When I started my business, many people had opinions on what I should do to get clients — speak to groups, join the Chamber of Commerce, attend a networking group, etc. One of the suggestions that came up often was doing promotional events, which can mean different things. It might mean getting a booth at a trade show, or hosting a free one or two hour event to introduce yourself and your services while delivering a snack-size portion to the attendees, sort of like a Tupperware party. It could mean creating a longer event, half a day or day-long, where again you deliver value and charge a nominal fee, making it easy for people to attend. It might be hosting a meet-and-greet reception, holding a complimentary teleclass, or having a Twitter chat party. Read more

You’ve probably seen many people offering free teleclasses or webinars to land clients for their products and services, and it may seem to you like this is an easy, affordable approach. But it’s not for everyone. Whether or not this is a good idea depends quite a bit on how you plan to attract people to attend. Read more

One easy way to get free publicity for a workshop or seminar is to issue a press release about it to your local media and online news services. This sample release shows the correct format for a news release about an upcoming workshop, Read more