The Art of Publicity: Simple Ideas to Get People Talking About Your Store

So you want to get people talking about your online store? PR is the perfect tool to help you do this!

Not only will you reach customers that may never heard of you before, but it's the perfect way to build

confidence within your store.

But aside from causing controversy, how do you go about gaining good publicity? Take a look at our top tips to find out...

1. Send out press releases

A press release may sound pretty old school in the digital era, but it can still help you get coverage in ways you may not realize.

The whole point of a press release is to let the media know when something newsworthy happens. So what sort of things will attract the attention of a journalist? Well, it could be that you've significantly increased your turnover, or that you've created more jobs within your industry.

These are all newsworthy talking points that journalists like to write about.

But it's not just about news publications. By sending out a press release on news sites such as PR Newswire, you can appear higher in the search rankings because your press release is another piece of content that is relevant to your online store.

2. Attract bloggers and influencers

Bloggers and influencers are like the journalists of the internet. These are the people who can help you reach a huge audience and influence potential customers to check out your online store. Depending on the products you sell will depend on the bloggers and influencers that you target.

There are platforms that will help you target the right people for you. Check out tools such as BuzzSumo and you can search for influencers using your product as a keyword, so you can find the right people for your store.

But once you've got these influencers in your grasp, how do you encourage them to talk about you? Well as you sell a product, a great way to approach them would be to offer them a free sample. That way, they can write a review for your product and share it on their blog or social, for the whole world to see.

3. Enter to win an award

Awards and accolades are definitely something worth shouting about – and they can help build up more confidence within your store.

The great news is, there is an award out there for pretty much anything you can imagine! It could be the design of your ecommerce platform, the products you sell, or even entrepreneur of the year – simply type 'ecommerce awards' into Google and you'll find a whole list of awards that you could enter!

Once you've got the award under your belt, make sure you send out a press release, rave about it on social and add it on your website so people know that you are the expert in what you do.

4. Release your own market research

Have you ever considered creating a survey amongst your peers? Market research can help bring more publicity to your store because you can be that go-to person who found out something 'new' within your industry.

When it comes to writing your blogs, or creating content, you need to put stats in there to back up your argument. The problem is, the stats that are currently out there may not give you the information you need or they may even be out of date.

By surveying people within your industry, you can ask them the questions that you want to know, and then release your results to the public. That way, you'll bring more awareness to your store, you may even find out something newsworthy, and it will encourage more people to link to the results of your survey!

5. React to a current story

Reacting to a newsworthy story can help bring exposure to your store, especially if you add a new take on it. Now we're not saying that you should react to every single thing that makes the news. You need to ensure that it's relevant to your niche, and that you add value to what is being reported on.

To make sure you are targeting the right kind of stories, it's worth setting up a Google alert that is related to your product. That way, whenever something is reported you can stay on top of it and talk about it on your social channels, or even blog about it.

Takeaway

As you can see, there are plenty of ideas that can help you get more people talking about your store! To really gain the trust of your customers, you need to set yourself up to be an expert in what you do. Whether it's winning an award or releasing market research, you really can become the go-to brand in your niche – it's all a case of creating good PR.

Let us know how you get on in the comments below! And don't forget, if you need an awesome Ecommerce platform then be sure to give us a call today.