You can’t attract leads and clients if nobody knows you exist. It’s as simple as that.
In order to succeed in your business, you must increase your visibility.
- Get more people to see and consume your content.
- Make more connections with potential customers.
- Be at their top of mind.
- Build the “Know, like and trust” factor.
Yep. Logically you know that makes sense.
But it’s easier said than done, especially if you’re an introvert like me. The thought of having to put yourself out can bring up a lot of anxiety.
“It’s too much work to show up everywhere!”
“I don’t have the time to keep up with creating consistent content.”
“I don’t know what to share with my audience.”
“Who would want to listen to me?”
It’s normal. I’ve felt all the above many times. (Who am I kidding? I feel these all the time!)
Usually, it’s because I’m feeling overwhelmed… thinking that I have to be everywhere all the time and on every single social media channel… feeling like I have to do everything from blogging, live streaming to creating podcasts and hosting webinars. (You totally don’t!)
Stop! Take a deep breath.
There are so many ways to increase visibility. Thankfully you don’t have to do them all.
Play to your strengths
The key is to focus your time and energy on your strengths.
Focusing on your strengths means that:
- You’ll enjoy the activities and feel enthusiastic about them
- You’re more likely to stick with them
- You’re less likely to feel anxious about them
- You’ll get into a flow state more easily (in a flow state, creation feels natural and doesn’t feel like work)
- You’ll be working on what fires you up
- Your audience will get to know you as you
- It energizes you, not drains you
Today, I’m going to help you find your focus so that you can increase your visibility naturally, without increasing your anxiety.
(1) Identify the types of engagement you enjoy
Do you love speaking in front of an audience? Or do you love expressing your thoughts with words and images? Are you a great teacher who can make complex ideas easy to understand? Do you enjoy being interviewed? Are you the kind of person who can spark spontaneous conversations with strangers?
Spend some time identifying which types of content and engagement comes naturally to you.
Don’t get caught up with what other people are doing. If the thought of speaking on stage makes you break out in a cold sweat, then it’s clearly not the right medium for you.
Give yourself permission to not do anything that doesn’t feel good.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for getting outside your comfort zone. But why not start with leveraging your natural strengths first?
Action step: Identify 1 to 2 types of engagements that come naturally to you.
(2) Identify the best platforms for the types of engagement you enjoy
If you love writing, there are lots of options open to you. Here are a few ideas:
- Blogging
- Email marketing
- Sharing blog content to Pinterest
- Writing posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn
- Guest blogging
If you love speaking to people, you’ll love:
- Creating a video blog
- Creating a YouTube channel
- Speaking on stage
- Doing Facebook Live
- Using Instagram IGTV
If you love teaching but don’t want to speak in front of the camera, you can create tutorials using screencasts.
Love being interviewed? Then get on other people’s podcasts or participate in online summits.
The point is, you want to choose marketing platforms that are best designed for the types of engagement you enjoy.
For me, I love writing. So, I opt for content marketing and email marketing. And I share my content on social media platforms that enable me to use words and images to communicate my key messages to my audience.
You may already have a good idea of which platforms are working well for you. If so, that’s great! Just keep exploring other options that play to your natural strengths.
Once you’ve identified a couple of platforms, commit to finding out how best to use them.
Action step: Identify 1 to 2 platforms that are most suited to the types of engagement you enjoy.
(3) Create a plan
Once you’ve identified your style of engagement and your best platforms, it’s time to create a plan.
How often will you show up? What topics are you going to talk about? What other assets do you need for your content? Where will you share it? What’s the goal for each piece of content?
Outline and keep a record of your workflow, so you can follow it each time you create content.
It’s also a good idea to create a content calendar, so you know what topics you’ll be covering for the next 3 to 6 months. This doesn’t have to be complex, just a simple text file is all you need. This way, each time to sit down to create content, you can get into creation mode straight away, instead of thinking “What shall I talk about?” and letting that be an excuse for not showing up.
Action step: Create a simple schedule to build your visibility.
(4) Show up consistently
The most important step to increasing your visibility is committing to showing up consistently. You can’t just think about increasing your visibility. You have to actually do it!
This is the step that differentiates those who are serious about making their business a success, and those who treat it as an expensive hobby.
Don’t try something for a week and then say it doesn’t work. Increasing your visibility takes time. My advice would be to show up consistently for at least 30 days, then review and tweak.
You don’t necessarily have to show up daily. But whatever you do, create a schedule and stick with it for 30 days.
So, for example, if you’re committed to blogging twice a week, then do so for the next 30 days and write 8 blog posts.
You get what you put in. If you only put in mediocre efforts, you’ll get mediocre results.
You can’t expect the world to beat a path to your door. You must go out and get their attention.
And remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint, so don’t expect to see results overnight. But if you show up consistently with your best content, your visibility will increase.
Action step: Mark the dates in your calendar and show up consistently for the next 30 days.
So, there you are. Increasing your visibility boils down to focus + consistency.
Sounds simple, right?
But you must do the work by committing to showing up.