Visibility is a long game, and it means you need to

continually be making little moves all the time that help

push the needle forward for you.

This is the entrepreneur school podcast, where we believe you

can run a thriving business and still make your family a

priority. This show is all about supporting you, the emerging or

early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO,

while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is

Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who

started a business with two kids under three. I'm a corporate PR

girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life

is too short to waste doing things that burn you out on this

show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business

owners on their journey and learn strategies to help you

grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life

that you want. Welcome to entrepreneur School. Hello,

hello, welcome. I have a very exciting and fun little series

that I'm doing over the summer. I'm calling it the summer

strategy snack series. Snack Yeah, like a bite sized mini

series right here on the podcast where I am serving up quick and

actionable visibility strategies that you can implement in under

10 minutes a day before I dive in, though, I want to make sure

that you know about and have grabbed my free resource, the 90

day visibility sprint starter kit. It's designed to help you

create a visibility plan that actually fits your life,

especially during the seasons where you want to lean out but

still stay top of mind if you're not sure where to focus or how

to show up without burning out, this will totally help, and you

can grab it at the link in the show notes. So what we're

talking about in that visibility starter kit, as well as in this

summer strategy snack series, are the kinds of things that

don't require you to create content or post on social media

or show up with your perfectly curled hair on camera. There are

simple strategic moves that help you to stay visible, build

relationships and grow your business, all while enjoying

your summer. And speaking of summer, I am doing something a

little wild. I am taking a complete break from social

media. Yes, I will not be posting at all. It's my summer

off of social experiment. And if you're curious how it's going,

I'm going to be writing some behind the scenes, like diary

entries to my email list, so make sure that you are following

along there. And the best way to reach me this summary is by

email. So if you want to reach me at all, I will not be in my

DMs. I will be in my inbox. Kelly@ksco.ca You okay, let's

get into today's snack size strategy. And actually, there's

five of them, and none of these look like traditional marketing,

which is why I wanted to point them out, because these five

moves have done more for my visibility than any reel I have

ever posted. Seriously, they're the quiet behind the scenes,

things that most people overlook, but they work. You

know, we've been trained to believe that visibility means

being everywhere, like posting, constantly creating more

content, and that staying top of mind means always being online.

But I really want to challenge that, and that's because the

truth is that visibility doesn't have to be loud. It doesn't have

to mean showing up on Instagram every single day or trying to

outpost your competition and beat the algorithm. What it

really means is being remembered for the right reasons by the

right people, and sometimes that happens in ways that look

nothing like marketing. In fact, some of the most impactful

visibility moves that I have ever made were the things that

felt like simple, relationship, building, casual, natural, even

fun. So today I'm sharing five of these exact moves. They're

quick, they're effective. They don't require a single piece of

content. Hallelujah. Let's get going. Okay.

So the first one is to ask for testimonials from

collaborators. So for example, if you are part of a bundle or a

summit, or you're on a podcast, or you do a list swap or

something with another person, reach out to that person and ask

for testimonial of what it was like working with you. This

gives you credit credibility to use to leverage for future

opportunities. These So, for example, I was recently in a

very exciting summit, the AI unlocked summit with Gemma

Bonham Carter, who is a mentor of mine, and somebody who I

really respect and admire in the industry. And after the event

was over, I followed up with her and sent her a thank you

testimonial about the event from my perspective as a speaker. So

I gave her something that was valuable to her, and I requested

a testimonial about my talk on her event, which she kindly did

provide. So now I have a great testimonial about my speaking

and the value that I added as a contributor to that event, which

gives me social proof opportunities for future

collaborations. So many valuable pieces there I can even just put

it on my website, on my like media page. Why This Works is it

really shows credibility, and it keeps you Top of Mind with the

host. So think about it. In her case, I think she had, oh, I

don't know, she had, like 60 or more different speakers on that

event. So for me to stand out. That takes a little bit of extra

effort, right? And that's the point is to to want to, like be

a memorable contributor, to be a memorable part of the event. And

so this is an easy action for you think about some of the

things that you have done. And again, I love that this is a

visibility strategy that is not about directly reaching your

target audience, but about making connections with other

collaborators who can help you to do that. So make a list of

three people that you could follow up with and put that on

your list for this week, or one per week for the next three

weeks. Whatever you're going to do that follow up is going to

take you less than 10 minutes, and it will make a huge impact

in your ability to continue to leverage your collaborations and

build more relationships that help you reach your audience.

