35 Powerful Ways to Get Noticed
If you want to make more money in business, become an expert, get famous, or many other things – the first thing you have to do is learn how to get noticed.
But in today’s increasingly crowded world, getting people to pay attention to you isn’t easy -- unless you’ve got a list of proven tactics to fall back on.
With that goal in mind, we’ve created the following collection of 35 power ways to get noticed.
How to Get Noticed
- Sponsor a contest. When you can find a larger business that’s running a contest, sponsoring it with your cash, products or services can put you in front of a lot of people throughout the entire promotion. People like to win – and you want to be associated with that powerful emotion.
- Create your own contest. Don’t let the other people have all the fun – turn the tables and create your own contests. You can use your own offerings as prizes, or seek out sponsors who will spread the word to their audiences about the promotion.
- Open your mouth. Public speaking is a huge way to get your brand seen – find relevant groups to speak to as often as you can. Teach what you know and position yourself as an expert that other influencers will talk about in the future.
- Open your ears. Again, turn the tables and invite someone interesting to speak at your offices – and then put the word out to the people you want to reach to attend and hear the speaker for themselves.
- Host someone’s event. Organizations and groups that can help spread the word about you often like to meet at different places throughout the year. Find a group you want to get noticed by, offer to host their next event, and use that time to network with them.
- Host your own event. No matter what you do, there’s something interesting you can create an event around – for example, host a industry-relevant workshop or create your own networking event.
- Write a book. There’s no mistaking it – business owners who write books get more attention and are perceived with greater authority in their field. Find something meaningful to your industry and write something worth reading.
- Offer “meta”-consulting services. Another way to get people to see your business as an authority worth talking about is to offer consulting services around your area of expertise. For example, if you are a software company, you can offer a small workshop on how to write better software.
- Get interviewed. Publications (both online and offline) are always hungry for content. Find a media outlet that serves your target audience and arrange an interview with them to get in front of qualified prospects.
- Get reviewed. People make buying decisions – and judge your brand – by the reviews they read. Offer your products or services to reviewers in exchange for a thorough writeup on their experience.
- Get “stepping stone” referrals. Think about the products and services customers go to right before they look for your offerings, and make arrangements with those providers to bring you up as a referral to their customers.
- Be a newsmaker. Both local and national outlets are always on the lookout for compelling stories – so give them one. Find a way to showcase something your company is doing that is cutting-edge, human-interest or unique.
- Get behind a cause. This goes beyond the one-time contest sponsorship at the top of this list – become part of the yearly fundraising efforts of a worthy cause and you can find yourself getting repeated exposure each time a new fund drive begins. The positive PR doesn’t hurt, either.
- Create a referral program. Finding new customers is expensive, so create an incentive for people to spread the word about you. A generous referral commission program may get your company all the word-of-mouth business you can handle.
- Start a blog. You don’t have to be a “pro blogger” to start a blog – a basic company blog that has regular updates can bring you significant amounts of web search traffic over the long run (and in today’s world, it’s also a sign of being a business authority as well).
- Interview others. By featuring interviews with other people on your blog or website, you can tap into their audience as most people like to promote their own interviews.
- Write a guest post. Guest posting on a well-read blog is a powerful way to get in front of a new audience and get noticed. Find blogs that are targeted to your audience and follow some basic guest posting guidelines to get the most out of what you write.
- Feature a guest post. Tap into other’ audiences a second time by offering others the chance to guest post on your blog. As with interviews, they will spread the word and point people to your site.
- Participate on blogs and forums. Join comments and conversations on blogs and forums to boost your visibility in front of your target audience (and learn more about them at the same time).
- Take a stand. When you take an unconventional or controversial stand on something because you believe it’s right, you can get a lot of attention. Be true to yourself and don’t be afraid to speak up and be known as someone who takes a passionate stance on issues.
- Work on SEO. Whether you have a blog or a website, your search rankings are only as good as your search engine optimization. If you don’t know where to start, read this article to learn how to get noticed by Google and company.
- Write a press release. People still write press releases because they work – when done right. Find a company that does it well and get the word out there.
- Start a newsletter. Having a regularly published newsletter tells people you have something worth reading and something worth passing along to others. Write useful content let your subscribers spread the message.
- Write articles. Another useful way to show up in search engines is to submit short, relevant articles to article directories around the web. You’ll not only create useful back links to your site, but position yourself to be found by more web searchers.
- Make a video. YouTube and other video upload sites can be powerful ways to get a fast-spreading message about your company out there. Learn from those who do “viral video” well.
- Do a podcast. Do a web search for ‘podcast’ and discover just how many web sites do interviews with people every day – and then line yourself up for an interview of your own.
- Get on the radio. Radio ads are expensive – but interviews are free. Brainstorm something newsworthy and contact your local radio stations to see if they’ll interview you about it.
