As a business, every day, you get the opportunity to communicate your message and it’s no secret how important it is to articulate the right message so the people that we are talking to pay attention to what we have to say. This is why it is so important that you learn how to find your business voice.
A few days ago I got a message from someone telling me that I didn’t talk enough about online marketing strategies.
That person is probably right.
The decision to talk less about strategy was intentional
You see, I started to notice that Strategy isn’t the biggest problem that stops the majority of business owners from being successful.
It wouldn’t surprise me that you disagree with me when you read this:
You might be thinking, if the problem is not the strategy, then what is the problem?
A few days ago I was talking with a friend that was telling me that she had decided to hire someone to help her with her marketing.
She was describing how the process of delegating her marketing had caused her to lose her voice.
Now, all her content, from her website, social media posts, and emails don’t sound like her.
I could sense the pain in her voice.
If she felt this, it’s very likely that everyone that has been in touch with her business feels the same thing.
In her case, it doesn’t matter what strategies she uses.
It doesn’t matter how many social media followers she has, it doesn’t matter how much she spends on ads.
If the people that she is attracting don´t connect with her content, her marketing efforts won’t take her anywhere.
She explained the logical reasoning that led her to hire her marketing and delegate her voice.
It was as simple as not having enough time to do it all.
And I think we can all relate to that.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day.
And the key is to choose wisely where to spend our time and attention.
Your business voice is what is going to help you to sell more.
The only reason why someone will hire your services is that they want to work with you.
Because your voice is what attracted them in the first place.
Because you inspired more trust than your competitors.
Your voice is your secret sauce.
And when you don’t have a voice, you have nothing.
If you don’t promote your services through the Internet, you may not fully understand what I mean by this.
You might have to live it to believe it.
But if you have tried to promote your services online, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
If I had to pick a reason why the majority of businesses’ marketing fails, this would be the main one.
It’s not the lack of strategies, it’s the lack of voice.
It’s not knowing how to properly articulate your message.
It’s having a boring message that lacks personality, doesn’t connect with anyone and is similar to everyone else’s.
This is what keeps you invisible and stuck
When you have a message like that, your marketing can’t make miracles.
And that’s the reason why I write about online marketing strategies less frequently.
What happens is that the majority of business owners don’t wrap their heads around the fact that the only purpose of marketing is to position your brand so that you can increase your sales.
Promoting your brand simply because everyone tells you that you´re supposed to do it is not the answer.
When you don’t understand this, the idea of delegating your marketing because you don´t have enough time is the beginning of the end.
4 Steps to learn how to find your business voice (and stand out from the crowd)
1. Focus on your audience first.
One of the main reasons why businesses fail to communicate their voice is because they’re afraid of what other people might think about them.
To stand out, you have to run the risk of being different.
I understand how this can be a challenge.
Nevertheless, what people don’t seem to understand is that there is a bigger risk being just like everyone else.
What you need to do
Change your perspective and move your attention from yourself to your audience. What this means is that instead of worrying about what people will say about you, you have to create content that brings value to your audience.
In the blink of an eye, everything will become easier when you are able to focus on serving your audience.
2. Know what to say
When I talk about what to say, I don’t mean the text you will put with an image on social media.
That’s not enough.
It goes beyond social media.
You need to learn to express your message with the right words so people can understand how you can help them and what makes you different.
You might think this is as simple as delivering a short, concise and to the point message.
In this case, I couldn’t disagree more.
Having a short message is not enough to persuade anyone to hire your services, you need to explain why they need your services and why you are their best choice.
What you need to do:
It all starts by knowing your audience, understanding their problems and showing them that you know how to solve their problems. You can do this with your blog, with videos and/or audio and social media.
Your content will allow your audience to get to know you and will help them realize that they want to work with you.
In order to do this:
• You don’t have to be a genius to know what to say.
• You don’t have to be the best or have all the answers to have an opinion.
• You don’t have to be an extrovert.
It only takes practice and using a system that allows you to do exactly that.
3. Use images to connect
It doesn’t matter how good your message is if nobody sees it.
The best way to capture the attention of your audience is to combine your message with images that connect and make them curious about your services.
This is not something you can achieve if you use the same images as your competitors.
What you need to do
You need to develop a visual brand style that makes you stand out and that allows your audience to identify you.
I understand that this sounds like something expensive or complicated and I want to clarify that it’s not.
Again, this is something that you can achieve through practice.
Before continuing, I want to share an infographic that illustrates: 4 Steps to learn how to find your business voice (and stand out from the crowd)
4. Your message must be highly visible
Of course, none of this works if your audience doesn’t know you exist.
It doesn’t matter what your message is or what image you use if your message is not easy to find for your audience 24 hours a day.
What you need to do
You need to understand where the people in your audience search for the solutions to their problems.
And most likely, they search Google and social media.
This means that your content should appear in the results when people search, otherwise you’re just wasting your time.
Conclusion
It doesn’t matter what strategies or tactics you use, it doesn’t matter how much you pay for ads and it doesn’t matter how many followers you have.
Not understanding the importance of communicating your voice through a highly visible message is like trying to drive a car without an engine.
I want you to ask yourself: What step can you take today to find the voice of your business and successfully communicate a message that connects with your audience?
