Are you the “go to” business in your niche?

Fledgling business owners quickly discover it takes more than a Facebook page or Etsy shop to turn a business into a viable and sustainable enterprise.

And, at this time of year, when we’re busy counting our pennies from the year before, our income and expenses statement can be a huge wakeup call.

So, with an increasingly competitive market place and a tough global economy, how do you make the shift from surviving to thriving and how do you make sure you’re visible to those you’re trying to reach?

Be the go to person in your niche

Have you started up and wondered why nobody is finding you or have you created a Facebook page, given it a shoutout on promotional pages and wondered why nobody is paying you a visit?

With inbound marketing (i.e. social media marketing, blogging, ebooks, etc) becoming more and more popular, it’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd.

It seems like everyone has a blog, a Facebook page and a nifty logo, but it is easy to feel uninspired when business bloggers are so focused on churning out huge volumes of boring content just to keep their Google rankings high.

I don’t know about you, but my eyes glaze over when I read a headline like this: “50 must do tips to…”

So, how can you set yourself apart and not send your website visitors to sleep?

The answer is really simple actually. Just make yourself the go to person in your niche.

The good news is that there are some easy ways to make it happen.

Focus on your customers’ needs and expectations

If you write blog posts, find out what information your customers need about your products or services and address those needs. What issues are they dealing with? What are they struggling with? Have you asked them?

Excel at customer service

Get back to people quickly, respond to their posts on your page and thank them for their comments.

Give customers a reason to come back to you as repeat customers and empower them to spread the word about your business.

Be helpful

Shift your focus from promoting how your services may benefit a customer to one where you are serving your customer’s needs. There is a difference.

It doesn’t feel good to push a product or service on someone when it’s not something they really need, but when we can do something to truly help someone, our intent shines through and nobody feels “sold” to.

If you want to thrive in the competitive social landscape, rethinking how you promote your business may give you a competitive edge.

If you focus on your customers and answer their questions, you’ll quickly build your reputation as an authoritative source of information.

Of course, there is more to it than that, but this gives you a starting point, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed by social media marketing.

So, what about you? Are you the go to business in your niche?