Let’s face it. The world of having your own small business is tough. Expenses are large, and often, revenue and cash flow are not. So the entrepreneur in the small business world always has to find ways to be creative in how he or she markets and advertises, with the goal of finding new local customers and better ways to increase local sales. It is an added bonus for the business owner when publicity comes his way. Hopefully it will be positive in nature, and more than likely, it will be free. The key to making this work for you, the small business owner, is to develop ways to generate positive publicity about your small business, and therefore, increase your cash flow. There are several different ways this can be done, and with a little work and steadfastness on your part, you will find a way to turn local small business publicity into a profitable venture for you and your family.1. Become a Feature StoryOne of the easiest ways to generate a little bit of talk about and interest in your small business is to invite a local newspaper, magazine, or news channel to feature a story about you and your company. This should be of no cost to you other than some persistence in calls to get someone interested in your tale. These types of publications and local news shows are always looking to feature someone from the community who has a success story or some advice to offer to others, and if you can find just the right angle to catch and interest readers and viewers, then they will love to publish your story for free. On-air interviews, via television or radio, also work well as this gives local viewers and listeners the opportunity to see or hear with whom they would be working if they were to patronize your business. This type of publicity is free and advantageous to all parties involved, and can typically help your business locate new customers and hopefully spark new interest in the services that you have to offer.2. Become Active in Your CommunityIf you are not already, look for ways to get your voice heard within your town and neighboring communities. Any time you have a public forum in which to speak, you must do this. This is an absolutely free way to get your name, face, and name of your business out there and to get people talking, and you may even be compensated for your time by whomever it is holding the event. Local Chambers of Commerce are always hosting programs at which they love having small business owners attend and speak, as do Rotary Clubs, schools of many varieties, and possibly even churches and other places of worship. Speaking at these types of events is an easy and often quite profitable way for a small business to get some publicity, and in turn, free advertising.3. It’s the Small Things That CountHow many times have you been driving down the road these days and seen vehicles painted or emblemized with a company logo? We see that every day and often, those things really stick in our heads. What an easy and cheap way to advertise for your small business! This type of publicity draws people in, and is a great way to advertise your company logo, phone number, and even web address. Make everything you do a way to advertise for your small business. Wear company T-shirts, put your logo on your car and your laptop, but get that name out there and exposed to the public.4. Use the InternetThis sounds easy enough, but you would be surprised at the numbers of small businesses that are not taking advantage of the Internet and the multiple small business Internet marketing tools that are available to them. Many on-line forums will allow you to join the group and give you space for free introductions. This is a great chance to work your company name in and have it introduced to a brand new group of people.
You Tube is available for free video for your company, and networking in general is just so important. Once you establish some contacts, offer to have a link established on your website to others if they will return the same favor to you. This is a win-win situation for all who are involved.5. FreebiesBe willing to give a little of your time. Offer free estimates, customer referral plans, and other such incentives that will encourage more and more people to support you and your small business venture. Furthermore, make sure that you get yourself and your company listed in any free local directories that are available.The small business world is tough, but manageable, with the usage of these five simple tools that can help create a buzz about your business and provide publicity and free advertising. Of course, advertising is so important in the business world, and if you utilize these things along with your paid ads, your business is sure to profit and remain a hit for many years to come.

“Why isn’t my site being listed on Google’s local business listings?”It’s a question being asked more and more frequently-especially as Google is expanding the prevalence of local search results. Google Place listings typically show up when someone searches for something locally, such as video production in Cedar Rapids. Being listed in the magical top 7 local Google Place listings can produce excellent traffic to your website, but now the question is: How can that be done?Unfortunately, it isn’t necessarily a quick fix to rise to the top, but here is a best practice “to-do” list to get optimal results out of your Google Place listing.

Claim Your Google Place Listing. This one seems obvious enough, but you would be surprised at how many business listings go unclaimed by local business owners. To claim your business, go to the Google Local Business Center and claim the listing that Google already generated, or create a Google Place listing.
List Your Business Phone and Address on Your Website. The key is to make your website as easy as possible for Google search engines to crawl the information on your site, and the physical location of your business is an extremely important ranking factor for Google Place listings. We encourage our clients to include the business address on the footer of each page of their website, as well as to include it on the “Contact Us” page.
Add Your Location to Your Website’s Title Tags. The title tag of a web page appears in the top left corner of your web browser window next to the Internet Explorer or Firefox icon. The title tag is defined in the HTML code, and this little page title is extremely important for organic search and for local search. If your goal is to rank high locally, be sure your site’s title tags list the city your company is located in or serves.
Get Reviewed. Another increasingly important ranking factor is the number of customer reviews. Definitely do not fake reviews. You will likely get caught, and the punishment is not worth the risk. Instead, encourage your customers to post reviews of your business to popular review sites such as Yelp.com, CitySearch.com, InsiderPages.com, and SuperPages.com. How can you encourage your customers to write reviews? Include a call for action in your emails to customers, on your website, on receipts (if applicable) and on your social media pages. This might sound a bit tedious, but if you want to achieve high local rankings, it is worth it.
Add Photos & Video. You want your Google Place listing to be as complete as possible. Part of that is adding photos and video that help demonstrate what your company is about. The general rule of thumb is, the more photos the better, but make sure whatever you include on your page is of high quality. You have the ability to add 10 photos and 5 videos, and I encourage you to take full advantage of this opportunity.
Register with the Major Local Data Providers. Search engines rely quite a bit on local data providers such as InfoUSA, Superpages.com, Yelp, just to name a few. Metro Studios can provide you a list of great sites to submit your business to. This will aide you on your quest for improved local search ranks.
Hopefully these tips can help your Google Place listing be much more visible, generating additional traffic, and ultimately leading to more business. If you have additional questions, or would like to discuss this further-don’t hesitate to contact Chad Gookin at Metro Studios.