Your website is up, you have more business cards than you know what to do with and all your other processes are in place, but there’s only one problem… no one knows about you or your business.

I tell people all the time, the setup is the first many steps when it comes to successfully running a business. If you have a brick and mortar, you may get foot traffic, depending on your location, but is that enough to sustain? In most cases, it won’t be.

The great thing about being a business owner today is we can leverage the power of the internet to build awareness. Combine that with traditional marketing tactics and you’ll put yourself and your business in a position to be successful.

Here are 5 ways to build awareness for your business.

Niche Yourself Out

One mistake many new business owners make is trying to appeal to everyone. Believe it or not, even companies like Wal-Mart aren’t for everyone. To put yourself in the best position to be successful, you need to be clear on your ideal client and niche yourself out on something specific they are interested in.

Let me explain.

Let’s say you have a tutoring service. You may have the ability to assist students in Math, Science, SAT prep, ACT prep, GRE, ASVAB, so forth and so on.

Instead of promoting yourself as a jack of all trades, promote yourself as an expert in one… maybe two areas, such as SAT and ACT prep. With all your marketing efforts going towards a specific niche, you can speak to their pain points and establish yourself as an expert much quicker.

Partnerships

Joining forces with someone that already has a following is one of the best ways to bring awareness to your business. But building partnerships can be tricky because no one is going to let you mooch off them if they’re getting nothing in return. You must prove that you can give them or their clients something of value for the partnership to work.

It’s not uncommon to see business owners that share the same target audience teaming up. Here are some examples:

• Business coach – Virtual Assistant
• Personal trainer – Nutritionist
• Website designer – Copywriter
• Academic advisor – Tutor
• Automotive repair – Detail shop

Content

Content creation is the best way to establish yourself as an expert in your industry (if you’re new), keep in mind that there are over 500 million blogs online. That’s why it’s so important to niche yourself out and speak to a specific audience.

Guest Blog

If you’re a strong writer, one way you can partner with other business owners that share your same target audience is to guest blog on their website. It’s a great way to get in front of a different audience and an opportunity for the person you’re blogging for to have a different perspective on their website.

Content shouldn’t be limited to just blogging. There are other forms of content you can and should use to drive traffic to your website or storefront, such as podcasts and videos.

Videos

Studies show that over 50% of consumers want to see video content from brands and businesses they follow. The facts are that fewer people are taking time to read and more people are watching videos and/or listening to podcasts. So, if you want to get people’s attention, you must give them what they want.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization aka SEO is very important for any type of content creation. Understanding terms like keywords, alt text and backlinks will help you rank better with search engines like Google and Bing and it will also increase your chances of being seen by your ideal prospects.

SEO goes much deeper than these terms though, marketers and business owners are constantly trying to crack the code on the constantly changing algorithms, which determines where and how content is ranked based on relevance. That’s why so many small business owners have started outsourcing their content marketing because keeping up with algorithm changes can be a full-time job.

Social Media

You knew this one was coming. There’s no getting away from social media. Almost everyone is using social media in some capacity. Facebook has reported having over 1 billion users and they also own Instagram.

Other platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest (just to name a few) also have hundreds of millions of monthly active users. So, it only makes sense for anyone trying to get the attention of a stranger on the internet to use it.

Social media marketing has become so big over the past decade that many large companies have social media departments. Smaller companies may not have a social media department, but they are putting more time and money into social media than in the past.

It’s become common practice for small business owners to delegate their social media marketing to a virtual assistant. This allows them to save time and keep a strong social media presence without breaking the bank.

Controversy

I bet you didn’t see that one coming, LOL. The old saying is true, controversy sells, but be careful with this one. Many people are controversial by nature because that’s their personality, so it comes off easy. Other people strategically drum of controversy so they can be seen or heard.

Regardless of how the controversy is created, the fact remains that you’re going to rub some people the wrong way. If executed well, it can really work in your favor. You’ll get more attention and a good percentage of people will like you and want to follow you.

When trying to be controversial, you must be careful. One wrong move, like trying to push the envelope too much can end your career. We’re living in what many refer to as the ‘cancel culture’. The last thing you want to do is get shut down or ‘canceled’ trying to be something you’re not.  

Conclusion

Of course, there are many ways to get people’s attention and build awareness, so tell me what you think. What would you add to this list to build awareness? Leave a comment below.