As a business owner, one of the things you’re constantly striving to do is to expose your business to new and existing customers. Why? So that people choose you over your competitors, of course! Whether you have a small business or you’re a well-established firm with a large client base, there are always new and innovative ways of showcasing your company. But how do you increase your visibility in the business world, especially when it’s likely that there’s plenty of competitors in your field? Check out these tips so that you can get your business noticed more!
Increase your online visibility
Everybody who is anyone is online, and in this day and age, you should be too! Even as a business it’s important to establish a reputable online presence, and not just to keep up with the times! Being online can greatly expand your business, as well as increasing your online visibility. Take a look at these tips on how to use the world wide web to get your business noticed.
- Build up your social media following. You can do this in many ways, including using online tools to build social media, but it’s important to remember that a small amount of dedicated followers is much better than a huge following with many inactive accounts.
- Post regularly to keep your followers interested in your business. It can be anything from a block of text, a picture, a video, or even a song. Anything that’s related to your business will keep interest piqued.
- Use your social media platforms to link to your website. Clicks through to your website increase the chance of sales or collaboration.
- Keep your website updated with regular posts about your company and content that’s going to be useful to your customers. For example, if you’re a mechanic, post content about car care and the latest car news to keep people coming back for more.
- Use SEO (search engine optimisation) throughout your website to help organic visitors land on your website. Remember to think about keywords that are relevant and related to your business and use them in your posts. If you’re not confident in using SEO correctly, here’s an affordable SEO strategy to consider. Be careful not to seem spammy with your use of SEO.
Doing all of this can and will increase your online visibility. Since pretty much everyone is now online, an online presence = a more visible business.
Use free publicity
A common misconception about publicity is that to have it, you must know journalists. This isn’t strictly true. The truth is, there are millions of journalists that are looking for new pieces of information to share with the world, and if you give them that information, it’s likely to be a quid pro quo situation. A great way of finding journalists that can offer this for you is by looking for magazines within your niche and contacting the editors and also contributors of similar brands. More often than not, you’ll find that there will be plenty of journalists that want the first inside scoop on your business news. Use free publicity to get your business noticed more!
Run a competition
Everybody loves a freebie, so running a competition to win a grand prize will certainly pique interest. Use your social media profiles and your website to promote your competition. This will encourage people to share your posts for a chance to win the competition. Not only that, you’re likely to gain new followers and also see an increased amount of user engagement on your online content. This is another prime example of a quid pro quo situation – you give your existing and potential customers something for nothing and in turn, your exposure continues to grow. Some businesses use competitions as a strategy to keep exposure levels high, so it might be something to keep in mind for the future too.
Don’t copy your competition
One mistake that similar businesses often make is trying to out-do each other with their strategies. While there’s nothing wrong with competition in business, the mistake they’re making is using the same kinds of strategies. Set your own strategy and take a different approach at how you run things and you’ll soon see that you’re sticking out much further than your competition. ‘When other’s zig, you should zag’ is a great way of thinking about your business strategy.
Show that you’re not just another corporate company
Whether you’re a big business or not, companies that aren’t approachable or ‘customer friendly’ will often lose out on customers more than those who are. While it’s important to remain professional with your business, you should also try and adopt a ‘friendly’ approach to your customers. One that makes each of your customers feel like they’ve truly been taken care of, rather than just being passed to another member of the team. Making your company likeable by supporting charities and not being afraid to have fun with your business will make you stand out from the crowd.
Follow a trend
We know this seems a little backhanded because less than 200 words ago we told you to ‘zag when others zig’, but sometimes trends can work well for exposure of your business. You’re probably familiar with many internet trends such as ‘flossing’ or the ‘ice bucket challenge’ – use these to your advantage! Not only will you be supporting a nice cause as a business, but you’ll also be harnessing the power of trends to expose your business and get yourself noticed! Alternatively, use the power of the internet to create your own trend and reap the benefits of exposure from that too.
As you can see, getting your business noticed isn’t as difficult as you might think, and you don’t always have to use regular methods such as networking and word of mouth. Try out these unusual yet effective tips and see for yourself how much more attention you’ll receive as a business!
