It’s amazing how many people think of themselves or their business as “the best kept secret” around. It may be cute to say this, but it will not bring you the success you want.
Years ago I worked for a small radio station in Sonoma county. Every so often our station would get a call from a panicked business owner asking about rolling out a huge advertising campaign.
Sadly, for many of these business owners wanted to promote the fact they were going out of business.
Another sad reality was that many of these same people never put much time, effort or money into advertising their business… that is until it was too late.
It always amazes me when business owners resist learning all they can about how to raise awareness about their products and services…until their businesses are near collapse.
The most common reasons for not doing so are:
- Money
- Time
- Lack of knowledge
- Fear of not doing it right
Granted, it does cost money and time. There’s no getting around the fact you have to invest in your promotions. But there are also plenty of ways you can minimize the investments and make sure you are getting a high return for every dollar you do invest.
Regarding lack of knowledge and not doing it right, that’s no excuse for not doing what you need to in order to learn how. Until you’re willing to learn what you MUST not a darned thing is going to change.
With so much great information available there’s really no excuse for you not to learn what you can about promotions so you are not put in the position mentioned about.
There are many choices entrepreneurs have when it comes to raising awareness about their business. However, it does take a commitment to make it happen.
Here are a few steps anyone can take to gain great visibility.
Make a decision
The first thing that has to happen is for you to decide gaining visibility is a good idea. Until you make this type of decision you won’t be committed to your efforts.
Put time aside
Anyone who isn’t willing to put time into building a presence is not going to achieve much of an outcome. Just as you must budget your money you absolutely must budget your time. Imagine how much you could accomplish if you were to commit to one hour a day to your marketing efforts.
Be consistent
A primary reason to commit to daily marketing is to create consistency in your efforts. A hit and miss approach will give you a hit and miss result.
Analyze your efforts
It’s important that you are set up to gather accurate data in an organized fashion. There are a number of ways to gather data. If this is not a strength you need to either have a team member who can take care of gathering the information or hire someone. And… you have to understand the metrics. The more you pay attention the better.
Stay committed
One of the greatest challenges for many entrepreneurs is distraction. It’s like an addiction for some people. To keep distractions at bay you have to recognize they are getting in your way.
I call the near addiction BSOS – Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. It’s rampant. Yet, to achieve what you want you absolutely must take control of your own destiny.
Face it, there’s always going to be something vying for your attention. What you do with the distractions is the difference between lukewarm or wild success.
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How do you handle your own process for visibility? Do you say, “Tomorrow I will start?” or do you take full responsibility? Comments welcome.
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Great insight! I find that many solopreneurs don’t have an understanding of the sales cycle and buying triggers of their audience, so they never get why it is important to have a consistent strategy for creating awareness and building credibility and trust with their VIPs (Very Interested Prospects).
Yes. There are definite buying cycles. Great point. And when someone is ready to buy the question we need to have a YES! answer to is, “Are we on their mind?” Thanks for your comments.
I think some people are scared that other might copy them and then they will become the competition. If you have a business without competition surely you get all the market? Actually competition is good and healthy and continues to encourage you to strive to be better, do more and become more popular and successful. Great post, thanks.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
So true. Competition is very healthy.
Hi Kathleen,
Great post. Focus is one I still struggle with but doing much better at it. Once you or anyone realizes that, then things will start changing in whatever you are doing.
Have a great afternoon, Monna
Kathleen,
Great reminder about what it takes to succeed. I have no problem being visible, promoting and marketing, but I have not been good at tracking ROI. There are many things I want to do and I find that everything seems to take longer than expected, so I don’t get half as much done as expected. But I am persistent and committed.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
Hello Dr Erica
I agree with you visibility isn’t enough. I use Nimble.com for my crm. It helps with social listening and makes it much easier to track results.
Jerry,
I have never tried nimble.com. Just wondering what “crm” is.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica