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Welcome to the Financial and Lifestyle Freedom Podcast. In today's episode, I'm going to speak about how to be consistently visible to increase a profit. But I want you to understand that consistency is not the same as relentlessness, so try not to be too scared as we dive into today's episode

Thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Annette Ferguson, I am CEO of Annette and CO, UK based accounting firm. I am a chartered accountant, certified Profit First professional and small business growth strategist.

And today I'm speaking about being visible to increase profitability in your business. As a small business owner, we know that one of the keys to success is to getting yourself and your brand in front of potential customers or clients.

However, in a crowded marketplace, it can be difficult to stand out and be consistently visible to your target audience. In today's episode, we are exploring some actionable steps that you, as a small business owner can take to increase your visibility and ultimately boost your profits.

7 Actionable Steps to Increase Visibility

1. Building a strong online presence

So first of all, building a strong online presence. I know, I know, easier said than done perhaps. But in today's digital age, having a strong online presence is essential for any small business, looking to increase visibility in order to attract new clients. This means creating a website that is professional, user friendly and optimized for search engines. It also usually means maintaining active social media accounts on the various platforms that are relevant to your business and your target audience.

Now, those are two very big tasks, which I have just said as an almost throwaway comment, because these two things are things that require you to be consistently monitoring, adapting, tweaking, posting, and being aware of the changes on. So this is not a small task, but is one that you should ideally schedule into your diary every single week and every single month, so that you can keep these things up to date.

Creating a website.

So creating a website that is professional and user friendly, if you don't already have one, should probably be on your to do list, as should optimizing your website for search engines by including relevant keywords and meta tags. If you don't have a clue what that means Google and YouTube are your friend here.

You can search how to do these things and walkthrough, videos, walkthrough blog posts on how to get these things working in your business.  And the other action step is of course, maintaining an active social media presence on the platforms that are relevant to your business and your target audience. 

Now, if you are not doing any of that already, it is going to involve starting with the,  'Where do your customers and clients hang out question’  to work out where you need to start thinking about being active. And then of course, there is the content production machine that goes along with being active on social media. 

2. Publishing Quality Content

So that takes us to number two, which is publishing quality content. One of the most effective ways to increase visibility and attract new customers and clients is to publish quality content that provides value to your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics and social media posts. But the key here is to provide content that is informative, engaging, and relevant.

Of course, when you produce content, this filters back into the first point because blog posts for example, can be optimized for SEO to make your website more searchable. And your social media posts are part of that ecosystem that we already spoke about in building an, strong online presence.

So your action steps here develop a content strategy, which includes regular blog posts, videos, infographic and or social media posts, making sure that that content is informative, engaging and relevant. Again, another big task and one that needs to be done consistently and frequently in order to keep on top of. So I'm not saying this is an easy podcast in terms of the implementation, but it is valuably important for your business. 

3. Utilize paid advertising

And the next thing is to potentially utilize paid advertising. Now this is not a 'deal breaker', you don't have to have paid advertising. But it does help a little, it does give you, in all honesty, a little bit of a shortcut. Whilst building a strong online presence and publishing quality content, do you increase your visibility, it can take time to see results. And that's where paid advertising can be a useful tool for small businesses. 

Platforms like Google ads, and Facebook ads allow you to target specific audiences and set a budget that's going to work for your business. But do make sure that budget will work for your business, make sure that you plan this out and it's not just a whim thing to try advertising.

So your action step here is to work out if you have the budget to look at any paid advertising, and then learn how to advertise on those platforms, so that you don't end up wasting money on ad spend.

4. Partnering with other businesses

And the next thing is to potentially partner with other businesses, you can collaborate with other businesses and that can be a really powerful way to increase visibility and attract new customers and clients. So that may mean doing things like joint promotions, perhaps a joint webinar, or one where you are promoted to the other person's audience.

Perhaps there is a referral program that you put in place with other business owners so that you can each refer to each other's businesses. So your action step here is to identify complementary businesses, and explore opportunities for collaboration like joint promotions, referral programs, joint podcasts, joint webinars, those kinds of things can all help. 

5. Attending industry events

And next we have, attending industry events. This is a great way to increase your visibility and connect with potential customers and partners. You can look at events that are relevant to your industry, and of course, your target audience. Be sure to bring plenty of marketing materials so that if you have some positive conversations, people will not forget who you are. So here, our action step is to identify any relevant industry events that either for our, for your industry itself, or indeed are for your ideal client's industry, so you can connect with potential clients and partners.

6. Leveraging the power of email marketing

And next we have a, leveraging the power of email marketing. Email marketing is a highly effective way to increase visibility and keep you top of mind with potential and existing customers and clients. This means creating a email list and sending out regular emails that provide value to the subscribers, such as exclusive content or special promotions.

Now remember that you do have to comply with the GDPR legislation on email marketing. So I am not suggesting that you go out and spam a bunch of people. Make sure that you learn about how to do email marketing properly, so that you can get the biggest result from it. So your action step here is creating a targeted list and sending regular emails to that list that are of great value to them. 

7. Engaging with your audience

And next we have engaging with your audience. Engaging with your audience is key to increasing your visibility and building a loyal customer base. This means responding to comments and messages on social media, potentially hosting Q&A sessions and soliciting feedback from your customers. So the action step here is to engage with your audience on social media and other channels, potentially do things like hosting a Q&A session, and make sure that you're asking your customers and clients for regular feedback.

Why is visibility essential to increase profitability?

Because increasing your visibility as a small business owner is usually pretty essential for attracting new customers and thereby boosting your profits.  By building a strong online presence, publishing quality content, potentially utilizing paid advertising, partnering with other businesses, attending industry events, and leveraging the power of email marketing along with, of course, engaging your audience, you can consistently put your brand and your business in front of your potential customers. 

Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Financial and Lifestyle Freedom Podcast with me Annette Ferguson. Please do make sure that you subscribe in whichever podcast player you happen to be tuning in to today. And whilst you're there, we would love if you are able to leave us a review of the podcast. It means so much to me when we get reviews and it is the way that other great business owners can find our podcast as well, so we can help and support them. So please, please, do leave us a review and subscribe to the podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We'll speak soon.