12 ways even small businesses should be raising awareness in 2021
Regardless of the size of your business, you should constantly be finding as many ways as you can to raise awareness.
Raising awareness helps you to increase your audience, and therefore increase the potential for conversions. In this article you’ll find 12 ways even small businesses should be raising awareness in 2021. Take a look and see what you can do.
1) Create multiple profiles and ensure your information matches
Start by creating profiles across the web, on sites like Yelp, Linkedin, and the obvious social media sites. The important thing here is not only that your branding matches, but that your information matches.
If your information differs in any way (due to a typo, spelling mistake, or because you made one profile a while back and things have changed) then this could affect your results online.
Google will see it as inconsistent and you could be penalized for this in terms of positioning in the search results. Plus, you’ll confuse the users who go looking for your business and find conflicting information! Make sure everything matches and you’ll avoid any issues.
2) Figure out how to improve your website
If you don’t have a website, you need one. Assuming you have a site, it could be a good idea to see how you can improve it. Could your load times speed up a little? Could you get rid of clunky flash? Maybe you need a new color scheme, or better content?
You might even want to hire a company to give you a full makeover. There are usually many ways you can tweak your site to get better results, so don’t just assume that it’s as good as it can be right now.
3) Find a great marketing company
A great marketing company will take care of your SEO and other marketing techniques. Look for the top marketing agency you can afford; read reviews, ask for recommendations, and find the company that you gel with the best.
Don’t fall for jargon: make sure you actually understand what they are telling you. You might think that you can take care of this yourself, but it’ll be akin to working two jobs. You don’t want to have to focus on the complications of online marketing when you should be putting your focus on your business and doing what you’re best at. Allocating a portion of your budget to marketing is key to getting real, long lasting results.
4) Start creating content
Creating content makes your expertise and knowledge accessible for people who are looking for your services. Blogging and vlogging are great ways to do this. Adding a blog to your website can make it appear higher up in the search engine results, and you’re more likely to be found if you incorporate smart keywords into your titles and the body of content.
Having videos on YouTube gives you an opportunity to create how-to guides and direct people back to your site when they want to learn more about your products or what you do. Even content like Infographics can make the information you want to get out there more accessible.
5) Promote your content
Don’t just create content and then hope for the best. Make sure you actually promote your content! You can do this effectively using your email list, assuming you have been taking the time to gather relevant leads and emails and send out useful newsletters.
Use your social channels to promote the content, too – doing this could encourage people to share what you have created and help you to get some engagement, as well as start conversations.
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6) Ask for reviews
If you don’t ask, you don’t get – this is true for reviews. Having reviews out there of your products/services is a good way to show people that you’re not all talk and that you actually do what you say you’re going to do.
However, people tend to avoid making the effort to write reviews unless they have been seriously incensed and inconvenienced by a service! Have a follow up email that you send out asking people to review your service.
Give them an incentive, such as a competition entry or a small discount for their next purchase. Sometimes, that’s all they need to let people know what they think of your product/service.
7) Request user generated content
User generated content is a form of social proof that can go an awfully long way to encouraging people to work with you. It’s all well and good having professional pictures of your products/service out there, but the user generated content is what people who are thinking of working with you will really want to see.
Make it easy to add pictures to your reviews, and ask people to tag you in any images that they decide to post to social media. You could even offer an incentive for this.
8) Prioritize your social media presence
Prioritize your social media presence to get results – many people will go looking for your social media channels before deciding whether to work with you, as this gives them an idea of what to expect, what you stand for, and whether you are legit.
Make sure you’re active on the profiles your target audience spends the most time on. Post useful content, interact with people, and aim to add value.
9) Use split testing to get an idea of what really works
Split testing can give you a really good idea of what works when it comes to your website. The idea is that you change the smallest thing and then track results. For example, changing the positioning of a call to action button.
You’d be surprised at the difference something like this can make to your results, and it allows you to hone your efforts meticulously!
10) Hone your customer service
As well as honing your website, don’t forget to hone your customer service. Your customer service is one of the most important things you offer, as most businesses are customer-focused these days. You’re not just trying to sell to them, you’re trying to provide as much value as you possibly can.
Can you give customer service representatives more power to resolve issues? You should want to leave customers delighted, not just satisfied! Make sure anybody who has contact with customers is trained up, too.
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11) Work on building your personal brand
Building your own personal brand can help people to trust your business. Building your own personal social profiles, and sharing success stories could make you somebody people want to follow and learn from. At the very least, it’ll build trust and loyalty.
Make sure you aim to resonate with your audience and tell stories that build connection.
12) Keep your team happy
Don’t forget, if you want to keep your audience happy, you absolutely need to keep your team happy. Your audience will be able to tell if your team hates their jobs, or if something is amiss. Your company culture should be healthy and fit your values.
You should make sure you incentivize your employees, not just offer the bear minimum. Provide bonuses, and make sure you praise them. Make sure they know how important they are. Offer flexibility. Ask them what could make their lives easier, and then listen!
When they are happy at work, they will be far more likely to go the extra mile for your audience, as well as spread the word about your business and recommend it to people they know!
How are you going to be raising business awareness in 2021? Leave a comment below and let us know. Good luck!
Photo by Adam Winger
