01 Aug
Business Coach, Confidence Culture, Digital Marketing

Vetting Your Business Coach: What to Know Before Signing the Contract

Business coaching is a valuable tool to support your professional growth, whether for your own business or to reach the next level in your career. You can learn to identify and move past roadblocks that are holding you back to become more productive.

But not all coaches are equally skilled or qualified. The market isn’t regulated like doctors or attorneys – anyone can become a coach. It’s vital that you do your due diligence to ensure that your time and financial investment are going toward a coach who can help you reach your goals.

Here’s what you need to know before you sign a contract:

Expertise

You want to work with a coach that has extensive experience helping people achieve their business goals, whether they’re just starting out or scaling a business. When you’re vetting your coaches, ask them how long they’ve been coaching and what type of training they underwent.

Goals

Before you embark on business coaching, it’s important that you understand what you’re looking to gain from the experience. Many people are confused about what a business coach actually does – they’re not business advisors. A coach is there to help you develop the skills and mindset to achieve your goals, not to solve problems in your business using their own knowledge and expertise.

Methodology

Business coaches often approach their coaching with different tools, methods, and strategies. Some will work for you and others may not, so make sure to find a coach that aligns with the way you process information and receive guidance. If you’re not sure if you’re a fit, ask your prospective coach how they approach coaching and what types of clients they prefer to work with.

Personality

This can’t be overstated – coaching is a deeply personal process. You need to feel like you’re in a comfortable, confidential space with your coach to discuss your personal growth, strengths and weaknesses, and roadblocks. It’s vital that you have a personality fit between yourself and your coach for this to be successful.

For example, some people respond more to a “tough love” relationship with someone who will be direct with their criticism and recommendations. Others need a coach who will soften the blow to make them more receptive to coaching and learning.

Timing

Business coaches offer different plans and schedules. Some are weekly, some are monthly, and you want to be sure you’ll have a coach who’s available at the time you need it most. Consider how often you want to meet with your coach in advance, then find a coach with the availability that works best for your needs.

Work with Allison Todd

Hiring a business coach is like hiring anyone else to perform a service – you need to do your research. Ask plenty of questions, look for referrals from people you trust, and discuss the process with your prospective coaches to increase the likelihood of success in your coaching experience.

Looking for business coaching? Work with Allison directly!

6 Places to Get Your Voice Heard
11 Jul
Business Coach, Confidence Culture, Digital Marketing, Grow Your Business, Grow Your Expertise, Marketing

6 Places to Get Your Voice Heard

Have you ever attended a keynote and been moved? Watched a Ted Talk over and over? Liked and shared a social media post that was powerful?

You have a voice, too, and you can be empowered to share it with others. All of us have the power to be influential, whether in the digital world or the real one.

Here are 6 places to get your voice heard and spark change.

1. Your Blog

Blogs may have started with moms sharing their experiences, but they’ve become a vital part of business. In fact, many people make money sharing their expertise on their own blog and industry, such as travel.

If you have a blog, start sharing your thoughts and ideas. If you don’t, get started! This is a great way to get your voice heard and establish yourself as an authority. It may take time, but it’s worth the payoff.

2. Email

Despite the rise of other types of marketing, email is still an effective way to share content with an audience and capture their attention. You can begin with a newsletter that comes out once a month, or a few times a month, to build your audience.

3. YouTube

Video is a persuasive medium that many have leveraged for success. Whatever your business venture or cause, just about anyone can create professional videos or promos to share on YouTube. The cleverer and more creative the idea, the more traction you’re likely to receive, but don’t be afraid to just jump into it.

4. Social Media

Social media is incredibly powerful. From politicians to brands to influencers, just about everyone is using social media to connect with others and share ideas and opinions, and you can do the same.

Major platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are excellent places to start, but you could also share your expertise on platforms like Quora and Reddit. People often use these platforms to ask questions or seek discussions within certain industries or topics, and that’s your time to shine.

5. Publications

Most publications accept pitches from writers to feature in their upcoming issues. With the rise of digital publications, you have more opportunity than ever before to get a feature article with the right pitch and audience.