So number two, this is one of my favorite ways to connect with

people, is reconnecting with voice notes. So if you are in

the online business space, you probably have Voxer, which is an

app that allows you to sort of walkie talkie people and connect

and just like, leave audio notes. But this is one place

where I do sometimes use Instagram to send voice DMS, but

this is where you can have casual check ins, which is

somebody that you met at an event in the past, somebody that

you met at a networking thing, or you went to a conference and

met again. I'm talking about collaborators, partners,

potential people who you can work with and do fun, exciting

things to help you to grow your visibility. For me, this kind of

casual check in has led to podcast invitations, event

plans, other potential collaborations, speaking

opportunities, all of those kinds of things, just because I

stay in touch with people. Because Ken visibility, this is

something I've said time and time again on the podcast.

Visibility is a long game, and it means you need to continually

be making little moves all the time that help push the needle

forward. For you, why this works is it's warm, it's human. It

stands out when everybody else is just sending texts. When you

send a voice message or even a video message, maybe you like

Marco Polo, or you like to use video messaging, which you can

do on LinkedIn, you can do on Instagram, lots of the direct

message features in the variety of social media tools will allow

you to do this as well. So the action for you that I want you

to take is to think of two people who you haven't talked to

in a while and just send them a thinking of you voice note. Ask

them what they've been up to, just say you're willing to

support them in any way that you can and see where that leads.

Now, of course, this has to be genuine for it to work. Some of

these things, I feel like we think, Oh, that sounds, you

know, self serving, but as long as you genuinely care about the

person that you're talking to, and you genuinely are willing to

help them out and support them, that is how you build a

relationship. So it's absolutely a great idea, and it makes sense

to ask,

Okay, so the third little bite sized piece here is

to make a warm introduction. So this is thinking about who you

can connect connecting to. Two of your business friends,

connecting a client with another potential collaborator for them.

Who do they need to know? I recently spoke at an event and

met somebody who wanted, who wants me to host a workshop for

them. And so this is somebody who lives in my you know, close

geography, and she wants me to do an AI marketing workshop,

which I will be doing this summer, and she already had the

idea to make it collaborative. So She's inviting a number of

similar practitioners to come to this event, and these are people

that they kind of work within a collaborative health and

wellness network. And because I am, you know, I know people in

the area, I offered to introduce her to another similar

practitioner within that area as well, so that they could build a

relationship, which could lead to referrals for clients to

support them in the mission that they have. So this is kind of

like the way I think about being a connector. It's all about

building reciprocity and trust, like who needs to know who that

you know, either in person or online, that is somebody who's

going through something similar, that shares an audience that you

can really kind of facilitate a win, win relationship with, and

that puts you in a position of being a connector, which is

something that people really appreciate. So this is an easy

action. Think about write down who could you introduce this

week?

