Are you a small business owner?
Chances are, you are going to tell me you are or you are not.
Let me share our insights. We are ALL small business owners.
Baffled? You should be.
You see, all of us run Me.Inc. When we think about it this way, suddenly, we are all running a business.
We have to grow our digital footprint. Think about it this way.
An unknown shop at the corner of the street stays there and then disappears.
An unknown website with no traffic (forget conversion if you cannot get traffic) will be buried alive by other websites via Search Engine Optimization.
An unknown professional with 10 years of experience will be passed over by someone who knows someone.
Sounds familiar?
You bet.
The Small Business Owner’s Focus
What is the small business owner’s focus? These are the standard answer: -
More sales revenue.
Bringing in high margin products, physical or digital.
Drop customer acquisition costs to become cost-competitive and profitable.
Be finally financially free and live life on their own terms.
These are brilliant considerations.
Problem?
They are 1st world considerations.
The Bottomsup Perspective core team does not discourage entrepreneurship. On the contrary. We believe entrepreneurs will save the world.
Entrepreneurs exist to solve real-world problems. We have to. If not, no sales revenue will come in. We think the same applies to small business owners owning a website, freelancers on Upwork, copywriters trying hard to crack the code in Medium, Vocal, and Newsbreak.
When we are first starting out, we need to direct all our attention to one question.
Why would anyone buy from us?
This is an important question. It takes a lot of effort and energy to escape competition, assuming we are not crushed by it today.
The above question manifests itself in many forms:
Why would anyone subscribe to my newsletter?
Why would anyone buy my copywriting services?
Why would anyone choose me over my nearest competitor, who is working when I am sleeping?
This is not about a philosophical debate on why versus how. These are practical questions.
When we are first starting out, our brand name is everything.
Read that again.
Quality work? – Good brand name.
Lousy work? – Bad brand name.
Close friends and family do not buy from us when our name equates to a bad brand (unfortunately, they stick for a long time).
Sloppy work + affable personality = Just a friend.
Think about it.
Passive Way to Promote Your Brand-Name on Social
Let me assure you, this section has nothing to do with the Personal Branding hype.
None. Zilch. Nada. Zero.
As far as the Bottomsup Perspective core team is concerned, that orange has run out of juice. There is nothing left to squeeze.
That does not stop bad oranges from appearing. Just look at the cringe-worthy content flying all over social media.
We have to take a step back and evaluate what works. How do we put ourselves out there without taking off our clothes, flexing the non-existent muscle, and being crazy hyped-up all the time?
Yes, we can grow our brand name in a passive way on social media.
I will use the rest of this section to share how on Linkedin and Twitter.
On Linkedin
1. Go to your profile, scroll down until you find the section titled Featured.
2. Hit on the “+” symbol.
3. There will be a pop-up asking you to choose the content you want to feature. Select and go ahead.
On Twitter
1. Go to your profile and choose a tweet you want to feature. Click on the 3 dots.
2. You will see a pop-up window. One of the options is Pin it to your profile.
3. A confirmation message will appear. Proceed to pin it. Take note, the previously pinned message will be taken down.
These are the static, passive ways of getting social media connections and traffic to know you better. Take this opportunity to feature your best work, your business, and what you do.
Do hit the “Subscribe now” button for more practical tips to build your small business and your digital footprint.
Final Note – Do not feature your most popular posts or tweet. Feature what you want others to know about you, your business, and what you do.
Read that again, and read that repeatedly until the message sinks in.
A Parting Shot
It is not easy to run Me.Inc.
Things change daily too. What worked yesterday (remember the infamous Let’s Connect cringefest?) may flop today.
We need to continuously learn how we can better ourselves.
The Bottomsup Perspective YouTube channel is a content repository for practical self-improvement in the Age of Disruption.
These are the episodes we recommend if you are just starting your small business:
Episode 35 – Financial Health of Your Business.
Episode 26 – Let’s Talk Marketing.
Episode 19 – The Content Game.
Episode 17 – The Sales Follow-Up.
As you can see, it covers all aspects of a business.
Please share this newsletter with your connections to help grow their digital footprint!
We hope you enjoy watching our videos. Do let us know how we can better support you, your business, and navigation through the Digital Age in the comments below.
Aldric,
On Behalf of Bottomsup Perspective Team