Firstly, do take note that this can be done at any time in your business, it doesn't need to be at the start of the year! You can always start with whatever part of the year is left, or for any twelve months from whenever you are now.
Unfortunately for us introverts and quiet business owners, getting visible is a huge and necessary part of running our business. I definitely didn’t realise that when I first started - I built my website, and thought people would just find it and buy from me. But it didn’t work quite like that!
We have to put a bit of effort into it, find a bit of courage to not just keep hiding away, and get out there a bit more than we would like.
And we have to make sure we don’t get exhausted or burnt out by it all either.
And so it will help you to have a plan: to have a visibility strategy for the year, with the plans of what you’re going to do and when, to share your business with more of the right people - and how you’re going to keep it up.
It’s not just getting visible for the sake of it though.
Remember that it’s so that you grow your audience, reach more people, have more leads to market your business to, and sell to them.
And so that you stay visible to your existing audience, nurture them, and encourage them to buy, or buy again too.
It's so you can create more impact, help more people - and make an income for yourself too.
So, how are you going to get visible and market your business this year? I include growing your brand awareness, finding leads, building relationships, marketing what you do, and getting sales in that too: it’s all interlinked, it all goes together. But basically, how are you going to find more people to sell to this year?
There is so much that you can do, from concentrating on social media (and where specifically), to SEO, PR, email, podcasting, guest speaking, paid ads, collaborations, and many more. I’m not going to cover it all here individually, but here are my four simple steps for working out which of the myriad of things you could do, and which will be the ones you will do this year. (I cover loads of them in the 75+ lessons of the core Brand & Visibility Roadmap training in The Brand Plan Membership, on how to do each one and tips for doing them as an introvert for those things not so easy for us to do!)
Well step 1 is to look back at last year’s visibility activities. What did you do – and what worked, what didn’t work, and what did you want to or need to change?
From the list of what worked, check that you do actually want to keep doing it, even though it was working! Or if there’s anything to change?
From the list of what didn’t work, do you want to just scrap it, or is there anything you can change and then try again?
What new things do you want to add to that list to try this year? Spend more time on the things you know will work, but it might be worth seeing if you can try something new too.
Is there anything you need to learn/do/not do/create/delegate/ditch/etc that will help you make a success or more of a success of these visibility activities?
Including making sure you are totally clear on your ideal client/customer, your message, your offers, and the rest of your brand of course!? The things you need so that you are ready to get visible. (I'll cover more on these in a future blog).
When you’ve got your list of what you’ll concentrate on doing this year, it’s time to turn it into a plan to make it a proper strategy! So that you know what to do when.
Just like with the goal planning (see yesterday’s blog here), list out all the smaller actions that you’ll need to do to work on each visibility activity, and plan out when and how often you’re going to do them.
Then when it comes to planning out your time each quarter, month and week, and even day, make sure you include the brand, visibility and marketing activities in there so that you do actually work on them.
Your visibility strategy needs to be sustainable so that you can keep it up, and keep it feeling good, not get exhausted or frustrated by it. So remember to think about the time you have and your introvert energy, and plan in recovery time after people time.
Repurpose and recycle content to make things easier.
Create and schedule social media so you can be more consistent without having to be on there constantly.
You can stick to your comfort zone with what you decide to do this year, or you could try stretching it a little – don’t get overwhelmed by trying to jump right out of it though.
Use your clarity in your personal brand to get comfortable about standing out, and to get confident about being visible and growing your business.
Running your business should be fun, not stressful!
Your visibility makes you become known.
Your brand makes you memorable.
Your personal brand and your content makes you relatable.
Your marketing and your copy makes you irresistible.
It all helps you sell.
...Enjoy planning how you're going to do that!
Next Steps:
- Would you like some more help with planning your year and becoming more strategic with everything? Take a look at my From Frazzled to Focused: The Big Brand & Business Strategy Bundle – lots of workbooks so you can keep all the info in one place, have it to hand, and have some help filling them in. How to Review Your Year, Your Big Business Vision, Your Business Goals, and Your Business Strategy. Plus a bonus one for keeping you on track with achieving your goals. These aren’t time specific, you can start at any point during the year, and they are perfect for both product or service-based business owners.
- Is one of your visibility goals to be more consistent on social media? You need my 2024 Content Calendar! Get a whole year's worth of content ideas ready to use whenever you like, to grow your audience, brand and visibility with. (Or get it free with the Brand Plan membership).
- Ready for more personal mentoring, brand, visibility and marketing strategies that work for you, a community of fellow ambitious introverts, training, and accountability to put it all into action? Come and join my Brand Plan membership, and get support to show up, stand out, and sell more🤩
This is the place to be for reviewing each month together and planning the next one with all your visibility, marketing and sales goals, plus keeping you on track with weekly planning sessions and a monthly live challenge if you need more accountability support, or just pick and mix from all the trainings and challenges in the membership hub.
- Need to get more strategic with your content? You need my content course, From Overwhelmed To Organised! It will get you confidently organised, writing the right kind of content, and knowing exactly what to say to your audience and where.
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Blog topics / categories:
#Being An Introvert Entrepreneur
#All About Branding Photos, Headshots And Selfies
#Strategy and Planning
#Being An Introvert Entrepreneur
#Your Brand Stories
#Branding Photography Portfolio
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