DO 3 NOTEWORTHY, HIGHLY VISIBLE THINGS

Think big!  Be Seen and heard.

For the most part small business owners live most of their business lives in obscurity. There are over 28 million small businesses in the United States and another 500,000 open every month. Small businesses, for the most part, are rarely known outside their immediate circle of friends and customers. Survival and growth is a major challenge as approximately 90% of all businesses will fail. Very few people know when a business is born and very few will know when it closes.

I don’t buy the excuse that the product or service is wrong and thus the failure. Within the ranks of the closed businesses there may have existed several major break throughs in technology, medicine, etc. which have never seen the light of day.

Small businesses think and act small and, therefore, stay small. The BizQuack vision plan, if followed, requires a business owner to think big.

Let me define the noteworthy and highly visible. Noteworthy is something that is different, something that newspapers, radio or TV wants to share with their audience. Being seen on TV or published in a major newspaper meets the criteria for being highly visible.

The first question: What is your unique value proposition? What is so great that the media wants to share it? What are you currently doing that draws attention, in a positive way?

The following are a few suggestions on how to spread your value proposition:

• Daily, morning TV talk shows need new material every day. Find out who the program director is and send a news release.
• Give a talk or teach a class to a group of your peers.
• Send out news releases to trade publications as well as local newspapers.
• Write a book. It can be less than 100 pages; it’s the content that matters.
• Put yourself on the speaking circuit with a community “do good” project.
• Take a leadership position in a recognized charity.

The internet and social media can provide a support to the above list. Publish a blog every day. Do a 30 to 45 second video at least twice a week. Be very active on your business section of the major social media networks.

Sit down with your mentor and work out a “Get Seen and Get Heard” plan of action. No, this is not instant gratification, but with consistent effort you will reap your rewards.

DON’T DECREASE THE GOAL, INCREASE THE EFFORT!

Advice and tips by Nick Petra – CFP, Mentor, and founder of BizQuack and StrategicDuck