If you're running a small business, you are your business. Wherever you go and whatever you do is a business promotion opportunity. Conversely, wherever you go and whatever you do reflects upon your business; your business image is, in large part, your image.
Too often small business people forget this. They've spent some amounts of dollars placing ads in various places and figure that's enough. Business promotion will take care of itself.
It doesn't. If you want to improve your sales figures or get more clients or keep the customers you have coming back, you have to actively work at business promotion all the time.
But promotion isn't just advertising or press releases or sales events; promotion is also how you present yourself.
Ensure Positive First Impressions
Although we've all been advised not to judge people on our first impressions, we all do it. Worse, we form these judgments within two to thirty seconds of meeting someone for the first time! After that, we selectively filter our impressions of a person; sure, we'll take in new information or perceptions about them, but only in terms of how it confirms what we already "know" about him or her.
As a business owner, you want to ensure that everyone who meets you forms a positive first impression. After that, they'll be predisposed to think favorably of you. Creating a good first impression is especially crucial if you provide a service; every face-to-face contact you make reflects upon your service (and colors your business image).
Be Pleasant, Attractive, and Knowledgeable
That's why it pays to pay attention to your business image. Concentrating on being Pleasant, Attractive, and Knowledgeable will help you create and maintain the kind of business image that creates a positive first impression, gets good word-of-mouth, and builds credibility.
Take Advantage of Organizations and Events to Promote Your Business
There are a great many obvious events and organizations that business people can go to or join to network with other business people. We all know how to conduct ourselves in a roomful of others like ourselves.
But sometimes we forget that we could also be making valuable contacts and perhaps getting more customers at our daughters' rugby games, the community pancake breakfast, or even in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Talk to people wherever you go; show an interest in them and they'll respond with an interest in you... and an opportunity to promote your business
Source: THE BALANCE
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