab people's attention. The whole purpose of this promotional idea is to send people to your website.

Website decals
Decals are another medium that have been around in various forms for many years. You can use them in a variety of places but they work best when attached to glass surfaces. One place for decals is in the windows of your company vehicle. (Ensure sure they do not interfere with the driving safety of the vehicle.) Decals are relatively inexpensive and can be used on a variety of window applications like your building, on company vehicles or as giveaways to customers. These can be ordered from most sign shops.

Develop a "free service"
This won't work for everyone but if you have the ability to offer a free service on your web site (like a foreign-dollar exchange facility or free e-mail accounts for people) this will help boost your viral marketing. One site I visited had an "estimator" for determining the amount of air your furnace used and what kind of a filter was best to use in it. Another one had an "estimator" for determining the amount of kitchen cabinet space you had. Any of these types of services will make someone want to bookmark your website as a place to return to because there is something there they can use. Other ideas could be to offer free advice on something you know or in which you are a specialist. If you make sure the free advice is constantly being updated and refreshed, people will continue to come to your website to view it. It is this kind of repetition that builds trust and helps develop viral marketing.

Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box a

If you want to attract people to your booth you MUST demonstrate something. This could be the demonstration of a product you sell, or how the product you sell interfaces with something else. If all else fails, demonstrate it on video or computer but live is best. People at trade shows are attracted by motion and commotion (remember the “live” demos that caught your attention at previously attended trade shows). You don’t have to have a “slick snake oil salesman approach”, but demonstrating something (or even anything) at your booth at a trade show will boost the number of people who visit your booth (and hopefully boost your sales too).

The second thing to remember about trade shows is you MUST have something to either give away, or a way of collecting peoples names (like a contest) so that you can contact them later. After all, isn’t part of the reason you have the trade show space to help promote your business and website? I suggest giving away something like pens, key fobs, mugs or something like that WITH YOUR WEBSITE ADDRESS on them. Unless you have some fantastic product of service, standing in a trade show booth handing out brochures can be little more than a waste of time and money. Trade shows and conventions can be great places to do business and to promote your website but they do take planning.

Contribute Content
Everyone has some sort of knowledge on a topic. Why not share your knowledge with the rest of us; write some articles for newspapers, magazines or other credible sources. There are thousands of magazines, newspapers and other periodicals printed every day, every week or every month. These publishing firms are always looking for content for their readers. This doesn't mean they will take just anything. They want to convey a sense of quality to their readers, too, so if you are submitting articles they will need to be of top-notch quality. It is a good idea to enquire as to what the publication's guidelines are before you submit anything. Most are quite willing to entertain questions on content and what their readers are expecting. Think of these more as a way of educating the audience than that of self-promotion. If you think this way, the self-promotion will follow. Make sure to include your Web address in your signature for everything you contribute.

Send out CDs or DVDs
These medias are becoming more and more popular (a great thing to hand out at trade show and conventions). CDs and DVD can contain a lot of information in the form of text, graphics animation, video and sound. With this media-rich facility you have an enormous amount of creativity you can tap into. Imagine for example putting together a CD for “Investor Relations”. You could use video clips of your company or production lines, text to show financials and all of this can be displayed within an animated presentation interface with full sound. What investor wouldn’t be impressed with this kind of attention to detail.

There are a few advantages to sending out CDs. First of all, because they are a "delivered media" there is a higher likelihood they will be viewed; and secondly the content you can create on a CD is much richer than you can deliver over the Internet with its speed constraints. CDs are similar to television in that they can display both audio and visual messages and, unlike TV, they can be repeated over and over and even passed along to others. Here at E-State Media Group we produce multi-media CD and DVDs for our clients, so I am biased toward them. I think the real message that needs to be conveyed here is that if you are considering producing CDs or DVDs you need to use the rest of this manual as a guideline to understanding your audience and how you will use and distribute them.

