Failing to attract any customers? It could be because your company is invisible. If you want to generate sales, you need to get noticed.
There are two reasons as to why nobody is noticing you. Either you’re not doing enough marketing. Or your marketing isn’t creative enough – causing you to blend in with your competitors.
This post takes a look at some of the ways in which you can improve your company’s visibility both offline and online, so that you can generate more customers.
Start by building a website
Online visibility starts with a website. A company website can serve as a central information centre for customers. All the rest of your marketing can be linked towards your website. It’s the most essential marketing ingredient.
You can choose to build your own website or pay a developer to design a website for you. The latter is more expensive, but less time-consuming. Paying a developer to design your website also allows you to build something truly professional and unique that could help you stand out from the crowd.
There are a few key ingredients to a successful website. These include:
- A memorable and relevant domain name
- Fast loading pages
- Clear text information
- Striking high quality images
- A simple checkout process (if you allow customers to buy purchase through your website)
Get visible on search engines
You’ve got a website – but is your website easily searchable? This is the next step to gaining visibility online. When people enter relevant searches on Google or Bing, your website should come up in the search results.
SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of making your website appear more visible on search engines. By strategically placing certain keywords on certain pages, you can bump up the rankings for these pages when people search relevant terms. Other elements such as page speed, website activity and number of backlinks can also affect a webpage’s search rankings – by hiring an SEO agency, you can take care of all of these elements.
It is not just your website that you can boost on search engines, but also other web pages related to your brand such as social media pages or news articles. An SEO agency will similarly know how to boost these pages.
Often the key to standing out on search engines is not targeting the most common keywords, but instead targeting mildly common keywords that your competitors aren’t using. Keyword research tools and SEO agencies can help you to pinpoint these keywords. You can also pay to boost search engine results in the form of search ads.
Establish a social media presence
Having social media pages can further help you build an online presence and make your company more credible. Some of the social media platforms you can consider creating a business page on include:
- X
- YouTube
- TikTok
To develop a noticeable presence on these platforms, you need to be posting content regularly and it needs to be creative content. A lot of companies make the mistake of trying to mimic other companies or simply post generic information on products and promotions. Help cut through the noise by considering content that other companies aren’t posting.
A few types of content that can be engaging and that will help you build followers include:
- Videos: Videos get more engagements than any other type of content.
- Infographics: Displaying unique industry facts with exciting visuals is a great way to grab people’s interest.
- Polls: By asking a question in the form of a poll, you can actively encourage engagements and discussion.
- Contests: Offering the chance to win something is a great way to capture people’s attention.
- Blog posts: You can build website traffic by publishing blog posts on useful subjects on your site and then sharing links to these blog posts on social media.
- Controversy: Controversial opinions and statements will get you noticed. But be wary – say the wrong thing, and you could lose more customers than you win.
Many social media sites allow you to reach a wider audience by paying to publish your post as an advert. It is worth taking advantage of this feature – just make sure that you take time to select the right demographic when targeting ads.
Consider traditional media outlets
You can also boost your visibility by getting featured by traditional media outlets – including newspapers, magazines, radio stations or even TV channels.
There are different ways in which you can get featured in these media outlets:
- News stories: You may be able to pitch a newsworthy story involving your company.
- Reviews: Some online magazines and blogs may do product reviews.
- Interviews: Many newspapers, radio shows and documentaries need experts to interview on certain subjects. Could you be this expert?
- Adverts: It’s also possible to pay for a magazine advert, radio advert or even a TV ad.
When choosing media outlets to target, consider media outlets that are relevant to your company. A local newspaper or radio station could be best suited when trying to market a local business. When it comes to niche products/services, it could be worth seeking out niche magazines and blogs (if you sell fishing rods, consider exploring fishing and outdoor sports magazines).
Get featured on online maps
If you have physical premises that customers visit such as a store or a restaurant, it could be important that your location appears on online maps. Such online maps include:
- Google Maps
- Bing Maps
- Apple Maps
Some online maps are exclusively updated by developers, while others require businesses themselves to provide information on their location. For example, you won’t get featured on Google Maps if you don’t set up a Google Profile, just as you need an Apple Business Connect account to feature on Apple Maps. It’s worth setting up these accounts so that you are visible on all popular GPS apps.
Determine whether physical signage is important
If you run your business from home or don’t invite customers to your premises, you may not need to invest in physical signs. However, if you own a physical shop or restaurant that customers can visit, investing in signage could be essential.
It could be particularly important to consider signage if you rely on attracting passers by. For example, motels and gas stations require clear roadside signage to attract drivers. Illuminated signage could be important if you need to attract customers’ attention at night. You should also make sure that signage is visible from all possible angles of approach.
Invest in print advertising
A lot of companies have abandoned print advertising in favour of online advertising. However, print advertising can still be very effective at boosting visibility – helping you to target customers who may not be as online as regularly or who may have learned to tune out online advertising.
A few example of print advertising include:
- Flyers
- Leaflets
- Business cards
- Brochures
- Posters
- Billboards
Printed materials can be distributed in a range of different ways from posting them through people’s doors to handing them out at events. In order to create quality leaflets and printed materials, consider using a professional printing company. For print advertising like billboards, there are specialist graphic designers and billboard rental companies that you can use.
Spend time networking in person
Simply by talking to people in person, you may be able to spread word of your business and build brand awareness. This can be particularly beneficial for local business owners who often rely on gaining the trust and recognition of people within their community. However, global businesses may also be able to build customers by networking with the right people around the world.
A few ways in which you can build useful connection include:
- Joining local business groups
- Attending conferences and seminars
- Running a booth at a trade show
- Hosting your own business events
Encourage your customers to be advocates
Your customers can also help to boost the visibility of your company. Ensuring that you provide customers with a good experience, they should be willing to recommend you to others. A few ways in which you can turn customers into advocates include:
- Encouraging customers to leave online reviews: Previous customers can be asked to leave positive reviews online, which can help you to gain the trust of future customers.
- Introducing a customer referral program: A customer referral program involves providing a monetary bonus to any customers who are able to successfully recommend a friend.
- Rewarding customers with discounts: Loyalty discounts can encourage customers to keep coming back – and, in turn, share their experience with friends.
Cross-promote with other companies
You can also increase your visibility by asking other companies to promote your business in exchange for promoting their business in return. This could include both promoting each others’ business on social media, or displaying posters of each others’ business in each of your shop windows.
When finding companies to cross-promote with, it’s important to find a company that shares a similar audience, but that is not a direct competitor. For example, if you run a clothing store aimed at young adults, you probably don’t want to cross-promote with another clothing store. However, there could be a local coffee bar that you can successfully cross-promote with.
