How to Gain Visibility for Your Business — Even on a Budget

There was Lade, a 25-year-old hairpreneur who had one major goal —to gain visibility for her business and grow it beyond where it was last year. Of course, she wasn’t a novice as she had gained some level of online visibility to some extent – spent money on external marketing like running ads, creating quality content consistently, and staying present across social media platforms, all to keep her business in people’s faces and gain visibility for her business.

By extension, she ensures to publish quality content back-to-back so that at least, anyone who lands on her page will not have to leave without buying something. And it’s been working because people confess that going through her page leaves, they have no alternative but to make a purchase.

For this, she loved that her business was bringing in good money from the online space, however, she wanted more, hence the reason for that goal.

She understood the fact that online visibility was non-negotiable but so was offline visibility. One without the other was limiting her growth. She knows quite well that her business needs both kinds of visibility.
Now, she didn’t stop at the point of just wishing or planning; she moved on to plan and execute the plan because clarity comes in action, not necessarily in planning.

As part of her actions, she paid for a premium course worth 700k without blinking an eyelid because she knew there was a better ROI. Sounds huge. Right? Well, this kind of confidence comes when you’re clear on what your business needs: visibility and access

Here are 5 that helped Lade and can help you gain visibility for your business too:

1. Announce Your Business Before Others Do

For some reason, this is called shameless marketing. Nobody does and should do it better than you. If they are then there’s a guarantee that you won’t make as much profit as you ought to.

If you’re not loud about what you do, you leave room for obscurity. And obscurity is expensive.

Talk about your business using every medium and opportunity you can get. Use the least to the highest form of marketing tips — Post it. Wear it. You can even print it on a T-shirt. These seemingly “small” things accumulate over time to build brand awareness. More so, they are not as expensive as you thought. Let people see your brand before they see you.

2. Attend the Right Event

If you want that visibility enough, you won’t play small – you can’t be looking to gain visibility for your business and not be found where your customers are. It doesn’t add up.

Go to trade fairs. Attend workshops. Join relevant networking events. To get the most out of those kinds of events, ensure you are strategic about them.

A guiding tip would be never to show up for any kind of event without a goal to achieve. Is it to connect with the right investors? Meet more intentional mentors? Get valuable customers? When you know what goal to achieve, you’ll begin to infuse them into each event and see if they are worth your investment or not.

3. Pay for Visibility and Access

Free is good, at least for a start. However, the visibility that converts often comes with a price tag. There is an obvious reason premium events, classes, and courses exist. No, don’t ever think it’s for the fun of it. Are there some paid versions that are supposed to be free or not even tagged as premium? Yes. But are there also some that are worth every premium tag on them? Definitely yes.

This, you get to decide the worth of every “premiumship” by yourself.
Some people have grown so much in their industry, both in the online and offline space, that all they need to do is mention your name or business name, and customers will start rushing you like the Oyingbo market. This is what you pay for – VISIBILITY & ACCESS!

You must look for these people and pay them to get what your business needs to move forward. You don’t have to be like Lade who paid 700k, you can always operate at your level. A 10k ad or 30k influencer campaign could be your own version of a big move. There is visibility and access you can pay for at the level you. Just do the work to know which one.

Closely related to paying for visibility and access is leveraging influencer marketing. You can strategically use this especially if you are in a visual or lifestyle-based industry. It’s one of the most targeted ways to gain visibility for your business.

4. Build Your Capacity Before the Spotlight Hits

Here’s a truth people don’t talk about: not everyone can handle visibility. This one is non-negotiable because even if you pay the most talented mentor for your business without being prepared for what’s about to come, you risk wasting your resources. If you get that visibility without being prepared, you may lose it and it will cost you more to get it back.

Ask yourself this question: “If the spotlight shines on me tomorrow, do I have the team, structure, and mindset to deliver?” So, this means that before visibility comes, start making plans to expand your team – production, circulation, technical, etc. Improve customer service. Otherwise, that hard-earned visibility may come and go like a one-hit wonder.

5. Offer Premium Products or Services

No level of visibility will replace your competence and the quality of your products/services. This is because visibility is not a cover-up for incompetence. It is, at the least, to give your business an edge over other competitors.

Make your brand memorable not just because you’re everywhere, but because you’re excellent. When visibility meets competence, you don’t just attract attention, you build loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals.

Conclusion

Visibility isn’t magic, it’s intentional. If you truly want to gain visibility for your business, start taking deliberate steps today. Whether you’re leveraging shameless marketing, attending strategic events, paying for access, or preparing your business for growth, what matters most is that you’re doing the work.
Like Lade, be the kind of entrepreneur who doesn’t just wish for growth but takes bold action to make it happen.

Related Post: Word of Mouth Marketing: Turning Customers into Your Biggest Advocates