One of the most intimidating parts about starting a business can be stepping out of your comfort zone and marketing it to the world!

This can feel like a big (and scary) step if you have no idea what promoting your business should look like.

But, it’s not as bad as you might think - and more likely than not, you’ve actually already been doing a few things to help market your business.

Let’s run through some of the best practices to start promoting your business...

Word of Mouth Marketing

If you are just starting or recently started your business, you might be surprised to learn that you’ve already built an engaged community.

You already have an audience who is interested in what you’re doing and wants to support you. 

They’re your friends and family. 

One of the first homework assignments I typically give my coaching clients is to tell their friends and family about their business. This can feel scary and maybe even a little embarrassing, but talking about your business with people who love and support you is great practice for when you start pitching to strangers. 

My clients almost always find that their friends and family are interested in learning more about what they do and are excited to support them. 

I want to challenge you to talk about your business with your family, text your friends about why you’re excited about your new passion project, and share your business on your personal social media profiles. 

You’ll be amazed by the positive feedback you get!

Referrals

For the first 4 years I ran my business with ZERO marketing. I didn’t have a website, I didn’t run any ads, and I didn’t build an email list. 

Even with no marketing, I was able to grow my business to $50k per year while working full-time. And it was all thanks to one strategy...REFERRALS.

Until 2018 my business ran 100% off of referrals.

By providing great value to my clients and sharing about my business to my family and friends, I was able to get a consistent influx of leads. 

Referrals are a great way to grow your business with no extra effort. I set up a referral program that rewards my clients when they refer me to someone else. Then, when I have client openings, I will sporadically email them reminding them about my program and asking if they know anyone who would benefit from my services. 

This almost always results in a few leads that were already interested in working with me because leads coming from referrals are typically warmer than leads from other sources. 

Social Media

“I can’t get leads from social media because I don’t have enough followers”

I see so many people saying this about their business. But there are many other ways to market your business online WITHOUT a lot of followers.

A great way to gain exposure to new and different audiences is to share value with other peoples’ communities.

That could mean:

• Being a guest on a podcast

• Going live in someone else’s Facebook group

• Co-hosting a webinar

• Doing an Instagram takeover

• Guest blogging

All of those strategies allow you to deliver value to users who may not have otherwise seen your content.. It allows you to promote your offer to new people or offer a free or low cost item that can help turn those people into YOUR followers and customers. 

You might think, but who wants me to share content with their audience?

But, the reality is that many entrepreneurs are looking for new valuable content to share with their audience. Just asking and putting yourself out there might feel scary, but you will likely find that many people are excited to have you bring your knowledge and experiences to their audience! 

Talk About What You Sell

Are you posting to social media consistently, writing blog posts, and sending email marketing campaigns but STILL not getting consistent leads?

Stop for a second and think about how many times in the last month you have actually talked about your offer online. 

Delivering value to your audience is important, but if you never talk about what you actually sell, how are people supposed to know what they can buy from you?

Talking about your offer consistently and making sure you are including a Call to Action in your content helps encourage your audience to take the next step towards working with you. 

Build Brand Loyalty

People often buy just as much for the business owners as they do for the product or service. 

Sharing the “why” of your business has become a MAJOR part of selling online. 

A great way to build relationships with potential customers is by starting conversations and engaging with them online. 

But how can you do that?

• Ask questions in your content and respond to answers in the comments and DMs.

• Post meaningful comments on other posts and stories.

• Use engagement stickers in stories and start conversations in DMs based on the answers.

Basically what all of that means is to be a REAL person on social media.

Don’t just post and ghost. Start real and meaningful conversations. This helps you build strong relationships with your ideal clients. 

Engaged followers = Brand ambassadors

When you have engaged followers, they become brand ambassadors, not only purchasing from you but promoting your offers to their network as well.