Missing Links: Five Things You Can Do NOW to Grow Your Business

If I had to guess at the most common question asked by members of any professional organization, it would be “what is XYZ doing to promote me?” Through my time with ASA, members constantly asked about how the organization – and by extension, their credentials and expertise – was marketed to end users and the broader public. It’s a fair question to ask when you write a check every year to belong to an organization, and doubly so when you’ve invested the time and treasure to earn one of that organization’s designations.

This framing, however, misses the other half of the equation that determines success: How are you marketing yourself? I’ve seen enough Hotmail email addresses, nonexistent or (worse) ancient websites, and lack of engagement from valuation professionals to know there’s a yawning need for help in how you tell your individual story.

Before running through a few key things to consider improving on the individual side, the answer to the first question is generally this: A lot! Good organizations work to put their story in front of end user audiences, driving awareness not only that their designations exist but that they matter. For single focus organizations, this mission is understandably easier as opposed to covering a broad waterfront, but it stays the same no matter how many constituencies your members are serving.

While no marketing or outreach effort is perfect, understanding who and how your organization is engaging is important on the member side. Not only can it inform targeted outreach individually, but it can also ensure that you’re using consistent messages when you reach out to audiences that have been engaged by your organization. Don’t be afraid to ask what the current campaign looks like, or better yet, if there’s collateral you can use in performing your own follow-up as part of developing business.

All that said, there’s a few pain points I’ve seen firsthand that valuation professionals – or any professional, for that matter – can clean up quickly to improve how you look to prospective clients.

Your email address is your brand.

There are so many smaller practitioners who try and get by with a Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL (yes, AOL) email account in 2024. Not only does this make it more likely that someone will mistype your address when trying to follow up with you, but it means you’ve left an opportunity for brand engagement unused.

I’ll pick on my own email address as case in point – john@beyondthevalue.com. It tells you who (John) and what (ValuSight Consulting, through our web address) you’re engaging with, and by aligning with my domain name, gives people the ability to quickly look at my company and what’s on offer.

Even if having a website isn’t in the cards, getting an email domain and address that conveys who and what you are about is important. BillSmith@smithappraisal.com is way more effective than BSmith34567@gmail.com at conveying a sense of professionalism and scope to possible clients. Speaking of websites…

It’s 2024. Making and supporting a website is easy.

When I started out with ValuSight, I had no idea how easy it had become to build a clean, contemporary website with little effort or expertise. While there are many options out there for small business, I’ll share my own experience with Hostinger, the company I use for my website, domain, and email services (this is NOT a paid post).

Finding and obtaining my domain name (beyondthevalue.com) was quick and easy, and the cost reasonable on an annual basis. From there, I used Hostinger’s integrated AI website builder to frame out my website – pages, text, photos, links – in a fraction of the time I expected it to take. There was some tuning needed to ensure consistent messaging across the site, but it was WAY easier than building from scratch, even with a drag-and-drop tool.

But the best part was how search engine optimization (SEO) was already woven into the platform. Hostinger’s AI model gave me a head start on SEO, and between that and clear guidance on best practices, this last piece was a breeze. The tools will even use AI to author blog posts to keep a steady stream of content on your site, if you’re not as inclined to sit down and write as I am.

The point I’m making here should be obvious – if you’re in business, you need a website, and especially one that’s current. Having an outdated website is worse than having no website at all, and the days of relying on third party web developers are a thing of the past for a basic business presence.

LinkedIn shows the value of a current headshot.

Prior to this past summer, my last headshot was done by my company several years ago. Not only was it outdated, but it also just looked bad. So, I invested the time and capital into the services of a professional photographer to get a new headshot taken.

While it was a clear upgrade over the old one, I didn’t expect how my photographer or headshot would help me frame the next phase of my professional life. I was asked how I wanted to come across to people – serious, friendly, engaged – and then provided wardrobe and posing suggestions that led me to a product that presents me, as a person and a professional, in the way I see myself.

Whether yours is outdated, cropped from some summer barbeque photograph with friends, or lacking entirely, a headshot is a valuable investment in yourself. And hey, you get to support a local small businessperson as part of the process as well!

Don’t spectate, engage…but be thoughtful.

No matter what platform you prefer, we all get a certain amount of content and news through social media these days. But for every person who makes the effort to share thoughts, ideas, or perspectives online, there’s five who choose to be passive, only making the occasional comment on someone else’s post.

I get it – putting words out into the Internet that may prove wrong in the future is a scary thing for some people. You may be fretful about someone trolling your posts or trying to pull you into a vitriolic back and forth online. And there’s a real sense of impostor syndrome when you speak definitively about something, anything, where others have as much (if not more) expertise.

Here’s my method to keeping sane and focused when I post online; take what is useful, leave what is not:

• Post 1-2 times a week on your preferred platform, with enough depth and thoughtfulness that others will view your contribution seriously.

• Speak from your own understanding of the world, acknowledge what you do and don’t know, and leave open the possibility that you’ll learn something subsequently that changes your views.

• Let people comment productively, respond where appropriate, and work to redirect comments that are inflammatory or unprofessional – we’ve all had a bad day before, especially on the Internet.

• Comment on others posts that you find interesting, and always try to ask a question – this creates the opportunity for engagement and deeper learning and shows your interest in the topic.

It’s easy to get into keyboard warrior mode when dealing with social media, but remember that you’re trying to get the same people you’re engaging with to be clients or peers – no one says you have to always agree, but we can agree to always be respectful of different perspectives.

Lastly, if you don’t have an admin person, try a virtual assistant.

Admittedly, this last suggestion is on my 2025 resolutions list, but nothing is worse than having someone call us and wind up in a voicemail inbox that, if we’re lucky, was ever set up in the first place.

A low-cost option to full-time administrative support is the virtual assistant model, where a shared person handles your inbound calls, can screen email ,and set and remind about meetings with prospects and clients.

Much like in the web hosting space, there’s a plethora of options to choose from, so find the one that works for you and let me know your results! I’d love a good recommendation for the new year.