Pitching takes time, however. You may not get published at the first try, or the second, or even the 10th, but keep going! Eventually, you’ll find the right fit for your article. And even if you’re rejected once, don’t be afraid to pitch again in the future! Maybe your article is a good fit, but not for right now.

6. Local Venues

Similar to pitching publications, you may be able to book local speaking engagements at small venues. Like publications, venues typically have a long lead time and specific guidelines and requirements for speakers.

You may need to approach a dozen different venues before you get booked, but that’s just part of the process. Don’t get discouraged! Keep trying.

Get Professional Coaching

Learning how to channel and share your voice isn’t easy, but you have plenty of outlets to be heard. The most important thing is having the confidence in yourself, and coaching from an expert like Allison Todd can help! Work with Allison Todd directly!

why brand guidelines are important
16 May
Business Coach, Digital Marketing

Why Your Brand Guidelines Matter

Brand guidelines or a brand book are a set of properties that explain how your brand operates, what it looks like, and who you are. It usually includes your mission, values, vision, tone, personality, and messaging. 

Built on your vision, personality, and mission are your brand assets, such as your color identity, logo, and visual styling. While it may seem superfluous, your goal is to attract a specific type of customer, and knowing what appeals to them is important. 

Here are my top reasons creating your brand guidelines is essential for your business. 

Brand Consistency

By creating a standard for how your brand appears, you will have a consistent identity in front of your audience. Changing graphics, colors, fonts, and associated with your brand makes you appear flighty and indecisive. 

Consistency in messaging and design shows you’re steadfast and reliable. It builds trust with your audience, who feels they know what to expect and are more comfortable working with you.

Brand Guidelines Encourage Relationships

It’s not just about colors and fonts. Comprehensive guidelines also advance your company’s values and mission. It’s an easy way to communicate what you stand for and how you intend to accomplish your goals. 

People connect with purposes, not brands. By showcasing a relatable, human element of your brand, you’re building authentic connections and relationships with your market.

Brand Recognition

We all know brands like Nike, Mcdonald’s, Ford. You only have to see their logo, and you instantly recognize who they are and what they offer. 

How? Because we’ve seen them over and over again, never changing, always consistent. 

While you’re probably not to mega-brand levels just yet, creating brand guidelines that your company lives and breathes by makes you instantly recognizable to your target audience. 

Brand Value Perception

Brand guidelines help you create a strong brand identity. When it’s designed to target your desired audience shows that you know your market. 

You understand their needs, desires, goals, and even a bit of their style. Together, this increases your value in their eyes, and they’re more open to paying what you’re worth. 

Brand Tone and Target Market 

Knowing your audience is key to developing a unique brand voice. If you’re a suit and tie brand, your tone and voice will trend more skilled and professional, and your brand visuals will be dark and sharp. 

If your market is families with small children, bright colors, bold fonts, and light, happy messaging is what connects with that aesthetic. 

If you go to market with any old logo you whipped up on Canva, and whatever font you happen to like, there is a strong likelihood that none of that will suit your brand. It doesn’t match who your customer is, and they may not trust your offer.

Your Brand Guidelines Matter Because Your Brand Is Selling Something

If you don’t have comprehensive brand guidelines keeping you on track, you may find your marketing is off, and you’re not reaching the right audience. I can help you develop robust and consistent brand guidelines that advance your messaging and your value. Book with me!

how to automate your business
09 May
Digital Marketing, Grow Your Business, Grow Your Expertise, Productivity

3 Things to Automate in Your Business Right Now

Those menial, tedious tasks you hate doing every day? Automate. The technology to make your life so much easier is out there! You will boost your productivity and relieve yourself from the pressure of all the “to-dos” that you don’t really have to do. 

Let’s review my top 3 things you should automate in your business right now!

#1 Client Onboarding

Different from welcome emails, this is your internal process. It’s something you can create and set up once but use again and again. 

