In today’s post, I am so excited to help you uncover your visibility superpower and ignite your business growth. A lot of mamas think that they have to increase their marketing efforts by being visible on every platform in order to grow their business. I’m here to tell you I’ve been there and done that, and it’s not sustainable or effective.

Remember, we are in a growth-strategy series and Episode 44 was an overview of the Five Growth Strategies. In case you missed that episode, let me remind you of the strategies:
1. Get crystal clear on what you offer and be super specific.
2. Keep it simple – focus on one service that you offer and one revenue stream
3. Take action and follow-through on commitments
4. Gain more visibility
5. Stay in your lane – you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing

If you missed last week’s podcast episode, be sure to catch Episode 45, where I go even deeper into those first two strategies – getting crystal clear and keeping it simple.

Also check out Episode 42 if you want more insight on follow-through, and how to stay focused on your commitments.

Visibility Opportunities

Many people think increasing their marketing efforts and being visible on every platform is going to help them become a super successful business owner. But only YOU can define what success looks like for you and your business, and you need to stay focused on that. Your definition of success only matters, and it is likely to change as your business grows.

I encourage you to focus on a few key areas in which to channel your energy. I’m going to give you some really tangible tips and strategies for increasing your visibility and igniting your business growth.

Here’s my disclaimer: I don’t want you read all of them and then feel like you need to implement them all at the same time. Just jot down a few of these tips so that you can implement them into your business growth strategy.

These first two visibility opportunities are ones in which I believe are non-negotiable for every business. I believe they’re extremely crucial to your growth, and it’s going to help keep you top-of-mind and cultivate trust and likability with your audience.

Get on a Platform You Own

A lot of business owners, especially those who are newer to business, feel like they have to be on Instagram. They think it is the only way that they’re able to grow and market their business. I’ll be honest with you, I did that, and wasted so much time and energy.

I quickly learned that my content on Instagram was only relevant for 24 hours and that my content is not searchable. This made me feel like I had to continuously pour out more content for my social media. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use Instagram or social media, but a lot of people are using them in the wrong way.

Your content should not live on Instagram, rather your Instagram content should be an extension of the content on your platform. So for those starting out, I recommend getting a blog. If you are a bit further in your business and have more content to share, utilize a podcast or YouTube channel for this purpose.

For my business, The Purpose Gathering, I learned how to move people off the Instagram platform and onto my podcast platform. I recently made the transition of moving my community off Facebook onto a distraction free platform. So now I have my own platform and social media is just an extension of it.

Create and Use Your Email List

If you don’t have an email list yet, definitely get one. If you need help getting started with an email list, check out Episode 14. It is critical you learn to leverage your email list.

Non-Social Media Visibility Opportunities

I am going to give you six ideas for how to use your community. These could be accomplished online or in your local community in order to increase your visibility while not using social media.

1. Get on Other People’s Podcasts

A great option for businesses who do not rely on local clients. Now there are several different ways in which you can find podcasts and then pitch yourself to these podcasts. So I recommend finding podcasts that have the ideal audience that you are looking for. I think for the benefit of both our readers and listeners, I think it would be fun to do an episode about podcast pitching, so definitely look out for that one.

2. Speak at Online Summits

This is a really cool way to be in front of a brand-new audience. This might be trickier to find, but there are Facebook groups that can allow you to locate speaking opportunities. A summit is basically a free online conference where the host finds various speakers to speak at their online conference. Attendees get to come for free, but they have 24-hour access to the conference presentations. If they want an all-access pass, they can purchase and upgrade to access all the conference recordings. So if you want more help on how to find these speaking opportunities, definitely send me a DM over on Instagram and I would be happy to help you.

3. Find Local Meetup Groups in Your Area

Find a meetup group and ask if you can pour into their communities for free. All of these visibility opportunities are probably going to end up being your time investment, but the benefit of it is so impactful. So even though local meetup groups might not be happening right now due to COVID, this could easily be done online. You may need to do some research on social media or Google to find these local groups in your area. Once you find these groups, this is a great opportunity for you to introduce yourself and offer your expertise.

