Page 163 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

Step 8. Make the Most of Your Marketing Efforts 1 55

trip and one of them wore a pair of foam clogs. Because of their
extreme comfort, they decided to build a business around them.
A grassroots word-of-mouth campaign began and all of sudden
you would see a nicely dressed woman wearing Crocs. Everyone
was wearing them. In 2003, Crocs' revenue was $1 million. In
February 2006, Crocs went pUblic with the initial offering of the
company's stock. It had revenues that year more than $350 mil­
lion. Who says talk is cheap?

Publicity

Once your product is ready to be sold in the marketplace, you
need to generate publicity. Publicity takes many forms. It may be
a YouTube video, an advertising campaign, or editorial coverage
in a newspaper or magazine. The difference between marketing/
publicity and editorial coverage is that marketing/publicity is often
paid for in some fashion, whereas editorial is free attention gener­
ated from the press covering your product. At trade shows and on
websites, many companies proudly display photos appearing in the
pages of top lifestyle magazines. Your goal will be the same: to get
free exposure from the popular consumer magazines that relate to
your product. This exposure lends credibility to your product.

How to Use a Publicist

A publicist is a person whose job it is to generate publicity (also
known as PR or public relations) for a variety of clients-companies,
events, or celebrities, for example. Some publicists are independent
contractors and work on their own out of a home office, while others
work for public relations agencies . Public relations agencies some­
times specialize in one category, such as beauty, sports, technology,
celebrity, or fashion.

Unless you have a big budget, you'll be your company's first pub­
licist (along with all of the other titles you have). Publicists' monthly
fees can range from $1 ,500 to $10,000 and up. You usually sign a
contract for a minimum of six months. You can also find companies
that handle ublic r lations difD r ntl than a andard PR firm.