Using a productivity management system to send contracts, welcome packets, questionnaires, and client portal information automatically saves you time and puts the client at ease that you have it all together! It also ensures that everything is accomplished as quickly as possible, and nothing is ever missed. 

My Favorite Productivity Management Systems:

  • – Monday.com
  • – Airtable
  • – Asana
  • – Trello
  • – Zapier 

#2 Welcome Emails 

Did you know welcome emails usually have the highest open rates? These emails are your first access to direct contact with a potential client and are extremely valuable. Use them to engage with the lead and ask how they liked your resource. 

Using your CRM or email management system, set up welcome emails to fire off after a new contact is received and drip out over the following days and weeks. This keeps you at the top of their inbox while your name is fresh on their mind.

Leverage these notes to further establish who you are, what you do, and why they should care by providing practical, tangible value in their inbox. Slowly introduce other ways to connect with you and your higher-ticket offers. 

#3 Social Media Content

Automating content production can reduce the pressure on you or your team to be creative every day at the optimal posting time. While the content still has to be physically created or curated, there are tools and software platforms that help you automate the process. 

You can batch create your social media text and graphics using the free tool, Canva. If you run out of ideas, scroll through the feed of your ideal client or competitors and see what they’re engaged with. Use this to fuel your creation! 

Pre-made content calendars are also a dime a dozen, but apps like PostDeck also offer daily prompts and conversation starters to essentially generate content for you. 

When you’re ready to publish, upload your content to a platform like Sprout Social, Buffer, or Later. These services help you schedule content out for the week or even the month so you can “set it and forget it” and focus on engagement. 

Consider implementing Facebook’s “out of office” auto-responder for after-hours to connect with anyone who may reach out. Or, set up a chatbot to keep the conversation going and assist potential leads. 

Work Smarter, Not Harder!

Automation can be tech-heavy upfront, but the payoff is literally buying you more time! If you’re overwhelmed by manual processes and need support and encouragement to confidently make good business decisions, let’s talk! Book a consultation with me!

How To Make Black Friday Profitable For Business Owners
27 Oct
Business Coach, Digital Marketing, Grow Your Business, Marketing, Productivity

How To Make Black Friday Profitable For Business Owners

With an enormous $9 billion dollars spent by consumers on Black Friday in 2020 alone, this day undoubtedly presents businesses with an incredible opportunity to have more traffic and profit coming their way by partaking in the festivities. 

4 Tips For Running A Seamless Black Friday

With Black Friday and the holiday season just around the corner, it is the perfect time for businesses to start thinking about their strategy for participating in the sales and deals of this iconic shopping day. Here are 4 tips and tricks for running a profitable Black Friday: 

#1: Offer Loyal Customers Exclusive Perks 

If you have already done the hard part of making a sale and converting someone into a loyal customer, it is important to make them feel valued before the Black Friday experience by offering them exclusive perks and deals on top of the ones you’re running for the masses. This will make them feel more inclined to participate. 

Whether it’s through an SMS text or a targeted email, get your subscribers and loyalty program members excited for your upcoming deals by early access to deals, additional discount codes, and more. 

#2: Promote Your Upcoming Deals On Social Media

With 420 billion users active on social media in 2020, using these platforms for marketing is one of the most important tools for getting the word out about your businesses’ Black Friday events. 

Promoting on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and other popular platforms is a great way of creating buzz around your deals in the days leading up to it. 

One of the most important tactics to get engagement you desire are by using Black Friday-specific hashtags and captions so that people can find you more easily. 

#3: Go Above And Beyond Traditional Discounts

With thousands upon thousands of brands partaking in discounts on Black Friday, it is important to find innovative ways to stand out against the competition and create more incentives for consumers so that they focus on what you have to offer. 

Some of the best ways to go above and beyond are to offer free gifts and perks in addition to discounts, offer free shipping with every purchase, and provide future discounts after they make a Black Friday purchase. The possibilities are truly endless, so get creative with it! 

#4: Don’t Miss The Benefits Of Online Shopping 

One of the most important aspects of planning a profitable Black Friday is focusing on online shopping. With 93.2 million consumers online shopping on this day in 2019, it is just as important for businesses to take advantage of digital Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in addition to the traditional brick-and-mortar Black Friday deals. 

