One of the biggest complaints I hear from clients, regardless of the stage of business they are in, is that they want to bring in more business. I have clients that are brand new to business, still working in their corporate jobs, others that have been running a business for the last year or two, and seasoned veterans that have been at it for years. Everyone, even prospects I speak to, everyone wants to bring in more business.

 

Social media and digital marketing is there to showcase the brand, not sell. Social media is meant to build brand awareness, which will increase sales and generate leads over time.  Social media is one piece of building a brand ecosystem. When clients come to me, we look at a couple of things; the systems they have in place for their business, the sales landscape (because let’s face it you can’t be in business unless you have sales), and their goals tied to the work we are doing together.

 

Many people have this preconceived notion that social media is all “sell, sell, sell!” and it’s not. Social media will build your brand and increase awareness, but that means the selling is still up to you! Lucky for you, I have a background in sales and use this background knowledge in both my marketing and consulting work. So, without further ado here are 3 actions you can take this week to bring in new business:

 

1. Build a killer introduction and use it everywhere.  This introduction should include both personal and business information. Why? Because this gives people a sense of who you are and if they want to work with you. Here’s the one I use:

 

Hi Everyone! My name is Jamie Palmer. I am a mompreneur. I live in Newport, Rhode Island and own a marketing company called Outlier Marketing Group. We exist to help you succeed. My company works with entrepreneurs, small businesses, and mompreneurs (mostly female) in two ways:
1) By doing social media management, website design, and branding for them
Or

2) By consulting and educating them on best practices and the best ways to grow their business, working with them to learn the vast social media world and digital marketing, etc… for them to implement themselves.

I am a Wife and a Mom to an adorable 2-year-old son. I love cooking, working out, writing, going paddle boarding (I’m a total beach bum), and skiing. I truly look forward to connecting with you all!

It is so important to have a killer introduction because once you’ve nailed this and have it on point with your brand, you can use it everywhere, so start with that.

 

2. Join some Facebook groups that are in alignment with your brand. Let me tell you a quick story. I met Karen in the Female Entrepreneurs Collaborate Group, Karen became a client. Karen introduced me to Elaine. Elaine became a client. Elaine introduced me to Lauren, who became a client. Lauren introduced me to Jill, who also became a client. Next month I’m headed out to North Carolina to meet all these wonderful ladies that I have been working with for the last few months. Trust me, Facebook groups are where it is at.

 

Now what do I do in these groups? I interact! Typically when you join a group, you can introduce yourself (you’ve already done the work, now just find a good picture and you are good to go!), then start commenting on some posts that are related to your industry. You can also participate in the daily threads, which are great! Perhaps it is an Instagram showcase or a freemium showcase. Just spend some time in there commenting on stuff related to your business.

 

Now wait for the Facebook magic to happen. I did this religiously for about a month. I’d spend about 10 to 15 minutes a day in three different groups. Since Facebook has learned what I post on and what I don’t post it only shows me posts that would be relevant to me (a.k.a. branding, marketing, etc…). All because I took some time and posted.

 

Once these tailored posts start showing up in your Newsfeed, comment as you scroll. Even if it’s 8 at night and you are just browsing through Facebook. You might be surprised to find that you wake up to someone wanting to setup a time to speak with you or someone who bought one of your products

 

Here are some of my favorite groups to help you get started:

 

• The Fab Entrepreneurs
• Female Entrepreneurs Collaborate
• The Happy Entrepreneur
• Build Your Brand Ecosystem (My New Group)
• Coaches Collaborate

 

3. Focus on Your Business and get organized. Sounds simple, right? First step, block off 1 day a week that you focus solely on your business. Divide your time up during this day into business development (a.k.a. sales), marketing efforts (a.k.a. getting your newsletter organized) and social media for the week all squared away and then actual product work (a.k.a. e-book or course or whatever you are working towards).

 

It seems super straight forward, but it’s hard, right? Let me give you some tools to help. I absolutely love managing my sales funnel with a Top 10 list. Here is a sample. As part of my business development work, I will also post in the groups as we discussed earlier do a bit of searching on Instagram to see if anyone is looking for a social media manager or strategist via hashtags (more on this later).

 

For social media, I like Hootsuite because I get the Instagram integration. Which means I’m not typing out a long Instagram post on my phone, bonus! I also like mailchimp for my newsletter, it’s easy to use and VERY inexpensive.

 

Now get to growing your business and feel free to send me email with questions or comments at Jamie@outliermarketinggroup.com