- Offer a discount to other companies. Many employers and membership sites offer discounts on products and services to their members. By offering a discount of your own, you can get our name in front of all those people quickly and effectively.
- Trade ad space with a partner. Find a related company that has an audience you want to reach and swap ads on your website, blog or print publication. It’s easy, free, and can get you noticed by new prospects.
- Go “half-and-half” on ads. Big ads get noticed, but are expensive; consider splitting the cost with a relevant partner and making an ad that promotes both of you.
- Give publicity to others. In this world, givers get. Take opportunities to publicly spread the good word on other companies and what goes around will come around.
- Work the influencers. Get on good terms with industry influencers and help them find valuable contacts and solutions to their problems, and many will repay you by putting you in front of their audiences.
- Focus on a niche. It’s a lot easier to become a big fish in a small pond than the other way around. Once you’re a big fish in one pond, it makes hopping to the next one easier.
- Give incredible customer service. Nothing beats great customer service for generating word-of-mouth advertising. Go the extra mile for a customer and they’ll come back to you – with their friends.
- Do the right thing. In today’s world, people are jaded and skeptical of businesses – and with good reason. Surprise people by always doing the right thing and acting with integrity in all you do, and what goes around will come around. And that’s just good business.
Did we miss anything? Leave a comment below if you can think of any other good ways to get attention.
Reader Comments
Dave, this is a sweet list of ways to get yourself and/or your business noticed.
I came across your blog today and i feel like i found the Holy Grail. :)
Wow you make an incredible list! very helpful tips ;D
Another great way to get notice is just to increase your visibility, just make the effort to go to every event where your potential customers will be and every event where people related to your area of work will be and try to network. This way you can see what everyone else is doing, check where can you offer your help and even make great friends.
Another thing in “Work on SEO.” where you say “If you don’t know where to start, read this article to learn how to get noticed by Google and company”, what article are you talking about? cuz i cant see the link :S or it is this same article wich you are referring to?
Anyway, this is a great blog. I just stumble to it and already have like 20 tabs of articles open, will be a long night :D
@Adam -
Glad you liked!
@Qoska -
Hope the tips work for you.
@blpgirl -
Thanks for the extra tip - and it looks like I’ve misplaced a link. Will look for it straightaway.
Really awesome resource, Dave. Great job!
This was a great list, Dave (and thanks for the link!). There are all sorts of ideas people can tap into and they’re either extremely low cost or free. Well done on giving people a great selection to use.
This is a great list of ways people can get their business noticed! Contests are in huge demand and offer a great opportunity to get noticed.
Great Article, as a website designer and search engine optimization, I have had a lot of experience with marketing in most of those areas, and I am usually suggesting contests, press releases, and blogs. Especially, if it is in relation to a controversial issue (however, this can also hurt a business if your on the wrong side and/or do not give a strong, compelling reason for your position). I DO NOT suggest this as an type of business promotion tactic, however if an opportunity comes up where you can input a compelling argument on a controversial issue, without discrediting you or your business, then you should think about what a little input could do, and speak up.
sure, these are the important things.
Great list Dave. Although I would have said start a blog *and* participate on others blogs.
Good list. I really like the last one—do the right thing. That’s always good advice.
To add a bit to the ‘join the conversation’ topic - Don’t just follow the sheep and add a comment that everyone else is already saying. Standing out in the crowd by making a valid point perhaps disagreeing with an article is a great way to start a conversation rolling. Just remember to be respectful.
With that said, this article is garba…oh wait…humor works as well. ;)
Great post. Seo and articles are a good way to start. I find sponsoring contest is a good way to get noticed.
great advice, loads of information, i found yor page very interestiong
Ah!!! at last I found what I was looking for. Somtimes it takes so much effort to find even tiny useful piece of information.
Nice post. Thanks
Great article !!!
Excellent :)
Nice article.
Great Design and stuff ;)
nice stuff yaar! Thanks i will surely use these tips in ma own buisness.
Wow - great stuff here. I’m jotting a few down that go to the do ASAP list. Thanks!
Thank you sir. For those of us just starting out and looking to get noticed, this will really help.
This list is so comprehensive and helpful. I would also add Tweetchats. Tweetchats are a great way to connect with other professionals, learn about their business, share information about what you do, make connections and provide referrals and/or advice.
Love the title of this article - and the content too - it’s what we do for others for a living!
Dave, many thanks for this list! It is genus! My wife and I started our wedding photography business a year ago and so far, we’ve surprised ourselves and folks in the industry. We are based in nyc and decided to try #1 only a month ago, needless to say, it got us some good recognition and we ended up shooting 2 engagements in Montreal and eventually we were able to secure 2 weddings for 2011. We aim to follow this list and will keep you posted on our progression! Please feel free to take a look at our site. Any feedback is possible! Btw, here is a sample of one of the contest winners who’s engagement to shot http://bit.ly/9SnHR9
Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated!
