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PR on a Shoestring: How to Promote Yourself Without a Budget
A founder says she generated a whooping 220% increase in traffic with just $125. Learn how.
Welcome to The Searchlight, your go-to source for curated hacks, industry insights, and networking opportunities. Written for busy entrepreneurs.
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🙃 Rest Assured: OpenAI's CFO reassured staff about high investor interest in their funding round following the sudden departures of key execs, including CTO Mira Murati. CEO Sam Altman expressed confidence in the company's future during a staff meeting. The board is considering a shift towards a for-profit model and potentially granting significant equity to Altman.
🤖 No fooling twice: AI is a notorious liar, but Microsoft now says it has a fix. Microsoft revealed Correction, a service that revises factually inaccurate AI-generated text. Correction first flags text that may be erroneous — say a summary of a company’s quarterly earnings call that possibly has misattributed quotes — then fact-checks it by comparing the text with a source of truth (e.g. uploaded transcripts).
💥 Higher Power: Constellation Energy Corp. is set to invest $1.6 billion to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear plant by 2028, with Microsoft purchasing all its output for two decades. This reflects a growing trend toward nuclear energy to meet the high power demands of AI and data centres. Unlike other projects seeking government funding, Constellation will finance this independently
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NEW: Did you know 50% of NASA's workforce is dyslexic?
Discover the surprising power of this neurological difference that inspired business leader Paul Daniels's unique approach to peripheral thinking. His clients have adopted these super skills to generate $2.5 billion in new annual revenue.
Tune in to learn more! 👇
Biz Hacks
Strategies | Tools | Marketing Tips
Tight Budget? Ditch PR & Self Promote
When Sarah and Emily Mack launched their small business, Vinat, to make buying wine online accessible, they had no big spend for engaging with PR firms to give their unique business idea a shout-out.
But despite this setback, something amazing panned out.
With a modest $125, they generated a 220% increase in web traffic, an overwhelming amount of attention for any new business.
HOW? THROUGH SELF-PROMOTION 👏
Through a few connections, Sarah and Emily pitched their press release about the beginnings of Vinat to The Associated Press. Their thoughtful reflections and vision caught the agency’s eye. It ended up being republished by many others.
Sarah and her co-founder Emily include an insightful quote in their press release.
That’s not all—there were inbound requests from journalists who wanted to write about them, brands seeking partnership, and attention from curious investors.
Sarah says this promotion was one-third the cost she anticipated for influencer marketing. The Vinat founders now generate substantial traffic each month publishing one press release.
Their story compelled us to curate some GREAT insights on the subtle art of self-promotion.
LET’S DIVE IN ⏬
#1 | BE NEWSWORTHY
Your company’s X or LinkedIn posts with rehashed emojis and generic hashtags do little to promote a product or service. Amidst a sea of promotional tweets and posts, industry insights and viewpoints are valuable.
You’ll rarely see Tim Soulo, CMO at Ahrefs (a popular SEO tool and resource for businesses looking to grow search traffic) talking about Ahref’s latest SEO tools.
Soulo loves sharing knowledge (articles, blog posts, snippets from his podcast) to build his authority.
He often writes about unconventional practices at Ahrefs to grab focus. Consider one of his recent posts:
I'm not a typical CMO. Not in a conventional sense.
- I don't sit on board meetings (because we don't have any at @ahrefs)
- I don't do quarterly reporting & planning
- I don't have any experience in ABM
- I'm not grooming our company for an exit eventAnd my lack of experience… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Tim Soulo 🇺🇦 (@timsoulo)
1:33 PM • Aug 13, 2024
No board meetings at Ahrefs < generation of interest in company < curiosity around company services.
Something about his marketing strategy clicks.
Boostrapped Ahrefs crossed $100M in ARR without these things:
No Google Analytics
No conversion tracking/optimisation
No retargeting
No A/B testing
No discounts
No bidding on competitors’ keywords+ discontinued midway:
Affiliate program
Free trial1/2
— Tim Soulo 🇺🇦 (@timsoulo)
9:15 PM • Mar 8, 2023
Solo marketer to $100 million ARR: When he joined Ahrefs 9 years ago, Tim was the only marketer in a team of 16. Despite this, he helped Ahrefs achieve this crazy revenue growth.
No analytics, just results: Soulo eschewed traditional analytics in favour of consistent content creation, believing it's the best way to know what his audience wants.
Proven success: Ahrefs' popularity among top companies like Uber, Adidas, and IBM, and its reliance by 44% of Fortune 500 companies, validates Soulo's strategy.
Building avenues of trust is important for initial sales and establishing life-long customers.
#2 | PITCH YOUR STORY WELL
If you, like Sarah and Emily, are hoping to get some press coverage, know that convincing journalists about your story is a tough nut to crack. But it’s worth the effort.
🌟IT BEGINS WITH A SHOWSTOPPER HEADLINE 🌟
A well-crafted press release headline has one job: letting journalists know everything about your brand.
Ask yourself “Why should anyone care ?” until you have a solid answer.
Feel free to skip ‘a’s, ‘the’s and other flyaway words if the headline reads ok.
Stick to <70 characters
Open with a wow-factor statistic
Leading with example: Apple’s walking audio program is written in a way that makes it easy for journalists to pull facts, details, and quotes for their stories.
Many people working for the news are overwhelmed with PR emails. Things that catch the eye but are likely to land in their spam bin include:
CAPS-LOCK SUBJECT LINES
$$$ or similar dodgy characters
More punctuation than needed
#3 | EMBED SOCIAL PROOF
Testimonials are more than a few good words about your company or service. A lot hinges on them as they build trust with potential clients.
Here’s a primer on using them effectively:
Dedicated section: Give testimonials enough real estate on your website, separate from other content.
Place wisely: Include testimonials on pages like your pricing guide and proposals to reinforce your value proposition.
Email integration: Add testimonials to your email signature and set up autoresponders to share them with clients who book consultations.
#4 | RELY ON RELEVANT DATA
Data to back your claims reflects genuineness. Use statistics where they shine: case studies, ‘About Us’ sections, or LinkedIn posts.
Commission-free freelancing platform Contra regularly cites data on the job market to highlight their relevance in uniting business owners with top talent to drive home the point that the future of hiring is flexible.
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Biz Essentials
Stay Ahead of the Curve
This is the rarest productivity method in the world.
• Not taught in business school
• Takes just 2 minutes a day
• Ignored by 99% of peopleThe Quantum Focus Protocol (used by Silicon Valley founders):
— Neal Taparia (@nealtaparia)
3:00 PM • Sep 20, 2024
A rare productivity method they did not teach you in business school: the quantum focus protocol
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Instagram is prioritising views over likes and comments.
Meta announces a voice mode similar to ChatGPT. Users will be able to talk with Meta AI on Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram DMs.
Why Apple, Amazon, and Nike are so darn good at selling things you don’t need.
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