If you’re hoping to build your business and take it to the next level in the new year, there’s one thing you have to do. You have to promote it! You don’t need a big PR budget or to know everything there is to know about marketing and promotion, but there are a few things you can do easily and on your own, to get your business ready for extra visibility and to start promoting it. One of the most important things is to make sure that once people start hearing about you and finding out about your business you have your best foot forward and make the right first impression.

Here are some of the things you can do to set your business up for success when it comes to promotion and increasing your visibility to get bigger and better clients and customers.

CLEAR MESSAGING
The most important thing to double check before promoting your business is your messaging. You want to be sure that your messaging is all extremely clear and gets across exactly what you want it to. People aren’t going to take the time to decipher what you mean if it’s not clear, and they will take you at face value after one glance—if they can’t tell what you mean and it doesn’t totally resonate with them, they aren’t going to buy into what you’re selling.

CONSISTENT BRANDING
This goes hand in hand with your messaging. Your branding must be consistent across all channels because just like the messaging, if it doesn’t resonate and make sense to the audience at first glance, it isn’t going to keep their attention. The look and feel of the brand should be the same from your website to your business card to your Facebook page. If someone sees something about your business in one place and then seeks you out or follows a link somewhere else, it should be entirely obvious that it’s the same company. This ensures you look professional and present a cohesive image.

BRAINSTORM PITCH ANGLES
Once you’re sure your business is going to come across in the best possible light and portray the personality you want, you can think about something to pitch to the media to get some earned media attention. This will get eyes on your business that you never would have reached otherwise. It lends clout to your brand because people know that you’re in an article because a writer found you worthy, not because you created some content yourself or paid for an advertisement. Think of a few story ideas that would show off angles of your business that you want to draw attention to and then pitch them to writers at an applicable publication for each story.

BONUS: SHARE EVERYTHING!
Don’t be shy to share everything about your business, especially once you start to get some media or other outside attention. It’s not weird to share the amazing things you’re doing or the attention that others have paid to your business. What you’re doing with your business is something to be proud of and everyone who follows your business will want to see it. Once you’re in an article post the links on all your social media channels and website and use the material wherever else you can for weeks to come, including in an email out to your email list, in a blog post, sharing the links to Facebook groups you’re in, and making images that share a specific quote from the article across your social media channels again- the possibilities are almost endless, and you should use it all as much as you can.

If you’re ready to start getting more attention to your business that will bring in more clients or customers, and ultimately more money, you just need to promote the right things in the right ways. Then, the right people will fall in love with your brand and want to be a part of it.

If you need help with any of the above, or just to talk through your visibility or promotion strategy for 2018 let me know!