Turn Up the Volume: Why Your Brand Needs Outbound Engagement

Day 17 of 30 days of writing every day.

You have to do more than decorate your door, you have to leave it cracked with the music blasting so people know if they want to peek in.

But when there's not a lot of people walking by or there's too much noise on the block, you have to do something to complete your mission.

You can upgrade your equipment so the music is louder, you can develop other lanes of communication so it travels farther, and you can physically seek out the people who might like your music and ask them to swing by.

How much money, time, and effort you have to give to complete the mission will impact how you carry it out.

AND THAT'S JUST LIKE OWNING A SERVICE BASED BUSINESS.

While you may not have a storefront that is responsible for bringing in foot traffic, your presence online is what shows people what to expect when they get to you. The issue isn't the presentation itself. You can have a beautifully decorated presence and still not have people willing to come inside.

Having a visible brand isn't enough if people can't or won't connect. Sometimes it takes just turning up the volume to get their attention and other times it takes going out, finding them, holding their hand, and dragging them to the front door.

That's why women in business do things like grow a network, build an email list, and run ads. They're doing it not to create more noise, but to put boots on the ground finding the people who haven't even realized they existed yet. It's an investment into a future sale.

Most small business owners have an abundance of one, maybe two, of the three resources they need to run a business -- time, money, and skill. So without strategic compensation, they find themselves running out of ways to invest.

The money bucket is usually the most sensitive. You can grow skills. You can hire more time. But you can't immediately create more money, usually.

So then the question becomes, "How can I become more visible with limited funding?.

Well, that's where the other two resources come in handy. Time and skill (some people call this grit).

MAKE THIS A PART OF YOUR USUAL STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

Outbound engagement.

The most underutilized, low cost way to boost visibility. Use your grit.

Go out, shake up the crowd, and lead them back to your brand. Use the time right after they arrive to let them know why they belong.

Here are a few of my favorite outbound engagement techniques 👉

DIRECT OUTREACH

Virtual coffee calls, conferences, coworking, text check-ins, thank you notes, events.

These are opportunities you seek out to connect with one person or a small group of people over a similar topic of relevancy.

Sometimes that's a conference. Sometimes that's a community impact event. Sometimes that's thanking them for their referral.

When you're directly reaching out to people, don't forget the ones you've already warmed up! Your current and past client list should be among the first on your list when engaging outbound.

STRATEGIC SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

Social media is first social, which can sometimes make it tough for people in business to engage authentically.

First, follow industry adjacent accounts who appear to serve a similar demographic. Comment and react to their posts, watch their stories, click their polls, send them DMs. While you're there, look for overlapping potential clietele and go do the same thing with them.

The biggest take away here is to ask authentic, open ended questions. That way the conversation doesn't just stop at one response. You're there to give the space for them to say, "I want to know more about whoever I'm talking to."

Make sure you have something for them to look at when they get there.

If you need help building your brand’s visibility, you need to join the Collab Lab— a monthly coworking room for women who want to build practical skills and immediately put them to work.

We focus on small, bite-sized skills you can actually apply to your business today. You learn it, you work on it, and you leave with something done.

If outbound engagement is one of the things you've been meaning to do but keep letting slip, this is exactly the kind of thing we work on in the Collab Lab.