The Simple Social Media Guide for Beginners
(And Pros Who Know They Need a Refresher on the Basics!)
How To Reach Your Business Potential
Growing your business potential is an overlooked aspect of long-term business strategy. In fact, it is a totally different prospect than growing your immediate client or customer business.
Potential is everything to do with three things:
- building brand equity
- having an awareness strategy
- keep curious and relevant looky-loos coming back
The typical business owner focuses on just these:
- building revenue right now
- firefighting and following breadcrumbs
- energy, effort and money on promotions
While immediate goals must be met, and strategies that do so are not wrong, a healthy business has a long view of success and is continually laying a firmer foundation in tandem with the monthly revenue building.
Sound strategies to growing your potential:
- Grow a healthy list email list and use it wisely (not too frequent, but with gusto in your relevant content). If someone visits your website give them a reason to be there and sign up for more information and promotions (follow the new CASL legislation if you are in or communicate to Canadians).
- Be frequent, relevant and current. Consistency in showing up where your clients, customers and fans are is critical! This may be in real life and/or on your social streams. Pick a few places where you know you connect really well with people who get and support your business and be there regularly sharing insights and advice on behalf of your industry, so that you anchor yourself as the “go to” resource on that topic.
- Invest in low key, continual impact efforts. This may be low cost advertising (if you know 100% it’s in front of the right audience) over a long stretch (advertising is an awareness medium, not one to assume obvious return on investment). This may be “showing up” in the same way at the same places… volunteering, leading seminars, on information based discussions online (ie. #tweetchats). This most certainly should and could include a regular blog, Podcast or YouTube channel (or a combination) that you circulate as your core content in social channels.
Growing a long term business relies on consistent, clear and considerable effort to be known for who you are, what you stand for and what you do!
The take-away here is really not about you, it’s about your current and future customer.
They may not need what you offer for years to come. Or they may hire you once and not come back right away. That’s totally fine. So, how will you help them remember to contact YOU when they are ready? By staying in their lives in a valuable way… sharing yourself and your knowledge with respectful continuity. If you add value to their lives in any non-sales environment, over time they will consider you as “the person they will hire when they have money.”
Even if they don’t, you become “the only person they know” to referring to their friends. Word of mouth is still the best way to achieve your potential. But it’s not passive… go create reasons to make it happen.
1 Comment. Leave new