It is easy to go out and produce CDs – it is quite another matter to distribute them to an appropriate audience. Sponsor a sports team and do some community work at the same time What a great way to get your website recognized in your community. Like some of the other forms of promotion, this form of promotion has two benefits: one is to you and your business; the other is to the sports team and community. If you are really serious about promoting your business in this way, pick sports events and teams that tend to get some media and fan recognition. Like many things, this will take some research but often a sport supply store can be a good resource for information. Remember what I said about branding and building TRUST? This is a great way to gain consistent recognition and sustained visibility in the community and to build trust through familiarity.

Sandwich-board signs
These have been around for decades. They are unconstructive, inexpensive and they work. If your business can make use of sandwich-board signs to promote your website, use it. I have yet to see a sandwich board that promotes a website. If you are in a high-vehicle traffic area, this is particularly good. If you really want to make an impact use the sandwich-board idea and turn it into a walking-sandwich-board. Just make sure of two things. Number one, make sure your sign is readable, uncluttered and to the point and, number two, make sure you are within the legal bounds of signage for your area. There are regulations on signage in most areas and contravening these could result fines.

Semi-trailer billboards
The first time I saw this I thought, what an innovative idea. The promotion idea is this – you get a large semi-trailer truck, place large ads on either side of its box, then drive it around in areas where your potential clients, live, work or play. In order to make this promotion work, it will be necessary to have a message on your semi-trailer ad that tells the viewer to "go to your website" in order for them to take part in the promotion. Because we see semi-trucks on a daily basis with advertising on the side, what you do with this one must be unique and grab people's attention. The whole purpose of this promotional idea is to send people to your website.

Website decals
Decals are another medium that have been around in various forms for many years. You can use them in a variety of places but they work best when attached to glass surfaces. One place for decals is in the windows of your company vehicle. (Ensure sure they do not interfere with the driving safety of the vehicle.) Decals are relatively inexpensive and can be used on a variety of window applications like your building, on company vehicles or as giveaways to customers. These can be ordered from most sign shops.

Develop a "free service"
This won't work for everyone but if you have the ability to offer a free service on your web site (like a foreign-dollar exchange facility or free e-mail accounts for people) this will help boost your viral marketing. One site I visited had an "estimator" for determining the amount of air your furnace used and what kind of a filter was best to use in it. Another one had an "estimator" for determining the amount of kitchen cabinet space you had. Any of these types of services will make someone want to bookmark your website as a place to return to because there is something there they can use. Other ideas could be to offer free advice on something you know or in which you are a specialist. If you make sure the free advice is constantly being updated and refreshed, people will continue to come to your website to view it. It is this kind of repetition that builds trust and helps develop viral marketing.

Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box a

It is easy to go out and produce CDs – it is quite another matter to distribute them to an appropriate audience. Sponsor a sports team and do some community work at the same time What a great way to get your website recognized in your community. Like some of the other forms of promotion, this form of promotion has two benefits: one is to you and your business; the other is to the sports team and community. If you are really serious about promoting your business in this way, pick sports events and teams that tend to get some media and fan recognition. Like many things, this will take some research but often a sport supply store can be a good resource for information. Remember what I said about branding and building TRUST? This is a great way to gain consistent recognition and sustained visibility in the community and to build trust through familiarity.

Sandwich-board signs
These have been around for decades. They are unconstructive, inexpensive and they work. If your business can make use of sandwich-board signs to promote your website, use it. I have yet to see a sandwich board that promotes a website. If you are in a high-vehicle traffic area, this is particularly good. If you really want to make an impact use the sandwich-board idea and turn it into a walking-sandwich-board. Just make sure of two things. Number one, make sure your sign is readable, uncluttered and to the point and, number two, make sure you are within the legal bounds of signage for your area. There are regulations on signage in most areas and contravening these could result fines.

Semi-trailer billboards
The first time I saw this I thought, what an innovative idea. The promotion idea is this – you get a large semi-trailer truck, place large ads on either side of its box, then drive it around in areas where your potential clients, live, work or play. In order to make this promotion work, it will be necessary to have a message on your semi-trailer ad that tells the viewer to "go to your website" in order for them to take part in the promotion. Because we see semi-trucks on a daily basis with advertising on the side, what you do with this one must be unique and grab people's attention. The whole purpose of this promotional idea is to send people to your website.

