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Publicity for Your Home Based Business

© Bonny Albo

Home-based business owners are always on the lookout for some inexpensive, effective ways of marketing their business. Publicity is one of the most effective of the methods, and probably one of the easiest to venture into. Why? Because it only takes a little creativity, some elbow grease, and some resources to enable you to get the word out.

One of those resources is Marica Yudkin, the author of Six Steps to Free Publicity. Her article, How Visibility Pays Off is wonderful. Visibility, as opposed to advertising. What a concept! Ms. Yudkin has quickly become an expert in her field, and wants to share what she has learned along the way with you. Her writing style is informative, entertaining, and easy to follow, without sounding condescending.

A press release seems to be one of the most "advertised" ways of receiving free publicity, but for some home-based business entrepreneurs, this can be a dauting task. But honestly, it shouldn't be. If you can write a coherent paragraph, then you can write a press release. Honest!

XPress Press is a company on the Web which offers free advice on how to write an effective press release. They also supply a free listing of relevant media contacts for you to contact on your own, should you desire. However, they will, for a nominal fee, write your press release, target the appropriate sources, and send it.

How to Obtain Free Publicity is a downloadable e-mail article (28 K) from info@certificate.net. Since this is an auto-responder, type "get 8010" in the subject line to receive.

Another wonderful way to get some publicity for your home-based business would be to support a local charity. Choose one that suits you, and then contact them to arrange a program between your business and theirs. What kind of program? Here are some ideas:

• Donate a portion of your sales on a certain day/week/month to the charity.

• Become a Sponsor of a yearly fundraiser. (Note, however, that to get your business name associated with the event usually requires a very large sum of money to be donated, or a large amount of products or services provided for free. Check this option out carefully - you don't want to get in over your head!)

• Donate an item service to the charity. This item or service could be used at an auction, a draw, or even just for the day-to-day use of the charity.

For a fantastic listing of charities, organizations and industry groups, check out the following books in the reference section of your local library:

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