Okay, number four, this one is, I don't know,

it's kind of funny that I had to put this on the list, but it's

replying to a newsletter. So do you have some people who you

admire, who you want, to make sure that you are on their email

list. Subscribe to their freebie, get in their world, get

in their inbox. And when they send emails, respond to them. I

tell you all the time that one way communication is, I mean,

it's the reality sometimes when we are, you know, doing our

marketing, like on this podcast, where I'm talking to you and I

don't hear you talking back to me, but I'm imagining that

you're there. And the same thing when it comes to email writing,

right? We pour a lot of time into sending updates, sending

tips and strategies, talking about our podcasts, whatever it

is on our email list, well, that's where somebody is going

to reply to you. So I do this quite a lot. Actually. I reply

to people's emails and I build relationships with them there. I

have an example for you. Brenda McGowan is a friend of mine now,

and she is because I've been on her email list for quite a

while, because I participated in some events just as a like

learner so and I respect, you know, the way that she talks

about she's been on the podcast actually before, and the reason

I wish she was on the podcast is because she sent out an email

talking about a collaboration that she had done with two of my

other friends, and I thought, hey, if you know them and I like

them and you like them, I'm going to reach out to you and

say we should probably do something together, which is

what I did. I replied to her email, and I invited her to be

on my podcast, and now we have a Voxer relationship. We chat with

each other about things that are going on in our businesses, and

that relationship came from replying to an email. So people

want to have want to know that their emails are landing in the

right place and they're creating engagement. So think about who

you could be make sure that you're on their email list First

of all, and then reply to that email that you actually enjoy. I

also did this with somebody else this week who I've been seeing

her emails for a while. We have done podcasting together in the

past, but we haven't connected in a long time, so I just hit

reply on one of her emails and asked her to jump on a zoom call

and catch up. And so that's what we're going to do. So this is

another way to just get that one on one, visibility with somebody

who you enjoy and want to collaborate with and build a

business relationship with further and again, know that I'm

not saying somebody that you want to have be your client or

sell something to that doesn't feel like a very values aligned

way of doing this. This is about building business collaborative

relationships, which is, as always, my number one way of.

Visibility growth.

Okay, so number five, to wrap up, this little snack sized

series, is about celebrating past clients. So I think we

overlook the fact that, you know, once we work with

somebody, and then we lose touch with them, don't do that. And I

have to remind myself all the time, like somebody has already

spent time and money investing in you and working with you,

make sure you stay in touch and connect, following them on their

social media, on their emails, to make sure you get news when

it comes out, and sending them a message back. So you can again

do that via replying to an email or sending a DM, just

congratulating them, supporting them, cheering them on. And this

is very much just about keeping that relationship warm, keeping

you top of mind, which might produce a referral or some kind

of recommendation from them, or maybe they'll remember that they

want to do more work with you, and they'll reach out in that

way. It's just this, this visible presence in an authentic

and easy, conversational, relational way. So your easy

action challenge is to think about a past client this week

and reach out to them, whether that's a public shout out that

they've done something exciting that you want to help share

about for them, and they get the benefit of you doing that or

just privately reaching out to them. Again. Visibility doesn't

have to be loud, it doesn't have to be public, it just has to

involve another person. That's the only difference for me.

Sometimes we get caught up doing the busy work of our businesses,

and we forget to actually reach out and connect. So visibility

is reaching out, not not just showing up, right for the sake

of it.

So there you have it. Those are five low lift, super low lift,

visibility moves that honestly don't even feel like marketing,

but they absolutely are. You don't need to show up everywhere

or shout louder or post daily to build this momentum. You just

need to be intentional about staying connected to the people

who already believe in you, the people who have seen your work,

and the people who you actually want to build relationships with

and these small actions will create a ripple effect, and they

work even better in summer, when your energy might be lower, but

your desire to stay visible is still real, right? And don't

forget, if you want support in creating your own sustainable

visibility plan, make sure you grab the 90 day visibility

starter kit. I have put a coupon code special for you, for

podcast listeners, in the link that's in the show notes,

because this is the tools that I use for planning and tracking my

own visibility, and will give you all the ideas. And of

course, there's an AI assistant built into it that will help

cheer you on and help you choose what to do if you are just not

sure what to where to start and what to do this week, and what's

actually going to help you make some moves. So check the show

notes for the link to that.

And next week, I'm going to give you a little spoiler. It's a

good one. We are diving into what not to do when pitching

podcasts. I have been receiving dozens of podcasts a week ever

since I started this show, and sometimes I just shake my head,

and I really just wanted to create an episode that's like,

Listen, if you want to get on a podcast, you're doing it wrong.

So I'm sharing some real examples of pitches that I've

received that totally missed the mark. Plus what actually works

if you want to get a yes and get on a show, so don't miss it. I

will talk to you again next week.