Self-promotion tends to be a challenge for many people, and I think it stems from a desire to be genuine and non-salesy in their marketing. Perhaps you’ve felt the symptoms? Anxiously pushing the “publish” or “send” button on a sale or product launch. Or feeling like you just don’t have anything else to write about. Publishing weekly–even daily–posts about your services, product, and sales begins to feel impersonal and hard to connect with.
In this post, I’m presenting 3 practical (and fun!) ways to market your business while creating a personal, educational, and creative business environment that customers want to be a part of!
Know your customer
Our businesses should always come back to our customers/clients. Before we can think about promoting our businesses, we need to understand what our customers are looking for. Being able to pinpoint exactly where they are struggling will allow you to provide services and content that meet those needs. You will know exactly how you can support them after considering the following questions:
- What is holding them back in their business right now?
- Where would they like their business to be?
- What questions do they have about your business and offerings?
Now, think about how you can counter those questions and struggles.
What are your offerings right now? Are they able to successfully counter what is holding your customer back (from question #1)?
If so, that’s great! Continue to focus on those services and find one or two solid strategies to market them. When I first launched my studio, I did a blog post series about my design process. My hope was that by educating potential clients on my process, they would feel encouraged and know what to expect when choosing to work with me.
If your services are not able to solve your client’s pain points right now, brainstorm effective changes you can make that will help them move forward.
Next, think about where your client would like their business to be. What are their goals? What things do they want to accomplish in the near future? What about five to ten years from now? Thinking about these questions will help you plan your services around their present and future goals, and you can be prepared and ready to support them when their business grows and evolves.
Lastly, do you currently post content on your blog, email, or social media that provides answers to question #3? If not, make a list of topics to cover on a weekly or monthly basis that will give light to the things they may be wondering about.
Educate
Some entrepreneurs have difficulty sharing content (whether through blog posts, emails, or social media) due to a fear or misconception of “having nothing to write about”. While this has crept into my mind before, I quickly overcame it by simply sharing what I already know. The truth is: You have an abundance of knowledge and tips to share with your customers. Although it will take time to come up with blog post topics, social media posts, and email content that is relevant and useful to your audience, you can usually write about topics that you are already thinking about and doing on a daily basis.
Case Study
Again, come back to where your customer is struggling. A few weeks ago, I wrote about different print and digital items to design for your business processes and marketing. I landed on this topic because I felt potential clients would benefit from a physical list that they could print out and refer back to. Here was my thought process:
- The struggle: Clients feeling overwhelmed by the different print and digital pieces needed to run and market their business.
- How I can offer support: Providing a free PDF that lists possible ideas for internal documents and print/digital marketing design.
- Why this works: By giving out free content that is useful for potential clients, they will keep returning for more education and tips. Not only does this start to build loyalty and trust, but also provides a way to genuinely connect with your audience.
Think of simple ways to educate your clients each week.
- Share your process through a blog post series.
- Describe the details of a popular product and why it’s great.
- Send out a weekly email series, breaking down your process and past projects. In the series, highlight your strategy for each step in the process, and WHY it works.
- Host a weekly live series on your social media channels.
Get Creative
Lastly, think of creative ways to share pieces of you and your business. This can be anything from working with clients, past projects, or a typical day in the office! Here are a few simple ideas that don’t take long to curate.
- Share a successful testimonial story each week on your social media or blog.
- Share behind the scenes. (This is always a hit!)
- Share sneak peaks at new products or upcoming launches.
- Create a free download that will help your customers take strides forward in their business.
Self-promotion and marketing does not have to be stressful or salesy. When you come at it from a perspective of wanting to first know your customer and then educate them, it makes it easy to be genuine and creative with your content. Also, take advantage of giving away free content. That can be anything from weekly blog post series diving into different topics, a free download explaining something specific to your industry, or an educational video. Keep showing up for your audience and you’ll soon see the results.
If you have any questions about promoting your business or different ways to get creative with marketing to your industry, please get in touch through the link below!
One thought on “3 ways to promote your business AND have fun with it”
I love these ideas for promoting one’s business and helping customers realize the potential that they are missing. I think the first two points are crucial to gaining a customer base – a successful business knows the customer and helps them recognize what they are looking for!