Watch Your Black Friday Profit Soar With The Help Of Coach Allison Todd 

If you are looking for new ways to improve your business’s profitability for Black Friday and beyond, I am here to help. As a coach and consultant with 20+ years of experience, I am energized by the opportunity to transform entrepreneurs and corporations alike. 

To learn more about a partnership, don’t hesitate to shoot me an inquiry today! 

Sales Success Part 1: Building The Know, Like, & Trust Factor
18 Oct
Business Coach, Grow Your Business, Grow Your Expertise, Marketing, Productivity

Sales Success Part 1: Building The Know, Like, & Trust Factor

Attention sales teams: want to be let in on a little secret? Relationship building is the key to sales success. You can have the best product or services in your marketplace, but if you don’t create an authentic relationship with your audiences and prospective customers, all of these traditional factors become obsolete. 

While product might have been the draw that brought new clients to your door, it is your personality and customer service that keeps them coming back. 

What Is The Know, Like, & Trust Factor And Why Does It Matter?

To put it simply, having the know, like, and trust factor are the three secret ingredients to becoming a more personable salesperson. Achieving all three of these “it” factors will allow your customers to feel more comfortable and confident with their purchasing decision. This is because these factors will help them… 

  • – Know who you are and what you care about
  • – Enjoy your personality and like spending time with you
  • – Trust your judgement and recommendations 

3 Steps For Building The Know, Like, and Trust Factor 

Let’s dive into tangible ways to build your companies know, like and trust factor: 

#1: Build The Know Factor By Honing In On A Unified Brand Message

One of the most effective ways of showing consumers who you are is through maintaining a strong and unified brand voice before, during, and after the sales process. This is because a brand voice communicates your brand’s values, beliefs, perspective, and overall personality. 

#2: Build The Like Factor By Being A Good Listener 

Let’s face it: who doesn’t love feeling seen and heard? Showing interest and listening to your customers needs and goals is especially important for increasing likeability and closing your sales. One insightful statistic revealed that 68% of B2B consumers are lost from a salesperson with indifference or perceived apathy, not from making a mistake. 

#3: Build Trust Factor By Creating Killer Content 

One of the best ways for winning prospective clients over is establishing your credibility as an authority in your industry. When you position yourself as an expert, they are more likely to trust your product and believe its benefits once they get to the sales process. 

Content marketing is one of the best ways to accomplish this goal. In fact, 96% of the most successful content marketers believe their audience views them as credible and trusted. Some of the best pieces of content for establishing trust and credibility include in-depth blog posts, articles, and podcasts. 

Elevate Your Sales Strategy With Allison Todd Today

If you are ready to nail your next sales pitch, I would love to help you reach all of your goals. With 20+ years of experience helping businesses hone in on an effective sales strategy, I am ready to take your business to the next level. 

For even more dynamite tips and tricks on building the know, like and trust factor for sales success, click here to check out part two of this blog series today! 

Sales Success Part Two: More Tips For Building The Know, Like, & Trust Factor

Are you sick of prospective clients slip through the cracks? If so, it might just be the perfect time to focus on the personal component of sales. While it can be all too easy for an eager sales team to see dollar signs when looking at clients instead of a person in front of them, it is crucial to look at them as human beings first and foremost.

In fact, establishing WHO you are as opposed to WHAT you are selling in the sales process is crucial for keeping customers coming back for more. So much so that 42% of consumers would pay for a more welcoming experience and another 65% find positive customer experience more influential than advertising! 

This is where the importance of building your know, like, and trust factor comes into play. 

3 Bonus Steps For Building The Know, Like, & Trust Factor

In addition to part one of this blog series, I’m back more ideas for helping you increase your know, like, & trust factor to create a more personable sales process: 

#1: Build The Know Factor By Putting Your Name Out There 

The more often someone has heard of you and your brand, the more likely they are to feel confident in what you have to offer. Some of the best tactics for boosting your brand awareness and know factor for your target audience are by snagging guest blog post slots on credible sites, creating content with other businesses in your industry, and appearing as an interview guest on a show or podcast whenever possible. 

