You’ve tried everything to grow your business online – and that’s the problem. Growing your business requires a focused approach that cuts through the noise directly to your prospects. The path that you’re currently on forks in so many different directions that all you’re doing is going around in circles and wasting your time. It becomes even more frustrating when you realise that you’re the one who has carved this path.
The good news is that that also means you can demolish it – and it’s easier than you think to rebuild. Online, especially on social media platforms, it’s so noisy that you think you need to be the loudest to stand out. So, you host webinars, write newsletters, post content and send hundreds of DMs a day. It’s exhausting and getting you no closer to the growth you want to achieve for your business.
You’re stretching yourself so thin that none of these paths to your clients are leading where you need them to. Without focus, you’re just wandering around online, hoping that you’ll bump into a prospect on the way.
It’s time to refocus your strategy. There are 5 simple purposes that should drive your efforts to grow your business online.
Trust
You can’t just tell people that you’re the expert, you have to prove it to them. If you want people to trust you to tackle their biggest challenges then you need to build credibility and trust. This is where shouting the loudest really will get you nowhere. You can repeat what you do and how much experience you have until you’re blue in the face, but that’s not enough for your prospects to trust you. Demonstrate your expertise every chance you get.
Relationships
Beyond your expertise, your prospects need to know you’re genuine. When people first started posting online, it was all about putting your best foot forward – even if that best was a total lie. Now, online audiences want authenticity. They want to know the challenges you’ve overcome, the mistakes you’ve made and what you learned from them. This honesty is both a chance to teach your audience and the way you’ll build genuine, long-lasting relationships with your prospects.
Value
While all your efforts online will link back to growing your business in some way, this shouldn’t be the only reason you post or reach out to people. You need to be able to provide your prospects with value that goes beyond the product or service you sell. Leading with value will help you build a loyal, engaged audience who sees you as the go-to expert.
Connection
This is the one solopreneurs and small business owners are often afraid of. Talk to a room full of people, no problem. Comment on a prospect’s LinkedIn post among other commenters, do that everyday. But, directly speak to a prospect one-on-one? Potentially the most uncomfortable part of growing your business. Come on too strong and you’ll push the prospect away. Keep things too vague and the conversation will never convert. You have to be direct in everything you post and every engagement you make online, being too broad will never attract the right people to your profile.
Engagement
You’ve had a post reach some big numbers but once the dopamine has passed, you’ve realised that it’s generated zero leads. That’s because it’s not enough to have one viral post. Virality isn’t even something you should be aiming for with your content anyway. Maintaining a steady stream of engagement with your audience is essential to win the long-game of converting prospects into clients. That’s why, sometimes, you will post content or reach out to a prospect for the sake of nurturing the relationship, keeping it alive, without the push to turn it into an instant sale.
One of your LinkedIn five-a-day
Anything you post, any interaction you have, can’t just be for the sake of it. Think about the content you want to post or the action you’re about to take online and ensure it delivers one of these five promises.
If you want to learn some sure-fire ways to win clients and grow your business with a clear focus and direct path, join us at the Growth Titans Summit this May. You’ll benefit from a no-nonsense session that will expand further on these five strategies to consistently attract and win clients online.