Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Business Profile

If you want to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry or your locality, there are lots of things you can do so that you are seen as the ‘go to’ expert in your sector.

1.     Enter #SBS Small Business Saturday

• Enter on X, Instagram or LinkedIn using the #SBS between 5.00-7.30 PM every Sunday.

• Show your personality, use a good image – if you are chosen, Theo Paphitis reposts

•   Use the publicity, go to your first annual all-day conference and get a picture with Theo

• Become part of a community of 4,000 small businesses.

2.     Update your LinkedIn Headline

• Are you making the most of your headline?

• Why put Director or Owner when you have 240 characters to really position yourself? Explain what you want to be known for, be clear, what problems you solve and who you can help?

• Your headline appears when you comment, so why not make it stand out and remind people what you do.

3.     Get a Google Business Profile

• This free platform enables your business to be found on Google Search and Maps.

• There may already be a profile in your business name which Google has created from your website information. Make sure you claim this so you can manage it!

• You can add all sorts of information and post to it as you do on other social media platforms.

• But the most important thing is to collect reviews; the more reviews, the higher up the search you appear. Find out more here.

4.     Write Articles

• Offer to write articles for local business magazines or websites or target your industry sector.

• Contact the editor and suggest what topical or useful subjects you can write about. 

• Keep it simple, not too much jargon, but make sure it adds value and don’t be overly promotional.

• Talk about problems and solutions, refer to people you have helped and end with a call to action and link to your website.

5.     Speak at Events

• Offer to speak at local or national events; there are always numerous conferences, seminars and networking groups looking for good quality speakers, usually unpaid. 

• Find a topic that will impart useful information, and don’t be afraid to give away some knowledge.

• You can raise your profile; demonstrate how you can help people, and use it to subtly promote your business or a product, such as a book.

• You can even create an event around your sector and ask a few like-minded businesses to support you.

6.     Enter Awards

• These are great ways of adding external validation and credibility to your business. 

• Even the process of entering awards means you have to find or create case studies, testimonials and evidence to support your application, building up a nice bank of information as you go. 

• There are lots of social media opportunities as you enter, get nominated, shortlisted, attend an awards ceremony or even win an award.

• Organisers need people to apply to make the awards worthwhile and you would be surprised that competition might not be that high as it is quite time-consuming, although this is something you can outsource.

7.     Update your Images

• People buy from people; ensure you have good quality images/videos of yourself

• If you can, invest in professional photography

• Take a variety of shots that you can use over time and update them regularly

8.     Blogging

• If you have a website. It’s good to blog to add new content to your website, drive traffic to your site, and it provides new content for your social media.

• You can blog about problems that people have and how you (or others like you) can help them.

• Use catchy titles using keywords, lists and how to remain popular search terms.

• Aim for 400 words plus, and include bullet points, internal and external links and an image or two.

• Don’t forget to use tags and other tricks to help search engines find your content. If you don’t have a website, you can put this content into your LinkedIn profile as an Article.

  
  

9. Get More Reviews

• Reviews are part of your social proof. They are what other people say about you and your business, not you and therefore reviews have much more credibility.

• Always ask for reviews just after you have completed some work. Send a nice email with links to where they can leave a review.

• Google is the best place, but equally, you need to build up reviews on Facebook and recommendations on LinkedIn to be seen as an expert.

10. Email Marketing

• Email marketing is a very cost-effective way to regularly stay in touch with customers and website visitors with offers, news, updates and other information.

• Use a lead magnet (useful giveaway) on your website to collect emails

• Your database is your information, unlike social media platforms, which could be hacked.

• You need to be GDPR compliant. There are lots of useful resources on the internet.

• These simple steps will help you improve your reputation and profile and help you be recognised as an expert in your field.

If you need help writing award applications, blogging, press releases or articles, please get in touch! kim-connect-marketing@outlook.com

© Kim Gilmour – Connect Marketing