#2: Build The Like Factor By Finding Shared Interests

While the majority of the conversations with your audiences and clients should be focused on the business side of things, creating more real human connections will make the interaction more memorable. Within the small moments of chit-chat and building rapport, try to find a shared interest or belief to keep you connected and build up your like factor.

#3: Build The Trust Factor By Staying Authentic To Yourself

If a salesperson or company isn’t being open and honest about their true thoughts and opinions with prospective clients, it can lead to feelings of distrust. On the other hand, maintaining authenticity will remind clients that you are more than just a business trying to make money. 

Some of the easiest ways to stay authentic are by answering questions transparently and avoiding overtly salesy language. In fact, 61% of consumers report that one of the top ways to create a positive sales experience is when companies aren’t pushy. 

Don’t Wait To Achieve Your Sales Goals With The Help Of Allison Todd

By putting these ideas into action, you’ll be well on your way towards better customer service and increased sales in no time. Whether your business is in the stage of ideation, launching, or scaling, business coach, I cannot wait to help you bring all of your business ideas and dreams to life. 

To learn more about what a partnership with an experienced business coach can look like for your company, don’t hesitate to get in touch to get started today! 

6 Ingredients For Building The Know, Like, And Trust Factor

  • Step #1: Build The Know Factor to show customers who you are 
    • Action Step #1: Hone in on a consistent brand voice throughout your messaging 
    • Action Step #2: Put your brand name out there as much as possible 

  • Step #2: Build the Like Factor to create strong relationships and rapport with clients 
    • Action Step #1: Actively listen and show excitement for who your consumers are
    • Action Step #2: Find a personal connection with customers through shared beliefs and interests 

  • Step #3: Build The Trust Factor by establishing credibility 
    • Action Step #1: Create online content that shows your brand’s authority on a subject matter
    • Action Step #2: Maintain authenticity in every client and audience interaction 
Video Strategy: Create Your Customer’s Path to Purchase
24 Sep
Business Coach, Digital Marketing, Grow Your Business

Video Strategy: Create Your Customer’s Path to Purchase

What was the last item that you purchased? Have it in mind? Great, now think about the steps that you took before purchasing it. Chances are, much of the process was done subconsciously, unless it was a major purchase.

Even for insignificant items, your mind likely walked through three stages that are known as the buyer’s journey, which include awareness, consideration, and decision. 

Consumers go through these stages with nearly every purchase, and it’s the seller’s responsibility to help them get from the first step through to deciding to purchase.

Recent studies have shown that the use of video is becoming increasingly effective at helping a buyer make their mind up. We’re going to show you how video can be used in each stage to help close more sales for your business. 

Stage One: Awareness

In the awareness stage, a buyer has identified a problem or need and is trying to find a solution to it through research. During this stage, videos that address your customer’s “pain points” are most effective. 

Introduce yourself, what you can provide, and how it can fix their issue. Be specific about how you can help them and remind them where they can find you and how to connect. 

Stage Two: Consideration

Next up is the consideration stage. Your buyer is fully aware of their problem at this point, and they’re ready to find a solution. 

They should know about your business by now, but they’re not quite sold yet and are still considering other options. Now is the time for your “explainer video” where you give them the answers they need and offer valuable content about your products and services. 

Stage Three: Decision

Now it’s time for your buyer to make up their mind and decide what solution they’re going to commit to. They’ve done their research, and it’s up to you to drive it home. 

Close the sale by building trust with client reviews and show them your success measures and impact. Do you have a study showing how you helped a past customer or how your service improved their lives in some way? Show them the details. Remember, the proof is in the pudding!

Ongoing Videos Lead To Future Sales

Using videos in your marketing helps to attract and retain committed, loyal customers. Once they’ve purchased something from you, it’s up to you to keep your brand at the forefront of their mind. This way, the next time they need a similar solution, they’ll turn to you.

