My Small Business Brand is Having Trouble Getting Found -- Here are 3 Ways to Fix it
Updated: Sep 29
Does your small business or brand having a visibility problem? The reason(s) may not be what you think. Here are three easy ways to fix help small business brands get found, that take just a little effort to get you back on track.
Many prospective clients come to me complaining of low visibility and as a result, low conversions or sales. However when we take a closer look, there are typically three reasons that come up.
Here Are My Top 3 Reasons Why Your Small Businesses Brands Is Having Trouble Getting Found and How to Fix It
Your Brand Positioning is unclear. At the heart of every business or brand is its brand positioning, or a statement that your describes your products or services, how they satisfy a customer need better than your competition. Brand positioning drives your marketing messages, so that if you’re not specific about what you do well and for whom, things fall short and prospective customers either don’t understand what you do or don’t think you can help. The result, they look elsewhere. The Fix: The Fix: Craft or Refine Your Positioning Statement
Take time to think about what your product/service does best/What do you offer?, What problem is it solving?
How is it different than others who do the same thing? (What is the “thing” that sets you apart or which you can claim? (e.g., first, only, or a distinctive approach no one else is talking about.)
Who is it solving it for and why should they believe the claims? What are your ideal customers’ complaints.
Develop a 1–10-word statement that embodies the answers to this question with the benefit or end result being the focus. Once you’ve developed your positioning statement, your marketing messages ideally will be tied this statement so that anyone coming in contact with your business can quickly understand who you are, how you can help and better yet, why you’re the best choice. Need more help with your positioning statement? Become an email subscriber and download our “How to” Positioning Template.
You’re Trying to Sell to Everyone The misconception of selling to “everyone” is even more prevalent than the “people can’t find me” complaint.
The truth is you can’t sell to everyone. There is no amount of customization that is applicable to “all” people. In trying to speak to too many people at once, your message simply becomes diluted, you’re ultimately forgettable, speak to no one, and you’ll waste precious marketing dollars. Businesses and brands need to speak to one specific “person” who will benefit from your services the most. This is the person/group who will come back and buy from you time and time again. If you’re not seeing traffic, you likely aren’t talking to this group and are using generalized content that’s reaching no one. Tip: The target audience of small business owners is too broad, even saying, B2C, small business owners. You want to get as granular as possible. For example, if you’re a game store, your target audience might be: Mothers, 35-50 who have 1-3 children ages 5 and up. She values creative thinking and activities that don’t requires screens. Her household income is $75K and up. She lives in (list your service area), and likes to support local business but also have access to products that don’t have to be made locally…. This is a quick snapshot but it’s clear it goes deeper than moms. The Fix: Clarify your target audience
First and foremost, identifying a primary target audience does not mean that you can’t sell to more than group of people. It simply means that you’re first focused on those who will buy from you most often.
If you have no historical data to analyze past sales from to develop a target audience profile, try my Dollar Bet Method: You have 1 dollar to bet on the “person.” Who is the person who you can best provide a solution to, and if you’re already in business has come in to your store/shopped online the most.
Create a profile around that person that includes as many demographics (age, gender, income, geography), and psychographics (shopping habits, where they consume information, brands they love) as possible. This information can only help you craft messages that truly resonate with your dream customer.
Your Business or Product Doesn't Show Up Where Your Ideal Client is Looking or in Search Results. This is a two-fold problem. When you’ve creating awareness or selling your product or services, where and how promote it matters. Equally important is including key words, search terms and phrases that your target audience using when finding business and products like yours. Failing in other one of these can make getting easily found more difficult.
The Fix 1: Choosing the Right Channels Far too often small businesses are told that they “have to be on social media.” However, that’s not necessarily true. Instead, we always recommend focusing on the channels and apps where your dream client is naturally searching for you and your competition. Ask yourself, “Where do most of my leads or sales come from?” This can give you an initial insight into where to focus your efforts. For example if people use Google to locally search for you, ensure you have a Google Business Profile (GBP) – sometimes even before you have your live website. Consider posting GBP updates (similar to Google Ads these are free to post and use). You may also want to look at YouTube. In some instances potential prospects want more information about your field or types of services and they look for explanations via You Tube. Social media in this example may not be where they look for you. For large Consumer Packaged Goods Products brands, social media and Pinterest may be the best channels for your brand since the trend to search for products does include searches on Instagram for example. We would also still recommend a Google Business Profile in all instances because at some point, a prospective client will use Google to search for your or your the solution you provide.
The Fix 2: Keywords and Phrase Matter for SEO. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is including the search words and phrases potential customers use when looking for products like yours. If you want to be known for something, you need to include keywords and phrases that are connected to your product or services expertise or benefits anywhere you are promoting or describe them. If you include them too sparingly, you won't show up in Google Search Results, or will appear so far back in the search results that you'll be lost. (The first page of Google search results accounts for 71.33% of all organic clicks. Most searchers won’t go much further than the top three or four results, and even fewer, past page one.) Also consider creating blog content - as blogs are searchable, this can help boost your results and the longer-form approach also allows you to expand on your expertise or solution. Don't forgo consistency. Be consistent about how you speak about your business, product and services across all channels. The more consistent and targeted you are to your dream clients’ needs and wants, the more likely you are to be found. Google also looks for consistency and can "devalue" content if it's not aligned. For example: If you share a description on your GBP, be sure to have the same or a similar description or support points on your website. The same goes for your captions and descriptions on YouTube and in social media. Consistency can only help you.
If you're not showing up in searches do an audit of what information you're sharing. These fixes while sometimes time-consuming, can only improve your visibility, and future sales and conversions. They can also help you further stand out as the logical choice over your competition.
Need more support? We help small businesses like yours get found every day through our Brand & Marketing Strategy and Google Business Profile services. Reach out to learn more via our FREE Discovery Call.
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