Publicity Stunts
Publicity stunts are special events that are held to grab the attention of the general public.
Publicity stunts are used by firms to get media coverage so as to generate leads. Though nothing can give a business more positive media coverage than a well planned and executed publicity stunt, they can also cause irreparable damage to the firm, if gone wrong.

Following are some tips you can use to get the best out of your publicity event:

•    Your publicity stunt should be unique, creative and outstanding to grasp public interest.
•    Place for the event has to be carefully selected, so that maximum number of people can watch it.
•    You can use advertising to let people know about the upcoming event. Remember that your ad must not reveal too much information of the event, as that would spoil the curiosity about the stunt among the people.
•    Make sure that your stunt does not put the objective of the campaign away from focus. The core message behind your campaign should be clearly conveyed to the prospective clients.

Publicity stunts can be expensive and hard to organize, but no one can deny the interest and awareness that can be created by this strategy if used correctly.

Launch campaigns:
The launch of a new business or a new product by an existing business is one of the most vital events for any business. Your launch campaign is an opportunity to create brand awareness, generate leads and give your brand and edge over your competitors.

The following suggestions are useful in making your launch campaigns a success:
•    Everyone related to launch campaign should be very clear about the main aim of the campaign whether it is to create awareness, lead generation, revitalize sales etc.
•    Design your launch campaigns according to your targeted market segment, e.g. children, elderly, high income /low income etc.
•    Highlight the core value of your product in your campaign.
•    If you are going to introduce a completely new product, make sure that you continue to advertise success of your product immediately after its launch.
•    If you aim to establish long term relationship with your customers, refrain from making unrealistic claims in your launch campaign.
•    Select a good marketing mix to be used for the campaign, according to targeted customers.
•    It is helpful to use sales promotion techniques, such as lower introductory offers, giveaways or discounts on bulk buying to attract consumers.
•    Sales staff and marketing team should be adequately trained to handle post launch inquires from interested customers.

Successful launch campaigns will not only boost sales at the introductory stage of your product but it will help throughout the product life cycle.

Opting in refers to a marketing strategy where the potential consumer allows businesses to send e-mails to their e-mail address.
It is good to send e-mail to potential consumers with their permission, as this ensures that the consumer is a qualified lead; plus, sending e-mails without seeking permission is known as spam.

It is said that” there is no such thing as a free lunch”; yet, offering free giveaways for opting in is a very effective marketing technique.  All businesses need customers and generating new leads and keeping existing ones is the aim of all marketing teams.  One of the easiest ways of doing this is by having your own e-mail list.

Those consumers who are opting in for your e-mail subscription are likely to be better qualified leads as they have shown an interest.  Once you have an e-mail list of your own, it becomes very easy and cost effective to market your product, announce new offers or any other relevant news by sending bulk e-mail to your list.

Joint venture giveaways are also gaining popularity. In this technique, a number of firms get together and each firm provides a product for the giveaway. All firms promote this event to attract potential consumers. Visitors to the giveaway website can choose the products they want and marketers get their e-mail addresses in return.

Following points are worth remembering if you want to use free giveaways for opting in.

•    The giveaway that you offer should be something your prospective leads are interested in. Choose the giveaway according to the profile of your ideal customer.

•    Design your squeeze page in such a way that it is very eye catching and contains just enough information about your offer that will make the reader subscribe to your e-mail list.

•    If you are a part of a joint venture giveaway, make sure you have a very visible gift ranking on the web page. You can increase the response to your offer by continuous promotion of the event.

•    You will also need to have an efficient auto responder software system in place to manage the subscribers

Though some people argue that you will not get qualified leads but only freebie seekers through giveaway events, once a potential consumer subscribes to your list, you can keep him or her subscribed by using free advice, more free offers, relevant news etc., instead of a continuous sales pitch to maintain the interest of subscribers.