4. Collaborate with Local Vendors to Put Together an Event

I had an idea while being a wedding photographer, to find ways to connect with other wedding professionals in order to increase my visibility in the industry. What I wanted to do was to gather all the best wedding industry professionals that I loved working with and stage a free event for all engaged couples. We wanted to give people a fun one-stop shop to get all the wedding information that they needed.

5. Offer Your Service for Free

Offer your service for free, no strings attached. What I mean by this is offer your service for free but do so in a strategic way. As a wedding photographer, I offered my photography services for free to venues that I really wanted to work with. When I presented the pitch to them, it said nothing about me wanting anything in return. It didn’t take a ton of my time, but it allowed me to create huge visibility opportunities for myself by creating these vendor connections. So if you have a service that you can offer for free with the heart of serving, knowing that it may be a great visibility opportunity, then go for it!

6. Coffee Chats

This is a really great one that I used when I was in the wedding industry. I found vendors who I connected with, whether on Instagram or in person and invited them out for coffee. We chatted on how to improve the bridal experience.

Because we have the same clients, but we’re doing different things for them. And I think in your industry, there are other businesses that are complimentary to yours. If you need some help brainstorming this strategy, head over to our free community to ask the members there to assist you.

Social Media Visibility Opportunities

Now I want to talk to you about some social media visibility opportunities.

1. Network with Similar Industry Professionals

This includes networking online by using Instagram hashtags to find complimentary industries. You’re going to be actively engaging with them, reaching out to them, and commenting on their stories.

The next step from this is to get more personal and start DM-ing people and start genuinely replying to their stories. If you can start a conversation with someone on Instagram, they’re more likely to remember you: it’s those sweet DMs that catch us off guard and stay with us. So up your networking game by sending DMs and genuinely engaging with people who are similar in your industry.

2. Do Instagram Lives with People from Your Industry

You really want to find complimentary businesses in your industry that have a same audience as you but doesn’t do the same thing as you. So find someone in your DM’s that you’ve been talking to, that you have a genuine relationship with and ask them to do an Instagram live with you. This is an incredible way for you to expose yourself to their audience and vice versa. You can do something with a format where you are pouring into her community in one way, and then she pours into your community in another way. I’m going to definitely try this strategy in 2021.

3. Offer Discounts to Account Followers

Offering a discount to certain accounts is a great opportunity to network with those businesses that are local. So for me, as a branded photographer, I might network with other community founders that have a similar audience to who I want to photograph. So if you do live in Arizona and you need branded photos as a member of The Purpose Gathering online community, you do get a discount on your photos.

4. Instagram Story Takeovers

This is similar to an Instagram live, in that you are pouring into someone else’s community. It’s a really great opportunity for you to be visible as you are the only person showing up on their story and you’re providing tips or strategies or a process in which their followers can follow.

5. Share Other People’s Content

I see this all the time where people will share my content and they won’t tag me. When you share a quote that you love or when you share a content graphic that you love, simply take an extra minute tag the person that you got it from and write a short blurb about how it applies to your life or how impactful it was to you. I guarantee you the person on the other side of that account is absolutely excited that someone loved their content and are sharing it.

This has the potential to increase your visibility exponentially. I have had my content re-shared on accounts 95,000 followers because I took the time to share someone else’s content.

I hope you will put a plan into action to implement some of these strategies.

If you have any questions or podcast episode ideas, please join us inside the free community and share them with us. I love hanging out over there and going deeper about these podcast episodes and getting to know each of you on a more personal level.

And as always mama, I am here rooting for you and you are not alone on this journey.

Resources:

• Join our Facebook Community
• Find me on Instagram: @thepurposegathering
• Website: thepurposegathering.com

Complementary Episodes:

• Episode 14: 5 Steps to Creating + Nurturing an Email List
• Episode 42: Is Your Follow-Through Lacking?
• Episode 44: Five Things that will Make or Break your Business
• Episode 45: Get Clear on What you Sell + Simplify your Business Model