How to Promote Your Business Without Becoming a Used Car Salesman

A lot of small business owners have a tough time selling themselves. They don’t want to sound like a used car salesman who is constantly peddling the latest deal on the lot.

And, because overselling is so rampant on the social web, businesses often get gun-shy about touting their services for fear of being categorized as a spammer or arrogant jerk.

However, this creates a converse problem – underselling.

When you don’t let people know about what you’ve got to offer, opportunities can pass you by.

What do you do, anyway?

A couple of weeks ago, Gini Dietrich blogged about getting asked for recommendations on a good PR firm. Her response? “Uh…us?”. After all, she does own a PR firm.
I’m sure she’s not the only one who has encountered this.

It’s amazing how sometimes our own friends and contacts don’t think to send work our way for a variety of reasons.

The thing is, we all assume everyone knows what we do and who we work with. We think that people take the time to read our bio page or list of services, but chances are, they don’t.

I know I’m guilty of this.

Although you can’t avoid selling entirely, the good news is there ARE ways to tell people about what you have to offer, you just have to do it in a way that feels right to you and shows how your customers will benefit.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Showcase your expertise through your blog posts. Writing a short case study on your blog or website is a great way to showcase your experience and past success without being braggadocios. Or, you can even write about an issue in the news or a hypothetical problem to show how you would solve it. Any of these options are great ways show what you’re made of while helping your readers in the process.
• Solve your prospect’s problems. Do you know what keeps your prospective clients and customers up at night? If not, ask them. If you do, then make sure your business delivers. People buy because they have a problem that needs solving. Make sure that this shines through in your web copy and blog posts. If you do that, then you won’t be able to stop the rush of business that comes your way.

• Remind your readers. Although your blog should be used to inform and help readers, you also need to leverage that as a key promotional tool. Don’t be afraid to use your blog to remind people how they can work with you. You can do this by linking to your sales pages in your blog posts or using a call-to-action at the end of your posts (see point below). These are great ways to let people know what you do without being overly in-your-face.

• Use a call-to-action. In the blogosphere, we have a tendency to ask questions to encourage comments at the end of blog posts. However, have you considered a call-to-action instead? I wouldn’t do it on every post, but on occasion, let people know that if they want help on the topic you discussed, that you are just the person for the job. Another option is to encourage sign-ups for your e-mail list or promote a product that corresponds well with the topic.

• Use that email list. You do have an email list, right? If you don’t, now is the time to start building one. Like your blog posts, you want the emphasis to be on providing useful, helpful information. But the reason you have an email list is to ultimately let people know about your services and help drive sales. Don’t be gun-shy about this. You are in business, after all.

• Make your “hire us” info easy to find. Unfortunately, it often takes users a number of clicks to find out how to work with you. Make sure it’s easy to find on your website. In fact, consider using “hire me” or “work with us” in your primary navigation or as a button on your blog. This makes it crystal clear what people need to do to take the next step.

• Ask for qualified referrals. Referrals are a business owner’s best friend. Don’t forget about this often under-utilized business tool. If you have clients and customers that love you, ask them to let you know about others who might benefit from working with you.

• Educate your contacts. Erica Allison openly let people know on her blog when she was looking for more work and explained exactly the types of clients she was looking for. Although you don’t have to go that route, you can definitely help your friends, family and professional contacts make an educated referral by giving them the information they need to do just that. That way, when they refer people your way, they are the RIGHT people.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, but hopefully, these ideas will help you get your creative juices flowing and help take some of the anxiety out of putting yourself out there and letting people know how they can work with you.

What’s worked for you?

How do you sell your business without overselling? Or, if you struggle with this, what’s your biggest hangup? Share your thoughts in the comments and let’s help each other out!