Website decals
Decals are another medium that have been around in various forms for many years. You can use them in a variety of places but they work best when attached to glass surfaces. One place for decals is in the windows of your company vehicle. (Ensure sure they do not interfere with the driving safety of the vehicle.) Decals are relatively inexpensive and can be used on a variety of window applications like your building, on company vehicles or as giveaways to customers. These can be ordered from most sign shops.

Develop a "free service"
This won't work for everyone but if you have the ability to offer a free service on your web site (like a foreign-dollar exchange facility or free e-mail accounts for people) this will help boost your viral marketing. One site I visited had an "estimator" for determining the amount of air your furnace used and what kind of a filter was best to use in it. Another one had an "estimator" for determining the amount of kitchen cabinet space you had. Any of these types of services will make someone want to bookmark your website as a place to return to because there is something there they can use. Other ideas could be to offer free advice on something you know or in which you are a specialist. If you make sure the free advice is constantly being updated and refreshed, people will continue to come to your website to view it. It is this kind of repetition that builds trust and helps develop viral marketing.

Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box a

Parking lot mail drops
In some areas of the country this is still widely used, while in others it is seldom or never used. It is a great way of distributing information and, in this case, advertising your website. Remember if you do this you will be marketing to whomever is driving the vehicle you dropped the message off so it is a random type of delivery process. We do have one other suggestion for this area and that is for the convenience of your prospective clients, I recommend placing a small (business card size) note on the driver's side window. This makes it easy, and unobtrusive for the person entering the car, and it will get noticed. In the past I have seen large pieces of paper placed under the windshield wipers of cars – this process is not recommend. Small business cards placed on the driver's door are best. Be careful of where you do this: there may be local or regional laws affecting this practice.

Banner signs
Banners are a great way to advertise your website; they are cost effective and, by their very nature, they grab attention. My only comment is that banner signs should be cleaned or refreshed from time to time, or even repainted. When they start looking dog-eared and worn they not only lose their impact, they also tend to drive people away because the effect of being new and special has been reversed. Banner ads are ideal in high foot and vehicle traffic area and most sign shops can help you with these. If all you do is advertise your website, you are sure to increase traffic to your site.

Bumper stickers
Similar to decals, but in this case they could be used as giveaways, too. If you make them attractive you will find other people will want to put them on their car. I suggest making them unusual or humorous to get the most mileage out of them as giveaways. Advertise your website, keep the message clean and clear and these will work.

Calendars
These are another great way to help promote your website, particularly if you are a supplier. Business-to-business promotion lends itself to calendars because there is year-long advertising of your website. If you are creative, there are likely many other applications where calendars, with their year-long advantage, are particularly suited.

Donate time/products Another good way of giving back to the community and promoting your business at the same time is to offer your time or donate products. Often these are charitable causes and quite well attended and promoted by all levels of society. It is suggested in a case like this that you reference your web address as the donator. The reason for this is it is easier for more people to note who you are, assuming, of course, that your web address is easy to pronounce and spell.

Joint venture
Why not join forces with other non-competing businesses to see what you can do together in the way of promoting your websites. Contests work well, or come up with joint venture ideas. Talk to your suppliers or your favorite client to see what you might be able to think of. Marketing and web promotion is all about thinking outside of the box and being innovative. Very often it is the innovative idea or unique promotions that catch the eye of the media, generating free promotion of your website. Joint venture ideas help spread the costs and widen the potential client base so use it to your advantage.

Point-of-purchase
Point-of-purchase signs are used frequently in some industries and seldom in others. Depending on the type of business you are in, these could be a great way to promote your website. In some cases point-of-purchase displays contain a small card with the web address printed on it so the card can be taken away by the customers for future referral. Point-of-purchase displays are a very cost-effective way to ensure your clients know what your web address is.

Statement and bag stuffers
Those little paper brochures and cards that are included with your statements are called statement stuffers. Not everyone sends out monthly statements, but most companies provide something to their clients from time to time, if only in shopping bags when a customer purchases something