Whether you are starting a new business in Las Vegas with a big budget or a small budget, you can always take advantage of free web promotion.

One of the best ways to gain free promotion is by using press releases to highlight your company’s latest news stories, events, hires and client wins. In order to write a truly effective press release, it should be a newsworthy story. A grand opening, a special sale, a charitable effort within the Las Vegas community, are all great stories perfect for a press release and an excellent free advertising tool.

There are numerous press release submission websites, some free and some paid, which will allow you to submit your news articles. By doing so, you’re exposing your news item to newspaper and magazine editors who may in turn publish your article/s.

Your press release should be no more than one page in length. Make sure your name, mailing address and telephone number are included at the top of the page as editors will confirm your identity before publishing your news article. See the links below to find the standard format you should write your press release in.

More Information:

Tips on Writing Your Own Press Releases

Write & Submit Press Releases for Your Las Vegas Business

As a resident of Las Vegas myself, I have visited many Las Vegas restaurants, hotels, casinos, bars and entertainment venues of one sort or another in my spare time. Your spare time to relax can also be an opportunity to meet people within the Las Vegas community and talk, take interest in others and talk about each others careers and businesses. Consider this advice when you’re away from the office, always think about marketing yourself and your business.

The following is a list of places that I frequent where I have directly met people through casual contact that have led to making strong business relationships, new leads and new business:

• Starbucks Coffee on Village Center Circle in Summerlin
• Las Vegas Athletic Clubs
• Vintner Grill in Summerlin
• The Artisan Hotel
• Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa
• Sapporo
• Einstein Bagel
• RoadRunner Las Vegas
• Agave Mexican Restaurant and Bar

Email marketing is a very cost effective form of marketing your Las Vegas products and services. There are various ways you can create an email campaign and various content options you can write about. Any way you look at it, email marketing can keep your company’s products and services in people’s minds and reminds people of your products and services and can lead to new leads and new business.

Where’s a good place to start?

There are many email marketing services available out on the internet. I’m most familiar with Constant Contact. Whether you’re looking to send an email newsletter, a high-impact email promotion, an email event invitation, an online survey, or build your email list, Constant Contact can help you get it done. 

Email Marketing and Online Surveys from Constant Contact make it easy and affordable for you to connect with your customers or members. Review their website for more information and details.

Where to find an Email list to market your email newsletter to?

A great place to start is with your current address book (from Microsoft Outlook or any comparable address book or email software). If you look in the help menu, there should be instructions on how to export your address book into a text delimited file that you can then import into your email marketing software, like Constant Contact.

You can also have a professional web developer put an email newsletter sign up form on your website’s home page in order to encourage visitors to sign up for your newsletter.  There are services online where you can also purchase email lists for marketing purposes.

What information can I include in my email newsletter?

• Helpful tips, tricks and inside information
• A special offer or discount
• Your full company information and contact information
• An article on a timely topic relevant to your business
• How you will solve your particular customer’s problems through using your services
• Special events or announcements

A logo can make or break your new business.

A logo is most often the single most identifiable representation of your business and in Las Vegas, creditiblity is key. Your logo appears on your business cards, stationery, letterhead, envelopes, forms, collateral, website, email signature, maybe even on trucks and signage. It represents everything your company stands for, the tone, your products and services, your professionalism.

Many smaller companies make the mistake of not having a solid professionally designed logo for their business. Or worse, they use different logos for different marketing materials, or change the colors, fonts, styles, and more. This creates an inconsistent image in your customer’s and potential customer’s minds. It detracts from your professional identity. 

With this in mind, you should ask yourself the following when evaluating your current company logo:

• Is your logo professionally designed and used consistently across any and all marketing materials?
• Does the look and feel of your logo represent your company in the best possible manner?
• Do you feel that your logo separates you from your competition?
• Does your logo provide that invaluable “first impression”?
• Does your logo speak directly to your target market?
• Do you feel that your logo makes you look more established and bigger than your competitors?

You may have heard of Social Networking before but do you know what it really means and what impact it could have in growing your business?

In case you don’t know what Social Networking means, I thought I’d start by defining it. Social Networking is the grouping of an individual person into specific groups via websites.

On Social Networking websites, you can create a profile, upload your photo, fill in your stats (personal and/or professional), state your interests, then find other members that have some sort of common thread to add to your own personal networking community. You can find and add contacts that have similar business interests, live in your zip code, connect with people you went to high school or college with - create your own online community.

Here are some free Social Networking websites you should definitely join:

• facebook
• myspace
• LinkedIn
• twitter
• jigsaw

Once you have your profiles set up, search for people you know, or search for people you don’t yet know but that have similar interests and add them to your networks. Participate in these online communities, let your contacts know what you’re up to periodically, check in with people, socialize and network!

Benefits to Social Networking:

• You will make new business contacts in Las Vegas
• You’ll meet up with people from your past that can help market your business or company
• Provides you and your company visibility on the internet
• Gives you an awareness of what is happening in your community
• Your contacts can learn about your business which give your business “mindshare”

When you launch your new business here in Las Vegas, one of the first things you often think is “how can I make my business profitable?”  There are many strategies and tactics you can take for your company and one key strategy is business networking.

Business networking is something that may not impact your profit margins directly, however when you examine the way business networking works, you’ll probably find networking contributing directly to setting up the fundamentals of your business.

Here’s how Business Networking can help your business:

• It allows you to build a brand image for your company or business, even before your company launches. If you have a strong professional network of business people, it can help you in circulating the name of your company amongst your fellow business contacts, and you can ask them to promote you to your business contacts as well.

• Visibility will help you gain more clients. Whether you are a new business owner or have been in Las Vegas for awhile, you always want new clients. Networking allows you to get a good stream of your clients coming your way. Of course, a lot of this also depends on the professional reach of the members with whom you have been networking.

• Allows sharing of best practices. As a new company, you may not realize the value of best practices. In the long run, when you implement best practices your business will no doubt gain a lot of credibility with your clients in the long run. 

• Helps you to overcome challenges. Many companies and businesses face challenges, and networking with fellow business people can help you learn from each other - both in how to do things and how NOT to do things.
   
• Keeps your business in people’s minds. If you make an active attempt at networking in Las Vegas, and keep an interest in your fellow business professionals, then you and your company will be remembered. And keeping in contact with people will keep you in their mindshare for years to come.

Networking often is a qualitative exercise. It does not matter if you network with 100 business people or ten, just as long as as you get out there in the community and network.