Today let’s talk visibility, a much-used term in the online business marketing world at the moment. I prefer to talk about presence, but visibility seems the current word.

How do you feel about being visible and presenting yourself?

Are you scared by the idea of being more visible in your business?

Do you feel insecure about what’s the best way to present yourself?

Or are you intimidated by the professionalism other present themselves throughout all channels online?

Are you aiming to bring your business to the next level while preferably keep hiding?

If you are having visibility issues, it is not always easy to get over it and have a quick fix. It can be challenging, but it is worth striving for it! Develop your style of visibility with your personality embedded into it and you are half-way there.

Sometimes hiding behind your laptop and excuses like family commitments, losing weight first or having a new haircut are not helpful to manage your visibility in favour of your business. I assume you are familiar with what I’m talking about…

A note for the introverts amongst us:

Are you identifying yourself as an introvert and that’s why you think you’ll never be able to expose yourself? That is just another excuse. Being an introvert doesn’t mean you cannot market yourself. Certainly it may be a little more challenging at first, but there is also an enormous advantage, which I will explain a bit further down (hint: it’s about control). It is not about changing your personality to becoming an extrovert. It is about learning to develop a professional extrovert side for your business. So you are still an introvert person, but you learn some extrovert behaviour to manage your businesses visibility.

Why visibility?

People need to hear your message! If you want to make a difference, it’s critical to be visible and share your message with the people that will benefit to hear it.

People wish to know about you before they buy from you or interact with you. They want to know your values, what motivates you in business, and it’s good to let them know who you are and how you are maintaining your integrity in what you do. That means, be true to who you are and your presence should reflect that.

The how of visibility

The idea is not to be just visible, like posting pictures of yourself with some superficial wisdom or statements of what you are doing throughout your day or sharing some odd quote from your yoga book. You can see this happening a lot across social media channels, but there is little value in it. And don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong to post pictures of yourself, it’s a matter of context and value. If yoga is your passion and profession, then you’re in the right place to do so because your followers appreciate this kind of inspiration. If not, you should find your way of expressing and sharing your visibility based on you and your type of business. It’s not about sharing and being visible at all costs. It is being seen in the context of what your business is about, what you stand for and getting that essence across to your audience. And last but not least, it’s always your choice how to be visible in your marketing.

The benefits of YOUR visibility

There is a significant advantage in creating your presence no matter what type of personality you are: It is within your control how you market and present yourself if you do it on purpose. This fact is likely to be overlooked. If you don’t decide on how you want to be seen and what you want to be known for, others will do it for you. They will perceive an image and create their version and interpretation of you and what you do. That would be something you cannot keep track of. In my opinion, that’s riskier compared to following your rules of creating your visibility.

What does it take to be visible?

Find the amount of visibility that you can handle and that makes you feel comfortable with it.Do it in a way that feels natural to you. Don’t feel pressure to do it a certain way, because other’s do it. What I suggest is to find the visibility style that suits and represents you best. Here are some guidelines:

1. Where do you want to be visible?

You need to make a decision depending upon your type of business. Is it rather about local presence, (i.e. in print, local newspapers, networking events, etc.)? Or is it mainly about being visible online and engaging in social media (i.e. posting, commenting and sharing, guest blog posts, etc.)?

2. Be confident

Don’t make yourself dependent on what other’s might think of you. Develop your confidence in presenting yourself. Soon you will feel much more comfortable in doing so, and your business will benefit from it.

A side note here:

Don’t be tempted to misuse confidence with its flip side, like making people feel bad or trying to manipulate them. Don’t put people down, lie to them or try to impress them with uber-confidence. Also don’t use any fear to manipulate or make people act in a certain way. That’s a marketing approach that lacks integrity and shouldn’t be part of your toolbox.

3. The habit of consistency

There is no point in being visible once or twice or sometimes. Cultivate your visibility it on a constant base. Whatever kind of consistency will suit you, that’s fine. If it’s once a week, fortnightly or once a month or maybe even daily, stick with your schedule and share with people your content. Build your habit of consistency in making yourself visible.

4. Presenting you by adding value

Be yourself, embrace your message to serve your audience and add interesting value to their needs. Inspire them. Be memorable by delivering your message and give it your unique spin on it. That is the best way to grow your audience and build trust and connection over a longer period.