3 Key Business Basics

1. Build an audience
This is where many businesses miss the mark. You put together a beautiful website with all the right plugins, widgets and opt-in boxes. You follow all the steps, but the money doesn't come because you have no audience.  We touched on this briefly in our "Holiday Preparedness Checklist" article regarding Social Media.  Here are some different ways.

There are many ways to build an audience and quickly:

• Be a guest on a podcast. Every morning, Radio Guest List will deliver to your inbox a list of shows looking for your expertise.
• Guest post on blogs. There are blogs that get millions of visitors each month.
• Get exposure from large author sites. If you can be interviewed or write for sites like Entrepreneur or the Huffington Post, you get exposure to millions of potential leads and customers. Writing for these websites builds authority, grows your social media presence and leads to sales. Here is a podcast episode that walks you through how to do this.
  

2. Learn About Your Competition

Chances are that you are not about to take on Google, Ford, or Wal-Mart head on. However, you still need to be aware of your major competitors regardless of their actual market share. This includes both direct and indirect competitors, because this is where your ideal customers likely hang out.

Search engines offer tools that let you customize alerts and trend watches that keep you in the loop.    With time, you should be able to build up a strong list of websites that will key you in on your industry's inside information.

A good article here: Best Competitive Keyword Research Tools


3. Differentiate Yourself to Stand Out and Get Noticed

We live in a very busy world, getting bombarded by thousands of marketing pieces every day.  How are you ever going to stand out? How is anyone going to notice you?

You need to differentiate! Unfortunately a lot of businesses copy each other plainly because they think "the other guy" has got it all figured out, but most likely he or she hasn't!

A lot of businesses just blend in rather than carve out their own uniqueness.

So rather than copying anyone else, how about doing things differently, doings things better! Or shall we say "disrupt" since it seems to be a very fashionable word at the moment. Either way, all you need to do is blow your customers' mind with your awesomeness.

It's not just about getting noticed; you need to find ways to get noticed by the right people.

I've got two other great questions for you to get you started with this one. Someone smart once said that the quality of life depends on the quality of questions… or something like that.

So here goes.

Ask yourself "What's the frustration in my industry?".

Think about what people are frustrated about when working with someone in your industry.

Let me give you an example. A common frustration in service based industries is that the service people often arrive late on the job. So one of my clients who is an electrician decided to create a "we are always on time" guarantee. If any of his electricians arrive late for a job, the client gets $50, even if he or she is only one minute late. It didn't take long for his business to create an awesome reputation!

The second question to ask yourself and others is "What would make working with a <insert your industry> irresistible?"

You'll be surprised by how many great ideas you will get from your clients and friends!

How about we set a challenge? Ask ten people in the next ten days and then implement the top three best ideas.

Did you take the challenge?  What did you find out?  Comment below!