The local press and media are excellent starting points for letting you know what is happening in and around your community. Think how these events can be used to raise your business profile and dovetail with your commercial efforts.

NASCAR at Daytona Florida attracts thousands of spectators every year. Along International Speedway Boulevard for miles on each side of the racetrack you will see every car lot charging for parking in front of businesses for up to $80 a day. Last year one caught my eye - a restaurant offering $100 for parking but a free family meal. They also offered forward booking so Mr. NASCAR fanatic can secure his parking with a free meal for next year’s event (with a small deposit).

From a business point of view, the restaurant is streets ahead of its neighbors - they are selling their product and getting the opportunity to book sales a year in advance, and all they need do is give “free” meals. On any other day, would a business expect any potential customer to pay $100 to park in their lot?

This may be an extreme example but there are dozens of events where you can leverage the publicity of the event to your advantage. The same parking phenomenon happens here in Minnesota every year in St. Paul, all throughout the State Fair each August.

If there is a parade downtown, offer free drinks to spectators outside and if the event is not on a business day, consider being open (even if you are normally closed on that day). Participate and be seen in the social aspect of the event and enjoy it. Doing something to help make the day more enjoyable for others makes you a target for press coverage with the roving cameramen who follow these events.

Christmas is the season for goodwill to all men and a reason for plying gifts and cards widely. Each year consider sponsoring a charity and ask your customers and business contacts to donate. Organize this with the non-profit or charity and perhaps you may wish to consider some form of matching contributions. If you are organizing such philanthropy you become, by default, the center of attention. Handing over the monies is an event worthy of a Press Release and a photo opportunity with the giant cardboard check.

If you have the premises, consider allowing local organizations to meet at your place of business. Local Chambers of Commerce and business trade associations are always keen to arrange meetings with varying businesses and it need not cost you more than the price of some coffee and donuts. Such meetings, especially if semi-social, do offer a photo opportunity for the local paper, the text for which can be gleaned from a Press Release and you’ll have no shortage of quotable notables in attendance.

With your Press Release skills, offer your services to publicize social, charitable or networking events for the organizers - again putting your name around town in numerous directions. This gains you recognition within the local community and with the editors receiving your Press Releases. The more they see your name, the more they will come to trust and rely upon you - so don’t give up sending them out.

Help by donating end of life stock and equipment to local event organizers. This costs you nothing, helps the environment by extending the use of inventory and raises your profile within the area with a tax-deductible donation to boot. Spin this around and issue a Press Release for your business as leading the way in helping non-profits, avoiding unnecessary waste and call on other businesses to follow your lead.

These are just some of numerous ways you can leverage creative events in your area to gain public and press exposure for local small business. Get creative, and have fun with it!