Positioning Your Business for Growth: 5 Ways to Get Started
Wondering where to start with positioning your business? As I work with speakers, consultants, coaches and authors, all of them ask this question. They know that positioning their brand, message, and business is key to be selected over their competitors and standing out in the crowd but are confused about how to begin.
We all start at the beginning in this process. Here are 5 ways to get started today with positioning your business for growth.
1. Produce and share content on topics your ideal client wants to know about. This is how you become viewed as an authority in your market. This brings a certain amount of respect, which leads to more traffic due to your perceived expertise.
Start by blogging on your own website. Write about focused topics in your area of expertise. What are the top challenges of your ideal client and how can they solve them? Write in simple language your readers will understand, avoiding jargon and words that are confusing to those not familiar with your area of expertise.
You can also look for opportunities to guest blog on other websites that cater to your audience. Connect with the owners and set up a call to collaborate on how you can help each other. If they are open to having you guest blog (make sure to ask how you can help them too), include a call to action so the readers are lead back to your opt in page and can join your list community.
2. Become a Resource
Let the local press know that you’re a resource they can call on when they need a quote about your area of expertise. You can do this in a variety of ways, such as sending email to reporters when they write about your topic, making meaningful comments on their blog, and using a service like HARO (Help a Reporter Out). HARO is a way that you can sign up to be a source to qualified reporters on any topic you choose. There are free and paid opportunities available on their site.
3. Set up Consistent Profiles on Social Media
Another key way of positioning your business is to leverage social media. No matter whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, your profiles should be very consistent. Be very careful about contradicting who you are across platforms. Ensure that you essentially say the same thing on each social media account but in different ways based on the social media platform. For instance, LinkedIn is more business and buttoned up, while Facebook is more social. Of course, be businesslike and professional on all platforms.
4. Create and Send Out Press Releases
When you do something exciting in your business, whether it’s publishing a book, hosting a webinar, or being a guest on a radio show or podcast, create and send out a press release. Press releases are a good way to get online back links to your website and to get seen online.
5. Form Partnerships with Other Experts
A really effective way to get your name out there is to form a joint venture with another known person in your area of expertise. Perhaps you know an expert who serves your audience and delivers a complementary service or product. Brainstorm ideas of how you could do something together, such as host a webinar, create a live workshop locally, or jointly write an informative eBook that solves a problem for your market.
Think your list or following is too small to entice a bigger player to partner? Get started by finding the partners who are where you are in your business now and start making things happen. One of my mentors says that one of his biggest regrets is not starting partnerships earlier in his business. He knows it would have made a huge difference in growing his business faster much earlier in the game.
Interested in reading how a few companies positioned their businesses to stand out among their well-entrenched competitors? Take a read here on Kissmetrics.
Next Success Steps
Does positioning your business seem like a daunting task? Let’s talk. Just go here to set up a time to discuss your top challenge and the next steps to get this in place.