How to Increase the Visibility of Your Business
One of the areas many entrepreneurs struggle with is how to increase the visibility of your business. Without visibility and exposure, no one knows about your great products and services. Your terrific deals go unclaimed. Your business does not attract the new clients and customers you need. You need to always be finding more ways to get your business in front of new eyeballs.
Knowing how to increase the visibility of your business will greatly improve your chances of success. Here are a couple ideas to give your visibility a boost.
How to Increase the Visibility of Your Business Online
There are dozens of FREE ways you can use to increase your business visibility online. The most obvious is to post about your business on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ or Instagram. You do not have to post on your personal page/account if you don’t want to. For instance, on Facebook you set up a business page and ask customers and potential customers to “Like” your page. Your postings will only be seen by those individuals. Some businesses will choose one or two social media sites to focus on, while others spread their offers far and wide. The great thing about owning your own business is that you get to choose the strategy that works for you.
Most of the social media sites have groups. Join some of the groups which attract your target customers and post some information about your business. If you are going to post in groups, make sure you follow the rules. Your best bet is to find a couple groups that have active participants and start to interact and get to know the other group members. Comment on other people’s posts. Ask questions of the group. Post interesting articles or information that would benefit those group members. Using social media groups the right way is a great way to increase the visibility of your business.
Another great way to increase the visibility of your business is to have a blog or website in addition to your social media profiles. Having your own piece of internet real estate is a key component to increasing your visibility online. Learn a little bit about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), write some compelling content, and new customers will start to find you.
Other ways to spread the word online include writing and distributing press releases, creating videos to post on YouTube and other video-sharing sites, participating in online forum discussions, writing and distributing articles to article directories, guest-blogging on other people’s blogs, and sending emails.
How to Increase the Visibility of Your Business Offline
For some businesses, online is great but what they really need is a boost to their visibility in a specific offline community. Probably one of the most effective visibility enhancers for the offline world is to attend events in person. Get out of your office and meet with people. You can find events to attend by checking on Meetup.com, joining a local Chamber of Commerce or networking referral group, or simply do a Google search for “business networking events in X city.” Many events have a small admission fee.
In-person networking is great to connect one-to-one with a potential customer, but it is more often than not just an introduction. You have to have a solid follow-up strategy to really make it effective. Another good way to increase visibility in your local community is to spend a little bit of money to set up a booth or table where attendees can come and talk to you. You can usually talk to more people who are genuinely interested in your product or services than going one-by-one at a networking event. You can also become a sponsor of an event to get your business name seen by the event attendees.
Another idea is so revolutionary, I hate to even mention it here but … well, here goes: Talk to people. Yes, that’s right. Stop using your fancy smartphone to check Facebook and make a phone call. In fact, if your business is not generating the revenue or sales it should, make it a point to talk to at least 5 people a day about your business. If your business is fairly new, you may want to bump that number up to 20 people a day or more. Nothing makes YOU and your business stand out more to your prospect than actually having a conversation with you.
Other ideas on how to increase the visibility of your business offline include: running ads in your local newspaper or on the radio, distributing flyers to neighboring businesses or colleges, putting magnets on your car, buying a billboard placement, putting out yard signs and more. You don’t want to run afoul of local advertising regulations, so check with your city before you get too aggressive with sign placement, but often your promotion efforts are limited only by your imagination and budget.
I hope that gives you some ideas on how to increase the visibility of your business. Just remember that visibility and exposure is what gets your customer’s attention, so don’t neglect this important aspect of your business.
Here’s to your success,
Trina
P.S. Another way to increase the visibility of your business is to join our Mirelli Entrepreneur Training for Women. You’ll be included in our Facebook and LinkedIn Groups, plus you will be able to connect with women entrepreneurs who want to do business with other women. Check us out and join today!