One way to do this is by sending ongoing video content reminding them that you’re there for them whenever they need you. Send videos of new customer testimonials or new products; anything to stay current in their memory.

In today’s media-driven world, there are countless ways to get your message to the public and in front of your target audience. While you can always tell your customers why you’re the best, videos give you the ability to show them. After all, actions speak louder than words—and nothing speaks louder than high-quality video marketing. 

How to Identify and Attract Your Target Audience
13 May
Digital Marketing, post, Social Media

Understand How to Identify and Attract Your Target Audience

In the digital marketing world, understanding the audience for your product or service is key to growing your business. However, this can be a challenging task–but it does have its solutions. Read on to learn more about identifying your ideal audience and crafting the types of content they want.

Why Do I Need To Identify A Target Audience?

A target audience, by definition, is the people you’d like to engage with your content and then convert into clients and customers. At this point you may be thinking, I’ll just focus on making great content and the right audience will follow. While that can be true, great content only promises traffic–it doesn’t equal sales. 

On top of that, identifying your audience helps establish where you should be funneling your marketing budget–no one can afford to hit all digital and media channels with advertisements. By locating your niche in the market, you can create content that will produce a return on the money you invest in digital marketing advertisements. 

How Can I Identify My Niche Audience?

There are a number of tried and tested methods for establishing your target audience.

Current Customers

If you’re an established business, you already have a foundation of current customers. Use statistical analysis to dissect the demographics and then the psychographics of your current customers. These data points include identifying:

  • – The demographics of your current customers

  • – Where they buy from

  • – What their common interests are

You can also look at the analytics on social media to see what posts they share, like, and comment on the most and use that information to inform your content creation as well.

Start From Scratch

If you’re a new business, or it’s just time to revamp your systems, follow these steps for establishing a target audience:

  • Identify the features and benefits of your products/services and who would most likely use/benefit from them. 

  • Create several user personas. These personas are meant to help you visualize who you’ll be writing for. They’ll include details such as:

– Gender

– Personality

– Family life

– Job title

– Job function

– Employer

– Location

– Income

– Needs

– Pain points

– Challenges

After you’ve finished analyzing your audience, make sure that your niches aren’t too similar–if one marketing message works for more than one niche, you’ve gone too far. 

What Should I Focus My Content On?

At the beginning of this article we mentioned that just having great content won’t get you the ROI you want–and that’s true. However, creating great content crafted towards the needs for your target audience is a surefire plan every time. The secret to having great engagement with your audience is writing the content that they want to read–ask yourself, what exactly would make them stop, click, and consume your content?

You don’t have to make this a guessing game either–return to what you know: utilize statistics to see what content has done well in the past, and conduct keyword research around your products to see what your customer base is also interested in. 

Call to Action
30 Apr
Digital Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Grow Your Business, Marketing

Your Call to Action Doesn’t Have to be Creative, but it Should be Creative

“Click here.”

“Contact us.”

“Submit now.”

Do any of these messages make you feel something? Didn’t think so. To convert leads to customers, your readers have to feel inspired to take the action you want them to. Your concluding call to arms should prompt them to click there without simply using the lonely, stale phrase, “click here.” On the flip side, if your CTA is too unique, it could leave your leads confused and hinder them from performing. So, how do you craft a persuasive call to action without being too out there? Keep reading to learn the simple elements you need to create a fire call to action today.

What is a CTA?

Your CTA, or call to action, is a statement used to prompt your audience to complete whatever action you want them to take. Based on your specific business goals, you may want them to subscribe to your newsletter, complete a purchase, contact you for more information, follow your social media account, among other actions. Your engaging call to action should let your readers know exactly what they should do, how they should do it, and what they’ll get if they act.

Without a call to action, your readers will stay just that—readers. They won’t know that you’d like them to take any specific next step, therefore, they won’t. Implementing strong CTAs within your business message will allow you to build your client base, convert more leads, and generate more revenue.

