Getting visible is super important at the best of times…even more so at the worst!
Rachel Bentley
Think about it…you know that your business needs the lifeblood of new customers and one way is to gain trust by more people than your existing customers, your Other Half, your mum and your dog!
And that comes directly from showing up and becoming the go-to person for the ‘thing' you are offering – also known as being a Thought Leader.
If you want to be profitable, chasing this flow of customers down with paid for advertising is not necessarily the way to do it (though there are ways to budget for advertising and keep an extraordinarily tight reign on it – it still needs an investment with no guarantee of return.)
So being visible across the channels where your niche hangs out is a super efficient way of getting known, liked and trusted by your target audience. As long as you have something worthwhile to say and so long as it works with your own agenda…and that all comes from proper planning.
Three ways to get visible online for free:
1 Your blog
Yes, that is all well and good…set up your website, build an audience (or hope to) and get a content calendar to write to…fine if you like writing and have the time to set this stuff up (and potentially the budget..) Going forward there are ways to make the most of blogs by publishing links in Facebook or Linked in Groups but these need to be well chosen.
2 Social media
Better! Start with what you know best and as you refine your audience, your niche, then concentrate on those platforms which they use most and deliver the sort of content they want to consume and which matches your messaging. More on that in future blogs! Remember that it is not all sell sell sell but a call to action on at least 25% of all your content would be quite acceptable. But make it really clear what you want your ideal client to do.
3 Guest blog
This is a tricky one because you need to be either unique plus a great writer to get on the big blogs out there (EG Huff Post) or to build up such authority you are asked to contribute. Starting out you will probably find you are asked to pay (don't) or fret about it and spend too long searching opportunities. I recommend being a bit more laid back and keeping an ear and an eye out for chances which come your way…such as this one did for me at the Wedding Guide who I wrote for recently for their readers who are small business owners and for their advertisers too – all starting to find they are in hard times due to lockdown.
It is called FIVE Marketing steps you MUST TAKE to help your business get through crisis and though I have used some other bits of copy to create the base for the blog I will not reproduce it on my own website as multiple posting of the same content to various sites is looked down on by Google.
If you are looking to refine your visibility a good place to start is to develop a strategic marketing plan – but remember that a good plan is one you take action on. If you need help with that please get in touch.