At AdviCoach, we often hear from clients about how it had always been their dream to own their own business and call the shots \u2013 whether that meant opening a bakery, a yoga studio, a landscaping business, a consulting firm, or a retail store. And like most entrepreneurs, our clients\u2019 goal is to escape the grind and make a living doing something they love.<\/p>\n
However, many aspiring business owners let fear of failure hold them back. They\u2019re afraid of doing something wrong and not being able to successfully manage their business, which is one very good reason to hire a business coach during the startup phase. No doubt, a startup requires passion, but also a leap of faith and business savvy to ultimately succeed.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest challenges faced by new business owners is building brand awareness, getting the word out. Or, if the doors have been open for more than a year, attracting new customers and growing that business. In either scenario, there\u2019s no point in having a business if nobody knows it exists. Poor marketing is akin to having a giant, flashy billboard in the middle of the desert and nobody to see it.<\/p>\n
What drives sales in the door? Marketing. And if you\u2019re a business owner who doesn\u2019t have a marketing background, it can be overwhelming. You might not even have a clue as to where to start, but we have good news. There\u2019s a lot a business coach can do to help you market your small business to build brand awareness locally and nationally.<\/p>\n
Here are four steps to roll out your marketing efforts:<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s online world, there\u2019s inevitably going to be competition, even if it\u2019s in a different time zone. In many industries, competition no longer has to be across the street or in your back yard. So, the first step to developing a marketing plan is to become fully aware of your competition and figure out how you\u2019re going to fill a void that your competition isn\u2019t filling.<\/p>\n
What sets your company apart from its competitors? To become fully informed, we recommend staying on top of industry trends. To do this, read the leading industry newsletters and books. Subscribe to the relevant trade publications and stay current on the latest news. This allows you to stay ahead of the curve and identify problems and solutions for your customers. It also helps you stay on top of your competitors and what they\u2019re doing to advertise to potential customers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you have a clear grasp of your industry, it\u2019s time to maximize your online presence. This is where your potential customers are going to find you. While there are a variety of marketing channels, your primary focus should be online. This means to start off with the best website you can afford. Once it\u2019s up and running, we highly recommend adding a blog to your website that you post to one to four times a month.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n These days, a lot of businesses benefit by having an active presence on social media. Depending on your business, this could mean Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Since each platform is different, your business may not be suitable for each one, though most businesses benefit by having a Facebook and Twitter account. If your business is on social media but you\u2019re a ghost and don\u2019t interact with your online community (your customers), your business runs the risk of appearing \u201cbehind the times.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Social media is constantly evolving; if you want a blog or video to get in front of thousands of potential customers, you need to \u201cboost\u201d your posts, which means you\u2019ll have to pay the social media sites directly to get them in front of a larger audience. Not only is it easy, but through platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can advertise directly to specific customers, based on information in their profiles.<\/p>\n If you can afford to boost your blogs and videos, it\u2019s a great way to supplement your free social media posts, which are equally important for engaging\u00a0<\/em>with your audience. A small social media campaign that you work at a little every day can make all the difference.<\/em><\/p>\n Businesses large and small need to cultivate their marketing efforts in order to build a successful brand, and a business coach can assist in this endeavor. If you\u2019re running a small business, a coach can help you develop a powerful marketing campaign, even if you\u2019re just getting started. What we\u2019re saying is you can turn to AdviCoach to acquire a keen awareness of your industry and cultivate your brand\u2019s online identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At AdviCoach, we often hear from clients about how it had always been their dream to own their own business and call the shots \u2013 whether that meant opening a bakery, a yoga studio, a landscaping business, a consulting firm, or a retail store. And like most entrepreneurs, our clients\u2019 goal is to escape the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,10,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-marketing","category-success"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2019\/01\/1031.AdviCoach-January2.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2019\/01\/1031.AdviCoach-January2.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"sklewis","author_link":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/author\/slewis\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advicoach.com\/slewis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. Establish Your Online Presence <\/strong><\/h2>\n
3. Be Active on Social Media <\/strong><\/h2>\n
4. Consider Paid Social Media <\/strong><\/h2>\n