Since COVID I have noticed many business owners having difficulty reconnecting, whether with customers or even prior networking groups.. 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.
To stand out in your market there needs to be a level of interaction that you consistently put forth; developing a personal brand 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. One of my clients sends out videos of his clients with before and after pictures. When people stop by his studio, it reflects the message he wants to get out, we are here for you, dedicated to helping you, come and see! 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 area for connecting is in your networking. 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. 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.
Content marketing is an essential element of any marketing program. It helps your brand stand out in a noisy marketplace, attracts your customers’ attention, and fuels engagement. A strong content marketing strategy creates a consistent experience for your audience across every stage of their journey — from the offer in your email campaigns to the silver bullet that closes a deal.
But the secret to success in content marketing lies in building and nurturing your customer relationships. The key is creating and delivering content that is focused on helping your customers, not selling to them. This focus on trust and value, paired with a thoughtful, well-researched engagement strategy, is what creates loyal customers and ultimately generates brand advocacy, that helps you “standout”.