Interesting! Some unique information with other ways of getting known, not the old standard onlinemarketing ways.
great reading,some good information,thanks
I saw a great & appropriate quote somewhere (don’t recall the author unfortunately.)
“If you are’nt making waves you’re not kicking hard enough.”
This post highlights some great ways to make a bigger splash when launching or marketing a new project. Gracias.
Start to experiment with different ways to get noticed
Personally i think there are many powerfull way to get noticed
and your list are really good:D
Great article. Definitely a few of those I hadn’t even thought of before now. Thanks for the tips!
good tips even thought some of the things listed here is not that easy to achieve such as writing a book. But I definitely agree with you. For instance am creating my own online business. The content part is easy because i love writing. But getting visitors to my site is the hardest…this is where the getting notice part you listed above comes in. No traffic no money. Its the life blood of any business.
This is really helpful. Thanks for the insights:-)
Pekints
Or, Simply make a comment on a popular post,
Another way to get noticed is simply do a better job with what you’re doing. Pay attention to detail, know the simple fact that you will succeed will make you succeed and learn as much as you cantoward that end, accomplish the goal.
I think in your first sentence you knocked it out of the park.
Be an expert, don’t choose something to be your stage simply because it pays well, converts wel, gets traffic, etc. Traffic mean absolutely nothing if you can’t get your point across and if you can convert that to income, if in fact if that’s your goal, make money online, then you can do that. It’s really quite easy.
Great Stuff!! This list really got my creative juices going!
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Getting interviewed and getting reviewed are great ways, but are way beyond your own control. Press releases can work, but you need to get them on the right websites and they could cost a lot of money.
Great post. As relevant today as when it was written.
Great actionable information that can be used in any business to further your goals! Thought provoking.
great article and great advice. I am a realtor and my business runs on people noticing and knowing me. @verhoeffrealty follow for great real estate news.
Hi Dave awesome article, I have done of a few of your examples and have been quiet please with the results. I would also join some clubs or/and organizations in your targeted community.
Thank you for the information. It helps get advise from people as you are going through this journey. Thank you everyone else that posted, this is helpful!
I think if we are follow all the point we can increase more visitor to our website with minimum time period.
if we are follow all the point we can incre
Good recommendation i will try with your thoughts thanks for these marvelious IDEAS!!!!
great blog and ideas for inspiration, going through one by one now
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Great ideas ubsouletely usefull infos ...Thanks
A very good way to get noticed and increase your personal or business profile.
Thanks Dave, very nice resources! worth bookmarking
i just started my Business www.fabulousmothersclub.vpweb.com and these are great tips to help me expand my business.
Thank you for your suggestion, I will try to bookmark it for your future really great
Thanks for the tips… IT is really simple tip yet I feel its effective. Will definitely give it a shot…
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effective tips! rt57hgy6 What determined your final position? Who else of note shares your ideals in relation to this subject? I’m awaiting a quick reply.
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Fantastic list… bookmarked and shared it with my team this morning. What a great point of reference for those who are utilizing social media… thanks for sharing this!
Awesome list…My favorite is work the influencers, which i had not thought of. Has anyone had the chance to check out kungphoo.com, it also seems like a great way to promote your business for free.
great blog and Awesome list.
Going along with doing the right thing is being nice and helping people. People want to work with you if you’re nice, and if you help people they’ll help you back.
Fantastic tips. Every new business should read these tips.
My brother suggested I might like this blog. He was entirely right.
This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info!
Thanks!
Awesome list, thanks for sharing :-)
After reading up this blog i have shown some great interests in these type of blogs and would say that it needs to be bookmarked now.
I find this post very interesting. It was a fun read. I’d like to know more about the story behind this post and article. What brought you to write about this? Do you have more articles pertaining to the same subject?
Why users still use to read news papers when in this technological globe the whole thing
is presented on web?
I know the article is quite old, but it’s still valid information.
I think the tactic #33 (Focus on a niche) is one of the best ones to start with if you don’t have any connections. Once you focus on one niche, you’ll be able to build authority and eventually get on the radar of influencers. That will lead to many good things.
Thanks for the comprehensive list.
This content is simply exciting and creative. I have been deciding on a institutional move and this has helped me with one aspect. Cheers!
I am writing a research paper and collecting information on this topic. Your post is one of the better that I have read. Thank you for putting this information into one location.
Wonderful article, thanks for putting together! This is obviously one great post. Thanks for the valuable information and insights you have so provided here.
These ways are effective and very helpful to grow your small running business
This was a useful post and I think it is rather easy to see from the other comments as well that this post is well written and useful. I bookmarked this blog a while ago because of the useful content and I am never being disappointed. Keep up the good work.
A business man stands behind this tips, thank you very much.
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