The online world is so noisy. With so many players and so much information available, it can be difficult for a small service based business to be seen and heard. Gone are the days of calling a business to find out more information from them. These days people fully take their search online to find out all they need to know about a business. To keep up with the big players, you need to have a commanding online presence. So here are our top tips for being found in the business-to-business (B2B) space.
1: Your Website
This is your own piece of internet real estate. Make sure it is up to scratch and gives the right impression when potential clients land there. It needs to be professional, easy to follow and consistent with your brand. Share your story, connect people directly to your company, and give them a reason to work with you.
2: Let Your Content Speak For You
Customers are far more likely to respond to great content than they are to your products and services at first. Make sure there is plenty of great information for them to find on your site in the form of blog posts, videos and infographics. Tell the story about what your business can do for them in several different mediums.
3: Social Media and SEO
Recent research has shown that getting social on social media can help your SEO rankings. An active profile can only do good things for your business. Inactive profiles can be damaging though, so it is best to pick one or two platforms to focus on and do them well.
4: Always Be Listening
It is vital to listen to your customers for their feedback, but it can be equally important to look at what your competitors are saying. Watch what the major players in your industry say and do online. Pay close attention to the tactics they use to engage their audience. Following their blog can be a great way of doing this.
5: Boost Your Online Visibility
Social media is the number one way to boost your online visibility. To be the most valuable make sure that you share useful and targeted information designed specifically for your audience.
6: Paid Advertising
When you advertise in the local paper you have no idea how many people saw your ad, and if those that did were even in your target market. For a very minimal investment you can get your business in front of the right kind of people with targeted paid advertising like Google Ads or Facebook Ads.
7: Upcycle Your Content
We are very quick to write and then forget past content. Instead of constantly coming up with new material, try recycling some of your old content in a new and exciting way – upcycling. For example, you can take a blog post and recap it in a video, create an infographic of its content, republish it on LinkedIn, or pull out some main points to use in social media.
8: Social Selling
Don’t go for the hard sell, with social media your selling efforts should be more subtle. Your aim should be to provide great content and try to move them through your sales funnel. Gather your leads from your social media accounts.
9: Build a Commitment
There is no point providing great content if you aren’t asking for a commitment from your readers. Make it easy for them to share your social content, get them to sign up for your mailing list, or access your blog posts. Have your social links easily visible on your website to encourage them to like or follow you.
10: Online Engagement
The ultimate goal is to get a one-to-one conversation going with your potential clients. Use your social platforms to generate conversations with your future brand ambassadors, new customers and long standing clients.
While the web is big and noisy, it actually levels the playing field. Great content can come from anyone. If you know your stuff, your content can stand up to the content of the big players. Focus on being seen and heard, and your content will speak for itself.