Business owners need visibility for growth. In the highly connected world in which we now operate, there are new ways to increase visibility, beyond the boardroom. Don’t get me wrong, I love an old-skool face-to-face meeting with a prospect. Maybe I’m showing my age (!), but when you’re sitting down with someone you have ALL your persuasive tools at your disposal—your voice, your body language, your active listening skills—those are the big guns.
But face-to-face sales take a lot of time and time is the modern business owner’s nemesis. Given many of us work with (or want to work with) clients from all over the world it can be a near-on impossible task to reach people in person. And have you noticed too, that a lot of people don’t want to meet face-to-face as a first step, like they used to? There’s a whole lot of research that happens first…a gathering of information from a variety of sources to help them make up their minds before contacting you.
These realities have forced me to get creative and look for alternative ways to ‘get in front of’ my prospects. None of these options put pressure on people to buy. Instead, they compel people to learn more about you in their own time, which may make them more inclined to buy down the track. Eventually you’ll get the ‘face time’ you want.
5 ways to increase your visibility
Blog.
Blog posts are nice and short and because of this they allow you to make one very relevant point and make it well. Once you get the hang of writing blog posts they are easy to knock out and in no time you will produce loads of content that your prospects can read and learn from. You’ll be subtly – and not so subtly – positioning yourself as an expert.
Guest blog.
Once you get into the groove of blogging, start scouting out other people’s blogs to find ones that have a similar target market to you, but are not in direction competition with you. Check them out for similar values and complementary business styles. Then simply ask them if you can share a blog with their community. This is a great way to get in front of other people’s networks, be known for your expertise and drive additional traffic to your own site.
Video.
It allows you to show your personality and passion! When you talk about your area of expertise, you likely exude confidence whether you realise it or not. Allowing people to hear your inflection, your tone, your style and see your face gives them the greatest insight into whether they’d like to work with you.
Speaking engagements.
Speaking engagements are one step short of that face-to-face sales opportunity you are looking for. Instead of selling yourself to just one person, you’ve got a whole room. One to many delivery of content is the way forward. Bonus!
A book.
Nothing demonstrates expertise like long-form writing. It proves an ability to craft your story and knowledge into a viable product, and also shows your tenacity and perseverance (writing a full length book is no easy feat!) An ebook is a great alternative to writing a full length piece, which will still be super valuable for your audience. It doesn’t have to be super long—10-20 pages is fine—and it’s easy enough to make it look presentable. If you write a great ebook it shows you know your stuff.
All of these tactics produce content that you can then reproduce through your social media channels. This helps keep your contacts updated, keep you top of mind and potentially share your wisdom with new faces.
**Side note for those of you worried about what you’re going to write about!
I know you didn’t start your business to become a content developer, and these projects to increase visibility may sound very overwhelming. However a good place to start is with your clients. What questions do people ask you over and over again? What points do you constantly try to drive home to your clients? What things do you find yourself saying multiple times per week? Once you become aware of these questions and phrases, you’ll start thinking: “Hey, that’s a blog post (or an eBook) right there!”