Margo Myers Communications – 3 Keys to Expand Your Visibility
InfluenceHer steering committee
By Margo Myers, Margo Myers Communications
Expanding your visibility and influence is crucial to growing a successful business, especially if you’re a solopreneur, or a small company. After all, you can provide the best product or service there is, but if no one knows what you have to offer, your business isn’t going to thrive.
Here are three keys to expanding your visibility and influence to help grow your network, and in turn, increase the chances of your businesses success.
1. Be involved – Volunteer in your community.
How do you become known? And how do you spread the word about your expertise? When I first started my communications business, admittedly, I had the advantage of name recognition after working in TV news for many years. However, I could have quickly faded into the background. What I chose to do is continue volunteering and finding new opportunities with non-profit agencies, many that I worked with during my TV news career. I started volunteering my expertise by emceeing events, writing press releases, and helping others get ready to do media interviews. I wrote website content, and helped them define their brand and refine their messages. And I let my friends in the media know about the interesting things that these agencies were doing. Before long, I had built up experience and credentials, and created a business along the way. Volunteering was a way to expand on my writing and public relations skills, and turn it into a viable business.
2. Be connected – Network to build relationships.
Margo Myers interviews Stacy London
There are many different approaches to networking, and I believe (and what we teach in the Springboard Academy) that networking provides an opportunity to help others. How many times have you gone to a networking event, ended up with a fist full of business cards, and barely remember the people you talked with? If you go with the attitude that you are there to help others and build relationships, your chances of having a meaningful conversation and making a solid connection increase greatly. These are people you won’t forget. In Seattle, I like to say “it’s two degrees of separation – not six!” Seattle is a big “small city.” If you’ve lived and worked in the area for any length of time, chances are you will meet someone at an event who in turn, knows someone you know. I make these connections all the time, and it helps that I grew up in eastern Washington, went to WSU (which has a high level of alumni commitment), and worked in news where I had the opportunity to interview people from all walks of life and in a variety of industries! (Plus – see #1. Volunteering creates another opportunity to network and I serve on a couple of local boards). I love finding the connections between people I know, and people I’ve just met, and then introducing them to help each other. And I’ve also found a number of business opportunities for my companies.
3. Be visible – Develop an online presence.
If you have a great service or product provided by your company, don’t be shy about sharing it. Social media is a great way to develop your brand, and your company’s brand, online! Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest are useful ways to share. Just remember, on social media, it’s not all about you – again, it’s about building relationships with others. Guy Kawasaki is a master of this. He uses Twitter to ‘crowd source’ information for his books and projects, asking followers for input or advice. By the time his book is ready to publish or his project is ready to launch, he already has a platform of followers who are vested in his success, since they’ve offered their input. It’s brilliant, and it works for him.
In my book with Karen Lynn Maher, ExpertBook Marketing Made Simple, Publicizing and Promoting Your Book, I share information about the process of building your platform, and the importance it plays in promoting your book. There are a lot of similarities when it comes to your business! In fact, I connected with one of my major clients in a recommendation that someone made via Facebook. You never know which connection will come through for you.
Grow your business by growing your own visibility – by volunteering and refining your expertise, by networking to help others and build relationships, and don’t forget to develop your online presence. Following these three keys will help build your business!
As always, I love to hear your comments.
