Kim Kelley Thompson
If your struggling or trying to figure out just what it is you want to do, or wondering why you keep starting and stopping with your ‘great’ business idea, you simply may not be on the path you really want. If you’re in business because of the potential to make a lot of money, I can promise you that you’ll continue to hit burn out and now would be a good time to really get back to basics and get clear.
5 steps necessary to building a thriving business
Develop your Core Message — Your core message is the main benefit your business provides your customers. It’s the primary reason why you are in business. It should be the intention behind your website and should guide all of your content.
Begin with your Mission Statement
A.) How are you going to help your clients?
B.) What impact will your business have on their lives?
For example are you a consultant? Your mission statement maybe something along the lines of:
It is my mission to help entrepreneurs and companies meet their goals through ongoing planning and refining, organized objectives, action steps and accountability.
Or if you decide you want to have a travel blog that allows you to write about your adventures or desired adventures but you want it to make money, your mission may simply be:
My mission is to provide valuable travel information and tips for low budget trips, making it safe, convenient and cost effective to travel in style.
Clarify your Core Message — Take your mission statement and find the main benefit your market will gain from your business. This benefit will also be the basis for your web content and social media postings. An easy way to do this is to think of the questions you get asked most often when engaging with existing or potential clients.
Determine 5 Topics that will Support your Core Message — For example, possible topics for a marketing consultant may be:
- Online marketing
- How to market through social media
- How to build a list of prospects
- What to look for in an autoresponder
Analyze and Evaluate Similar Companies — Select three to five brands in your industry that blog regularly and have social media engagement. List the companies and see if you can identify their core message. Then look at their articles to see how they support their core messages, and what type of content they create: blogs, videos, photos, eBooks, guides.
Pay attention to the calls to action they use. Note: A Call to Action or CTA is an instruction to the audience to take immediate action such as, “Grab your 20% discount here”, “Register to win a free makeover now” etc.
Next see if you can find an area they are not addressing, or if there’s a different angle you can take to a similar topic. This will become your differentiator – the sweet spot!
The Sweet Spot — You have to stand out in order to get noticed by Google and your ideal market. Really take a close look at similar businesses and do a drill-down. Take apart their content and find the ‘one thing’ that stands out, this is their unique selling proposition (USP). It’s the unique thing that they’ve become known for and you’re going to have one too.
Your goal is to not get hung up on competition, but rather to shine brighter by offering something a little bit different. This could be as simple as the way in which you deliver your content; maybe you cover an area they are not willing to address. Perhaps you’re known for using case studies as the introduction to each piece of content. Or you decide to end each post with an inspirational quote that can easily be tweeted. Your USP could even be as simple as your quirky personality.
Your audience will find you IF you have a USP, and create and market content regularly (this is not as hard as it sounds, I show you how to do this in an upcoming section). Look for a gap that you can fill and create your own sweet spot! Download the guide to finding your USP: https://thehubline.lpages.co/find-your-usp/
The key factor in building a sustainable business
Now use this information to think of ways you can develop your business to provide multiple income opportunities. In other words, if you are a consultant or coach with package pricing or tiered level pricing, can you also create an online training or certification course as an additional offering? Perhaps you can lead a retreat or a yearly, hands on seminar. Check out what others are doing, carve out your sweet spot and add multiple income producing channels.
If you have a product-based business, are there additional products or courses you can offer as an upsell? Or are there affiliate products you can offer that compliment your product?
You’re competing in a huge field and you have to be focused in order to be heard and build a successful, profitable business.
Want help simplifying your marketing or just need a few cheers to keep you motivated – we can do that!!! Join our free facebook community, you’ll get insight, inspiration and access to our weekly Q&A series, all designed to help you build, grow and scale your online business once and for all: FB – theHUBline Community
Have a question you’d like answered? Send to: support@kimkelleythompson.com
