Entrepreneurial Success Part 8: Get People Talking About You and Your Company

Part 5 of Brianlinton.com’s Series for Entrepreneurial Success | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 |

Getting a great story written about you or your company in a newspaper or magazine is not the only way to build awareness and get people talking about your company.  Every single breath you take is another opportunity for you to get people talking about you or your company. As an entrepreneur and leader of your company you are the most prominent, if not only, spokesperson for what you are selling, therefore you need to take advantage and capitalize on every opportunity you have to get people to notice and talk about you and your company.

The list of ways to get people to talk about you and your company is infinite. Every minute you are awake is an opportunity for you to showcase your company and yourself, so instead of listing hundreds of ways here I have put together a short list of things that I have recently done that have gotten people talking.

1. Be Generous

You may have already read about Sand Shack’s most recent marketing campaign; the $5,555 Sand Shack Giveaway.  In this campaign we are giving anybody that comes into contact with Sand Shack a free $5 gift card to be spent online at sandshack.com.  And the best thing about this gift card is that there is absolutely no catch. There are $5 items online and everything comes with free shipping, so those that receive a gift card may purchase something online and get it delivered to them without spending a dime.  This generosity has translated into thousands of new visitors to sandshack.com and hundreds of new accounts created.  The key with being generous is to give something away with no catch, this will get people talking; giving away something with strings attached will make people run away. And obviously, don’t give something away you can’t afford to lose.

2. Speak at Events

Although many people fear public speaking it is one of the best ways to get people to notice you, and if you impress them, to talk about you.  Since becoming a full-time entrepreneur earlier this year, I have had the opportunity to speak at a few conferences.  I was invited to participate in panels that focused on the challenges associated with being a young entrepreneur.  Not only did speaking at these events put me in front of hundreds of earnest listener, it also helped distinguish me from other young entrepreneurs and set me aside as a knowledgeable source on the subject.  Speaking at these events have helped make me more recognized in the business community where these events took place, it also has gotten people talking about Sand Shack and me in positive ways.   Pursue opportunities to speak at events where your knowledge will be perceived as valuable.  If you know things that other people want to know, you will be well received. And whatever you do, don’t underestimate your knowledge!

3. Blog About It

If you’re reading this you’ve read enough of my blog to get to this point and chances are you now know my name (by the URL brianlinton.com) and my company’s name (from the above mention).  By writing quality content that people are interested in you are able to build awareness for your personal and business brand. Although I am still relatively new to blogging, I have already experienced how it can open up doors and present you with opportunities you wouldn’t otherwise of had.  People who find value in what you write about will refer their friends to your website, further expanding your reach and influence.  Furthermore, blogging for me hasn’t just been about writing content that is valuable for my readers, it has helped me become a better entrepreneur by forcing me to write down my thoughts and the lessons I learn.  By writing what I learn down I am more likely to remember it.

4. Do Something Unexpected

When do you actually remember the expected? It is the unexpected that is memorable.  You and your company should seek out ways to do something extraordinary, out of this world, and unexpected.  I hate to keep on coming back to our $5,555 Sand Shack giveaway, but it is the most recent and appropriate example for this point, but I will use a different story about it to illustrate this point.  I was at Temple University in Philadelphia on Election Day (Nov. 4) to drop some things off at the Entrepreneurship office there.  While at Temple I saw that Ben & Jerry’s was giving away free scoops of ice cream to people who voted (or didn’t vote…they couldn’t really tell).  At that moment I realized that this was a great opportunity for me to also ‘reward’ people for voting by giving them $5 gift cards to sandshack.com.  Ben & Jerry’s had already attracted the crowd, I simply had to pass out the cards I already had made up for our giveaway.  Due to the generosity of Ben & Jerry’s and the spirit of Election Day, Sand Shack gift cards were well received and I believe it made more sense to people that they were receiving a free $5 with no strings attached on that day. If they were given a gift card on any other day, many people would question the legitimacy of it.  This free $5 gift card was unexpected by many of the students in line for free ice cream, and as a result of my unexpected decision to distribute cards there, sandshack.com received a thousand unique visitors to the site that night, and it began taking orders from Temple students while I was still standing there passing out cards.

Like I said above, the things you can do to get people talking about you and your company are infinite, I have merely shown you four things I have recently done that have got people talking about my company and me.

I am very interested to hear what you have done that has gotten people to notice or talk about you.  Feel free to mention them in the comment section!

| Part 1: Have a Great Personal Story | Part 2: Be Serial at a Young Age | Part 3: Blag About Yourself | Part 4: Live What You Sell | Part 5: Be the Nicest Person Your Customers Know | Part 6: Always Ask For Business | Always Seek Great PR |