Is your business in the witness protection program? Do people know you exist? How would I know you are out there if I was part of your target audience?
I am sure we all would love everyone to find us by word of mouth or professional referral, but that takes time (usually a long time) to happen
Your problem is you are invisible holed-up in front of your computer. Most small business competes in crowded markets with lots of competitors, but yet do nothing to stand out. Much like participants in the witness protection program, we seem scared of standing out and being noticed. Unlike the witness protection program, you won’t get shot for being visible, but you could open yourself up for criticism. As my grandmother used to say, dogs don’t bark at parked cars. So, you can avoid criticism by doing nothing and hope no one minds you breathing or you could realize that it is an awful way to run a business.
I am not suggesting that you become a bragging blow hard, but I want you to step up and show your target audience who you are and how you help.
Benefits of Visibility
The benefits of being visible:
- People know your name
- People know what problems you can solve
- People refer you even if they have never used you.
- People see you everywhere.
Marketing is much like sales as it needs to be proactive and unfortunately most people work in reactive mode. They react when the sales pipeline is empty, by all of a sudden ramping up their marketing. The problem with that is it is often too little too late.
I see this all the time:
- A solopreneur who finally puts up a website and wonders why the phone hasn’t started ringing
- a business owner invests in getting search engine optimization services done and wonders why their website is not number one overnight.
- Solopreneur comes home after a networking event and announces to the world that networking doesn’t work because he didn’t sell anything.
- A business owner who doesn’t follow up on trade show leads but can’t understand why business is flat or declining.
It must be someone else fault, the marketing materials suck, the trade show attendance was poor or prospects have no money. All of which are just excuses for not consistently spending enough time on sales and marketing activity that will get you noticed.
Actively spending focused time every day working on your sales and marketing is critical to increasing your visibility. Now is the time to take action and remove yourself from self-imposed membership in the witness protection program that you currently find yourself in. Ask yourself this question, what can you do today to get noticed by my target audience?
Ideas To Grow Visibility
Here are some ideas:
- Design a postcard mailer and send it out monthly to your prospect list.
- Connect with five decision makers at companies you would like to work with on LinkedIn.
- Call 3 former customers and ask for referrals to someone they might know could use your help.
- Go to a networking event.
- Look for an opportunity to talk in front of a local professional association or group.
- Do something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
Tell me what you are going to start today to get yourself out of the witness protection program