Are you struggling to get your business to move forward? Are you finding it hard to see an increase in sales or to see a profit at the end of a year?

If the answer is yes, what can you do to turn this around and see more success going forward?

Perhaps it’s time to take a deep hard look into your business, digging into your values and your priorities and working out what is important to you and how you can use that to add value to other people.

 

A business grows when it’s creating a solution. A business is successful when it is providing value to those who have a need. If you’re not reaching out to people who need your services, you’re not going to see results as these people won’t want or need what you are offering!

 

 

Therefore you need to work out who you are trying to reach and who your ideal audience is. You will need to think about who will really have an impact when they discover your services, who you can impact the most with your offers. With everything in your arsenal, what type of person will benefit most when you work together? When you discover your complete ideal person whom you want to work with, who you want to target, who you think will love your product, then you have a basis to work from in creating a strategy that speaks directly to them.

 

 

You are unique! Did you know that? There may be a thousand people offering similar services to you but there is something within your business that makes you unique and different from the rest – what is it?

If you search for your niche on your favourite search engine – what results do you come up with? What similarities can you see between you and the results? Are there many businesses offering the same thing?

This is your chance to stand out from the crowd and discover your own uniqueness -use that to promote your product or services. Your USP (unique selling proposition) gives you an advantage to sell your business on its own credit and with its own glory.

When you determine what makes you unique, along with your ideal target audience, you’ll be in a position to stand out and be noticed. Use this in your marketing strategy and you’ll be in a position to become known, grow brand awareness and attract more of the people that you want to be working with, and sifting out people who are not right for your business.

 

 

Honesty is the best policy, in life and in business. When you are honest about who you are, what you value and honest in your approach to working with individuals, you’ll find it easier to work with people who want to get to know you and love you for who you are. There is pressure in a busy online world to be the same as the next big company and to offer services the same as the latest successful entrepreneur. However if it’s not what you have been called to do, or that aligns with your objectives and goals, you’ll be heading for a path of disappointment or regret rather than success. It can be easy to follow the big names and to get caught up in what they are offering, with the promise of a 6-figure business if you follow their rules – however is this really what you believe in? Is their product or method the way that you first visualised your business going in? Get back to the basics of why you started your business, what drives you forward and what goals and ambitions you have.

 

 

Your story is what helps to sell your business – and every business needs one! It’s the best way to strengthen a brand and how to power your marketing strategy. All the great brands are built upon a story, so if the best are doing it, it’s time to jump on board and follow suit.

Your story can follow different paths but it needs to have structure as with any good novel.

Set the scene: How and where did your business start? What were the foundations that were set to enable you to get started and what is the mission that you are working towards?

Empathise with your audience: Make your story personal, touch the emotions of your readers and get them to understand what you are about. When a person feels a connection with your brand they will begin to trust what you are saying. Build on that relationship and nurture each potential customer giving them a reason to love your product.

Why is your story different: What makes you stand out from anyone else who is selling the same as you? You are unique and there is something that will appeal to individuals seeking your service – find that detail and focus on it within your story telling.

 

 

What does the word values mean for you and your business? Defining the definition of this will help when it comes to being clear on what your business stands upon. It could refer to a set of beliefs, company culture, an understanding of what the business is about; your values are unique to your business. It’s about educating the people around you of your mindset and what’s important to you. These could come from a personal value that you’ve built your business upon and this will be clear within your story telling – your values can play a part in that.

Maintaining core values is vital to the longevity of your business and looking for sustainability and growth. It will give both team members and customers a sense of purpose and guidance and will help keep everyone on the same path as the company grows.

 

 

Many businesses use social media to increase their engagement and drive traffic to their website. If you don’t have a strong presence on social media you could be missing out on a great number of opportunities! If you’re not increasing your audience and traffic, your content is being seen by the same people over and over again – who, if they are not buying into you, are perhaps the wrong target audience. But where do you begin to increase your social media presence?

Great content is always a must. To get people even to notice you, you need to be using eye-catching visuals that appeal. Secondly you need to be encouraging followers to engage and go through your sales funnel. The two parts together draw people to where you need them to be in order to guide them on their customer journey within your business. Their journey needs to be a good one in order for them to stick around.

In all your content ensure that you’re providing value every step of the way. You drop this batten and you lose a potential client. Value, value and more value.

 

 

You’ve seen the big brands using celebrities to get their message across, this is called influencer marketing. But good news is that it doesn’t just have to be for the big brands – you can use it too!

Micro-influencers actually can have a lot more influence around the audience that you are targeting and can benefit your business much more than you realise.

First off you need to research micro-influencers in your niche. Then get in touch with a few and discuss how they could promote your product in their circles. When they start to promote your products, more people will get to hear about your business and your brand awareness will expand. You are effectively jumping onto their audience and using their marketing tactics to grow your business. They will share their personal experience about your products / services and provide you with a bigger exposure. Their stories are real-life, engaging and authentic – in this way their audience will relate to them and believe what they say.

You can use more than one influencer, depending on what your business is about, and pursue different avenues of audiences.

 

Starting a business can be one of the best decisions of your life but it can also be one that brings terror, anxiety and tough situations. But with the passion and desire to succeed and push forward, taking on board advise from people who have been there, you can get there! Don’t forget to celebrate each stage you get through. You are part of your business so it makes sense to play a part in all that happens – the good the bad and the ugly!

 

Looking for more for your business? Could you do with coaching or practical social media advice? We’d love to help – get in touch and let’s talk!