Want to Build marketplace platform?
Many small publicly-traded companies face a huge challenge: How to build liquidity in their stock in the current economic environment. I receive a lot of leads from small companies looking for help with regard to liquidity.
Most small and micro cap company stocks have limited liquidity. There are a limited number of investors and still quite a few traders but how does a company attract them? How does a company achieve liquidity?
All companies that already have liquidity in their stock have a few things in common:
- Build marketplace platform and a real business that is actually selling products and/or services
- A following of loyal shareholders
- Large “footprint” on the Internet (explanation coming)
Most stocks that perform well in the marketplace over a period of time (weeks or months) will have a company that has been making a lot of “noise”. This noise makes the company easy to find using search engines. In other words, if you “Google” (search using the company name) the company, you will find plenty of news releases, lots of mentions by individuals on social media platforms, message boards and in many cases, mentions or articles in blogs. Companies that have a big buzz will return not just a few results but pages and pages of results in search engine results pages marketplace.
Creating Buzz and Liquidity
A buzz is something that all companies want – it is the best way to have stock liquidity over a long period of time. The buzz is created through news releases and filings by the company which are marketed by their PR/IR firm. A good PR/IR firm will know how to get maximum distribution of press releases and how to create press releases out of filings like Quarterlies, 8Ks and such. But it is not done with just one press release. Press releases need to be organized into a series of effective press releases over months marketplace.
Distribution of press releases through blogs and social media platforms, if done right will greatly increase the reach of a press release over time. In other words, the life of a press release can extend to months or even years if handled properly marketplace.
Social media platform
An engaging social media platform presence is very important as well. It is important to have people engaged on your platforms that care about your business. Companies and PR/IR firms have been using social media platforms in all the wrong ways for the most part.
Targeting people
Instead of targeting people that are actually interested in the client company’s business, they have gone for “the numbers”. Some entities have thousands or tens of thousands of friends, likes, followers and what have you and maybe only a handful of those people actually care about the business or the company.
Creating this buzz is not easy. Still though, it is doable. If it can be done, why don’t more companies do it?
The answer is simple:
Most companies need liquidity NOW. They do not have time to put together a longer term “buzz” campaign that will pay lasting dividends 2-6 months from now. Another thing I have found with company management teams is that they get discouraged easily. If volume does not come into the stock within the first couple of press releases, they begin to lose patience and second guess the value of building their story all across the Internet.
It requires an investment of time, money and patience. A good PR/IR campaign costs less than a one day email blast from a big time stock promoter but has legs to last a long time.
According to expert Vickie Sullivan (sullivanspeaker.com), you need to:
- Determine your business model (what do you do–what do you have to offer–what are your strengths?)
- Identify revenue streams (what are the different ways you can make money from your expertise)
- Establish your manifesto (“put your flag in the ground”: This is what I do and this is my approach)
- Plan strategies for executing your business model
She calls this strategic planning “Marketing Intelligence”–plotting your course by looking at the marketplace to see which segment you should target to make the most money from what you do. After all, you deserve to make top dollar for your services, so it only makes sense to approach the customers who can afford to pay what you’re worth, right?
When you think about it, this is a great way to figure out how to build brand identity. You’ll use only those marketing methods that target the kind of customers you want to sell to, and you can customize your “brand” using the tools best suited for attracting those particular people marketplace.
Marketing tools for marketplace can include:
- The media (local, national, or international)
- A website
- Publications (books you’ve written, articles written about you)
- Promotional materials (company brochure, trade show giveaways, direct mail)
Regardless of the tools you use, your message, marketplace or signature style, will remain consistent–it’s your platform, or brand identity, expressed in your slogan, logo, elevator speech, sales pitch, etc. When you develop your style that says: “This is who I am and this is my approach,” you’ve established your brand identity.
So, how do you do this (marketplace)?
Social media is a wonderful tool. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr and many others exist to help people connect. Look for other writers on these sites. This is a great place to start. Writers are usually very good about helping each other promote their books marketplace. Get your friends to talk about it online. Participate in the many Twitter chats for writers. You can learn a lot about getting an agent, working in your genre, self publishing and more. Chats are done on Twitter by including a hashtag in each post. This is an example of a hashtag: #litchat. Hashtags like this enable people who want to follow the discussion run a search for that term and all the posts will appear.
Facebook lets you make a business page for your book. Promote it on Twitter and Facebook to get people to like it. Everyone who likes your page will get the updates you post there. Keep everyone updated on how the writing is going, put up a few sentences periodically, and generally hype your book marketplace.
Start a blog. Dedicate it to your book(s). If you write paranormal romance, for instance, really make the most of this genre on your blog. You can host giveaways on your blog. If your book is ready, promote a giveaway of a copy or two to people who comment or follow a simple set of instructions you set up. If your book is not ready, offer writers in that genre that you’ve met on Facebook or Twitter the chance to promote their book by hosting a giveaway for them. Let them write a post or interview them. This will help you generate traffic and interest in your own books.
Join blog tours for marketplace
Join blog tours. If your book is ready, join them as an author and visit many different blogs to talk about your book. Be prepared to give copies away to lucky winners at each blog stop. If your book is not ready, offer other authors to host them on their blog tour. Again, this is all about bringing you traffic who will help you build your platform marketplace.
By the time your book is ready, you should have a ready audience who will be eager to snap up your book. Promotion is an author’s best tool to compete in the marketplace. Using these sources, it costs very little; lots of time and a few copies of the book for prizes.
