I know first hand just how difficult it can be to be successful in the world of small businesses. Owning Square Box SEO since 1999 and White Rapids Marketing along with several techstart up companies for over 16 years, our businesses have grown because of influencers and advocates not advertising. This is because I have tried and failed at a large number of different small businesses in the past. With that being said, I have seen lots of great success in the past decade and have been able to succeed in a number of different small business in a wide range of different niches. It goes without saying that succeeding in the world of small businesses is heavily reliant on such things as advocates and influencers in the community. Hence, this article will focus on presenting helpful information in regards to gaining influencers and advocates for your small business.
Advocates and influencers come in many different shapes and sizes. Advocates can be something such as a key, famous, community member who serves as a professional advocate for your small business. On the flip side, an advocate can be as simple as a loyal customer that loves to tell their friends and family about just how great your business is. Influencers also fall into the same type of category, as they are able to go out into the community and spread the word about your business, which will lead to greater profits in the long term. Indeed, it’s quite clear the benefits that come with having great advocates and influencers as part of your small business.
Of course, getting advocates and influencers is not as easy as it seems. Getting these types of individuals involved with your business is one of the most sure-fire ways to ensure that your business will succeed. This is because these individuals are able to cause something much like a chain reaction in the community. As they spread the word about your business, the people who are being told about the business will go out and try out the business for themselves. Hence, if they find out that the business is great, they too, will go out and tell all of their friends and family. Thus, this kind of chain reaction will essentially continue indefinitely. This is perhaps one of the most effective and cheapest forms of advertising that a small business can do.
With this being said, getting this chain reaction happening is much easier said than done. This is because this kind of advertising campaign heavily relies on the fact that your business is able to provide a top quality service and is a stand out company amongst other competitors in the area. Hence, if this is not the case, when influencers go out and tell others of how great your small business is, they will go ahead and try it out for themselves. If they find out that your business is not good, they will go about telling their friends and family about how bad your business is. This is actually worse than not doing any advertising at all, as it lowers the reputation of your business. Thus, it’s absolutely vital to have a business that will impress everyone and anyone.
Lots of businesses in the past have tried to enforce this kind of tactic, and have found out that it has backfired on them. This is especially true for small businesses that still haven’t properly been managed yet. Sending out influencers as well as advocates for the small business during the early stages of the business will lead to a huge spark in interest from the community. However, if the original spark of interest is met with disappointment and criticism of the small business because it was unable to provide a top quality service, this will essentially mark the beginning of the end for the business.
Hence, it is vital that all of the efforts are placed on making the business as good as possible. It should be stressed how important this step is in order to get advocates and influencers. If the business is exceptional in quality, the business won’t even have to employ people to be influencers or advocates for the business, as the customers of the business will be impressed naturally and tell all of their friends and family about how great the business is naturally as well. With that being said, adding some professional advocates and influencers to this mix can call for a truly profitable combination that will really set the business on fire in regards to success.
Going about getting professional advocates and influencers for a small business can be done in a number of different ways. One of the most common ways is to go and sponsor one of the key members in the community. This can be done in a whole range of different ways, however, for small towns, this can be something as simple as sponsoring the most popular politician in the area. By doing this, the politician may be able to go ahead and host events and speeches near your venue, and he or she will be able to give small mentions of your business to the greater community, which can really improve future prospects of the business.
Furthermore, taking part in many community activities will also help in the solidification of the small business, and thus the generation of natural advocates and influences for the business. This could be something such as being the main sponsor of the local baseball league. The business can provide such things as sports gear for the local business and perhaps even get advertisements put up at the local stadium. This will increase the public image of the small image very greatly, and will lead to really great brand recognition in the community.
I really believe that all of the information that I have presented in this article will serve to be immensely useful for literally anyone who is looking to see great success in the world of business. Small businesses can be particularly challenging to make succeed. However, I am quite certain that all of the advice I’ve gone out of my way to present today will help anyone involved in the workings of a small business.