Components of a Powerful Call to Action

For this marketing strategy to work, your call to action should provoke an immediate response. Use these guidelines to boost your business with a powerful CTA:

Compelling Copy

The words that you use are likely the most critical element in your CTA. Make the statement personal by speaking directly to your reader. Use strong action words like discover, join, start, or reserve. Your copy should be impactful without losing interest or confusing your audience. Be sure to let them know exactly what action they should take and what the outcome will be if they do so. Some of my favorite CTAs are:

  • “Gain instant access to ____.”
  • “Sign up for more.”
  • “Let’s chat and see how we can help you GROW!”

Effective Placement

Where you place your CTA matters. You likely wouldn’t put a CTA at the beginning of a social media post or the top of a webpage. Why? Because the reader hasn’t connected with the content yet. They don’t yet know why taking action will provide them with value.

Engaging Design

Your CTA should be visible and draw the reader’s eye. If your CTA is a button, contrasting colors will help make it pop. Working with written content? Bold your CTA or include some emojis on social media to grab the audience’s attention. 

Convert with a Clear CTA

With an engaging and concise call to action, you can successfully convert those leads to paying clients. Get creative without being too creative. Need help with developing your online CTA? Reach out to learn more about how our digital marketing services can engage your audience and grow your business.

Naming Your Business: Know The Essentials
Is Pinterest A Hidden Gem in Digital Marketing?
07 Apr
Digital Marketing, Grow Your Business, Grow Your Expertise, Marketing, Social Media

Is Pinterest A Hidden Gem in Digital Marketing?

People rely on their visuals when buying something. We scrutinize each merchandise we plan on buying and, even more so, when we do shopping online. A pair of shoes, for instance, must be carefully zoomed in to see up close the design, the stitching, the sole, the insole, and so on.

Yes, we rely on pictures and not necessarily descriptive words; This is why Pinterest has continually gain footing in the realm of e-commerce.

Pinterest for Business

As of this writing, Pinterest has over 100 million active subscribers. More than half of these are millennials and are women. In the past two years or so, the male population using this social media platform has risen to almost 120%. Nearly 70% of the pinners come from the business sectors showcasing widely diversified products from mason jars to fashion finds, appliances, and all other sorts of merchandise you need.

Yes, if you are handling a small business and rely primarily on online sales, the Pinterest social media platform for business is a great way to showcase your product, brand, or services. This highly visual platform will provide more insights into your target market in more ways than you can imagine.

Some of its advantages are:

Search Engine Visibility

Unlike before, wherein keywords on pictures don’t make sense, today’s search engine crawlers also detect tags. Add to that the keywords used on each board and pin you have, giving access to potential buyers looking online for the right product or service such as yours. Pinterest had also started using hashtags as search engines also crawl the net for those nowadays.

Free Marketing

Pinterest is for free and is relatively easiest to do. Once you have set up a business account, take a picture of your merchandise. Pin it to your board. Add relevant content complete with keywords or hashtags, and you’re good to go.

Pinners can now pin it on their boards and share it with their friends and connections, too. Some may even copy the link and share on other social media platform to widen the clout.

Amplify Exposure

Having a website is good, but if you want to expand your exposure, consider investing time and effort in this free platform.

Not only does Pinterest have millions of subscribers at your fingertips, but it also allows you to showcase your wares in a more visually pleasing form. As mentioned, it can be shared across other social media platforms aside from Pinterest, too.

Longevity.

Images posted on Pinterest stay on track as long as it is relevant when searching. Even if you posted it months ago, an appealing image filled with equally SEO-savvy keywords and tags would still get the same level of visibility when you posted initially.

Improved Traffic

Driving traffic to your website is also made possible by Pinterest. With its hover button, a pinner can easily click on a direct link to your website. From there, they can look for other pictures and posts to re-pin on their boards.

Conclusion

Indeed, there is more to Pinterest than just a mere platform where images are shared. It can do so much to increase your online presence. Besides, what have you got to lose when it’s for free?

If you love this article you’ll surely enjoy this:

How to Use Social Media for Small Business

Social Media Business: Best TImes to Post

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