As a growing business owner are you getting caught in the hyper competitive market environment? When you work alone it is often difficult to fulfill all the roles you have to play. So how do you stay competitive? I often harp on the importance of staying focused to the high priority, high payoff areas of the business, but when you are doing it all, everything seems “high priority”. But being in business means staying connected to the people who do business with you as well as the people who refer business to you.
Do you work consistently with your Marketing Assets? The “sweet spot” to stand out in your market needs to be a level of interaction that you consistently put forth. One asset is your personal brand, as it answers to this idea of connecting. Your customers want to know who you are; remember the more they know about you, the more they can feel a sense of trust. Your materials, behavior and connection with your audience help build your brand. Connect by being “real” to them reveals the person they want to know.
Another asset for connecting are your business relationships. I am not talking about going into a group and handing out business cards. I am referring here to meeting regularly with advocates who refer business to you. It requires “reaching them with information that matters to them” and having some real interest in developing the relationship.
Invite everyone you know to be on your newsletter or eZine list. They may not be potential clients, but over the years, the chances are excellent that they’ll direct good leads your way once they’re in the know about your services. Remember to ask them about themselves so that you can better support them with articles, events that may be of interest or people they need to meet.
A Mind Masters member was starting up a new business to support young people to learn AV skills. I was able to connect him to a former member who happens to lead a church youth group. They have formed a non profit and are working together.
Connecting with your customers requires some new approaches. Your web site will not create any significant prospect attraction for the person who has never met you. What about all the testimonials you’ve received and the case studies you’ve recorded about the work you’ve done for clients? Those are very powerful hidden assets that most don’t leverage. When you get a testimonial, find a place to use it immediately. Ask if it was OK to share with your subscribers and post on your web site. That testimonial is now an asset that builds the credibility, especially for someone who is considering doing business with you, but is on the fence. One of my clients has found having clients do testimonials on Google has broadened the brand connection for his business.
Challenge: Check yourself. How have you stayed connected lately to promote your personal brand, shown interest in your advocates or sent your clients and customers something that kept you in front of them?