Visibility. Publicity. Why are these important?

Real talk: Business isn’t Field of Dreams. You may build it, but they may not necessarily come.

So what do you do about it? That’s exactly what today’s post (and video) is all about.

 If I had a dollar for every business owner I know who shakes their fist at the entrepreneurial gods and wonders why their business isn’t doing better, I would… have a lot of dollars.

And with all of these folks I talk to, upon further investigation, it’s pretty much never because their products or their services aren’t any good.

It’s because no one knows about them. 

Or… not enough people know about them.

Here’s a quick story:

I was talking to a business owner (whose name I won’t mention here) a couple of months ago and they mentioned a real struggle with their business. Now, I know they offer a great service, I know they are a great person and an honest and ethical business owner, and so on. That is not up for debate here.

Yet, aside from the occasional referral, they had next to no business coming in. Ever.

To which I said “Have you thought about investing in marketing? Maybe advertising? Publicity?”

She replied, and I quote:

“No, I don’t believe in that. I think if I’ve got a good thing going, then people will just find me.”

(Picture me face-palming on loop.)

Like I said in the beginning, Business is not Field of Dreams; If you build it, they may not necessarily come. 

Word-of-mouth is super valuable and it can get you quite far. Don’t mistake me there. It’s worked great for me in all four of our family businesses. 

BUT a business built on just referrals – that scares the %^&* out of me. 

And I think it should scare you, too. For most businesses, it’s just not sustainable in the long-term. And I’m not just here to make money just for next week or next year… but ten years from now. And beyond.

There’s a better way. But first…if you want some stop motion magic to illustrate the magic of visibility explained in this blog post, here is the video link! (If not, keep scrolling and reading.)

(Want more episodes of The Courtney Show? Click here to check out our Youtube channel!)

Now, I’ve met a lot of business owners. Some who were crazy successful. Some… not so much.

The ones who are really successful? They have a multi-faceted marketing strategy. 

Word of mouth? Yes! Referrals? Absolutely.

But they also have some other things going on, too.

On the flipside, the business owners I know who struggle the most have virtually no marketing strategy in place. They came up with the business name, they build the website, they’ve got a snazzy logo and business cards… and then, they pretty much just sit back and wait for business to come to them. 

And it might work that way sometimes, but not all the time. Not for the long-run.

But! It’s OK. Because while they may not always come to you, you can go to them. 

Truth time: 

If you really believe in what you do, if you think your product or service has value in the marketplace, if you want to help people in the biggest and best way that you can, then you need to put yourself out there. Visibility is a must. 

Maybe you’re not necessarily here to help people, or maybe that’s not THE priority. Perhaps you’ve built your business to sustain your lifestyle, to bless your family, to build a legacy. 

Or maybe you’re about all of those things. 

Regardless of your why, you can’t make those big dreams come true by playing small.

Right now there is someone out there waiting — waiting for YOU, for your products, for your services.

They just haven’t found you yet.

Don’t keep them waiting.

Prioritizing a Marketing Strategy to get More Visibility

Ok. but for real. You live in a very special time. Never ever ever has there been an easier time to start a business. 

And every day there are more and more platforms — more ways to reach more people.. So if you don’t like one, you can try another. You can get exposure to potential customers, often for free, but you can also invest in your business, pay for more exposure through advertising and paid media.

Before digital advertising, you couldn’t advertise to anyone as a small business without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Nowadays, you can run an ad for five dollars a day – no more than what you would spend at Starbucks getting a mocha frappe choca cappuci— yeeeaaaeah, I don’t really drink coffee.

Aside from advertising, you can also go out, pitch yourself and your business, and get publicity.

You may not feel you deserve publicity, that may sound like a faraway reality, but if you’ve got something interesting and valuable that helps people — whatever your product or service may be — that’s exactly what people want to hear about. 

Through the power of publicity, you can leverage someone else’s audience to increase your audience. Podcast hosts, TV show hosts, radio hosts, writers, bloggers, journalists, producers, and influencers loooove sharing things that will entertain, and educate their audiences. Who’s to say that’s not you, and your products/services/movement/mission?

So, let’s scrap the baseball analogy once and for all. It doesn’t work. (This is business, not baseball.)

We need to look at this in a totally different way.

Visibility & Publicity Amplify Your Message

Here’s an analogy for you: Think of a stage and an audience. 

When you simply build your business and wait for people to come and find you, then you’re in the audience. Only the people directly next to you can hear you or notice you.

If you choose to put yourself out there, that’s when you step up on the stage.

Now suddenly, the audience can see you. But they don’t know who you are — yet.

You can ask someone else on stage — who has a microphone — to introduce you.  This is like publicity. You leverage their extra visibility to get your own visibility.

Now, if you grab the microphone for yourself and address the whole audience, that’s like advertising. 

When you’re playing it small, hanging out in the audience, only those in your periphery can see you. 

But when you get on stage and amplify your message, you don’t just reach those in your periphery — You have the opportunity to reach everyone in the room. 

And while the people right next to you might not always need what you have to offer, who’s to say that you aren’t the answer to someone’s prayers… in the back of the room?

You’ll never know unless you stand up, and step out of the audience. 

So you might build it… and they might not come. But that’s ok!

Never in history has there been more ways to show up for your audience and get the visibility your business needs. Never in history has it easier and faster to grow a business.

So get up, and get out there.

Growing Your Business & Visibility with Online Courses

Listen, I don’t know anything about baseball, but I know PLENTY about business. One of the best ways to grow and scale your business (and impact way more people) is through the magic of… online courses.

If you’ve always wanted to be seen as the expert in your niche…

Or you’re tired of swapping hours for dollars and don’t want to be limited by how much room you have in your calendar…

If you wish you could package your systems, your strategies, or your skills into one thing and share that with even more people…

Perhaps you simply want to add another stream of income to your business…

Then, online courses are for you. They can make all of that happen and more.

And if you want to learn more about how to get started in getting your course idea out of your head and into the world, let me help you in my free masterclass, “The 6-Step System to a Profitable Online Course.”

Yep. Just 6 steps. Six sassy, saucy steps. That’s it.

This class is a peek into the playbook of a 7-figure course creator.

(It me.)

I’ll be sharing  real actionable strategies with you based on my experiences creating and selling courses.

Go now, and save your seat at freecourseclass.com.

See you inside!

HI, I’M COURTNEY!

I’m here to help you build, grow, and scale your business.

Check out my show here: