Your business doesn’t need to be everywhere. Plan a marketing strategy that fits your business and your energy
Your business is not everyone else’s business. You’ve probably heard “you’ve got to get in every room.” “You never know where your next client is coming from.” After doing this for a year, I can say that this is exhausting and is not a sustainable strategy. It also creates a scarcity mindset, which is not a helpful mental state to be running your business on. Not every client you meet will always be the best fit. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had quick, shallow conversations with other small business owners whose intentions felt like they were just looking to trade business cards as if they were Pokemon. There’s more sustainable ways to market your business (especially if you have a B2C business) and target the leads who are most likely to convert.
Join a networking or professional group that is filled with your target audience
If your target clients are in a specific industry, just go right to the source. Get to know them and showcase how you can help them. Even offer to give a presentation or webinar for that group. Show up consistently. People want to work with people who they like and feel comfortable with. The more you show up and cultivate relationships with these people, the more likely they are going to remember you when they are finally needing your service. These groups don’t have to be huge commitments either. Some meet monthly and others meet weekly. Some are online, in person or hybrid. Choose the one with the time commitment you are most likely to stick to.
Join and actively participate in community groups on social media
I’m personally not the biggest fan of small service businesses using social media to attract leads, maybe creative or “fun” businesses that can create more entertaining content. But I think a lot of people are becoming more fatigued by social media. However, I do think there is a more authentic way to engage with your target audience on social media. You can do this by joining active Facebook or LinkedIn groups where your target audience goes and contribute helpful advice consistently when someone posts about a pain point that your skillset and service is able to solve. Just like networking groups, people will remember you as being helpful and are more likely to think of you when they are looking for your type of service. When social media started, it was used to connect with friends and be authentic. Now you can bring the authenticity back by using it to create genuine connections.
Blog or Guest Blog
On your own website, you can create engaging and helpful content. The more helpful posts you create, the more likely your posts will show up in search engines overtime. This is helpful for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These posts can draw more traffic to your site. Write about the pain points you know your client’s have. Include keywords after doing research on what your audience is likely to search. Using keyword tools like Keywords Everywhere can help you discover search queries (what users are searching) that your audience is likely to search. You can also write blog posts on sites where your target audience goes. The same idea applies of writing helpful content, but also be sure to hyper link some words that are more likely to attract your audience back to a targeted page on your website. This could be your homepage, a service page or a landing page you want your audience to see.
Optimize pages on your website for SEO
Do keyword research on your target audience or target pain points your business solves and optimize your webpages with keywords that align with the page’s intent. Your website’s content should communicate what you do and how your target leads benefit from your unique selling proposition (USP). Your website’s content should also be organized by page and section, so that way you can optimize specific pages on your site that you want to attract your targeted leads to for a specific intent. If you offer multiple services, you can create multiple service pages, one for each service you provide. That makes it easier for Google to understand your site and help you get ranked higher.
YouTube or Podcast
If you prefer talking over writing, then either YouTube or Podcasts are a great way to go. Unlike traditional social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, YouTube and Podcasts are less about keeping up with friends, family or influencers and more about producing helpful or entertaining long form content. YouTube and Podcast platforms have their own search engines. So you can use keywords or queries your audience is searching and create helpful content on that. These videos don’t have to look amazing or even go viral for you to find clients. They just have to solve your client’s pain points and search queries. You can also use a tool called Loom to do screen recordings with your voice in the background or even have your face in the corner of the screen. Additionally, like guest blogging you can also appear on someone else’s podcast or YouTube channel that shares your target audience in order to attract more targeted leads to you. This type of long form content doesn’t have to be super long by the way, it just has to provide valuable content.
The bottom line is that you don’t need to show up everywhere. You just need to choose two to three tactics that you can see yourself realistically doing and you know it’s where your target audience is. It’s best to have two or three marketing tactics because you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket. For example, you can choose one of these options and then also word-of-mouth. Overall just stick to two or three of these tactics consistently, make content for your target audience and the right leads will come to you overtime.
