Shake it up! Do something kooky! Make a fuss and get some attention! Alright, now that I’ve got YOUR attention, what does all this have to do with running a small, home-based business? When it comes to marketing and visibility, it can mean the world…
Now I’m not talking about running down the street wearing nothing but a sandwich board with your business name on it (although that might get plenty of attention), but I am talking about really thinking outside the box when it comes to how you define your business in the marketplace. In reality, it can be hard enough for those of us running a small, home-based business to even think of our businesses as being PART of a larger marketplace, let alone understanding how we can make ourselves stand out.
There tend to be two key things that hold us back from really shaking things up—first, it can be hard to tap into the creativity to come up with great ideas when we’re just trying to hold things together and, secondly, it takes some courage to do things that draw attention to our businesses in a big way. Many of us are afraid of taking those sorts of risks for fear we may look like a fool or our businesses will take a publicity hit and not be able to recover. Just remind yourself that businesses are built on creativity and risk. Really. Look at any successful business you admire and know that there is a great deal of risk-taking and creativity that goes into keeping it afloat and growing.
Get yourself out of your ordinary surroundings, talk to some new people, ask for advice from a completely different demographic. You don’t have to do anything and everything that comes up but it will help you to start thinking of ways that you can do something completely unexpected with your home business.
Also: You Never Know Who You’re Talking To