How are you leaving your business footprint?
How are you leaving your business footprint? Not solely online or in your marketing but in everything you do.
The term ‘digital footprint’ has been around for a while, but your footprint goes beyond your online presence. It is your smile, the warm welcome you provided, or a kind word said, perhaps at a networking event. How you are remembered, what people say about you when you’re not in the room, the words they use, and how you make them feel.
It goes beyond digital.
Although your digital footprint, the message you consistently share and how you show up are essential. But don’t let this be the only place you think about leaving your mark. And yes, you might now be saying, “Isn’t my marketing activity, my digital footprint, messaging and brand enough?”
Yes, but shouldn’t it go way beyond that? Shouldn’t it be so much more than that?
At the beginning, I wrote ‘how you make someone feel’. This can be done through the words on your website, the video you shared or the blog you wrote. But I believe it goes deeper than that and comes as much from the tiny actions as it does the grand gestures. Comes from your values, what you stand for and the difference you want to make.
It is the follow-up email you sent after meeting someone at a networking event. The gift you sent a past client, the card mailed for no reason. The check-in text you sent because you noticed a person’s LinkedIn post was missing its usual shine.
It is not just about your marketing.
So, how you engage with others, taking the time to comment on the content of others. How you take the conversation further offline, the time you take to get to know someone – creating a connection.
It happens when you make a recommendation, offer an introduction or take an action that does not directly impact your bottom line. What you do outside of your own marketing activity and how you are remembered.
It is what you do NOT to further your own business but to support others, the kindness you show.
The magic is in the footprint.
Magic because when you put your potential client at the centre of everything you do, you work from a place of serving instead of selling. When you put others before your business, you are remembered for being generous and supportive, a fantastic person to be around – you become a magnet.
Generous, supportive and putting others first, you will be remembered for all the right reasons, and your generosity and kindness will be mirrored back to you. You move away from hustle and grind and into ease.
The power is in the credit.
And so, I wish and must credit the excellent Travel Counsellor Claire Jackson, who used the word ‘footprint’ in our recent LinkedIn exchange. And while she was referring to networking, a blog idea was immediately formed in my head, and what you’ve just read is the result of that initial idea.
Claire is very aware of the business footprint she leaves behind. She is also a keen sportswoman physically leaving footprints in Iron Woman competitions. While also helping her clients to leave their own in the sand.
Don’t get stuck in the marketing footprint…
Having read this blog, what can you do differently, better or more of to leave a more significant footprint that isn’t related to your direct marketing? That enables you to show up from a place of giving without directly impacting your business and income.
That would make you feel as good as the person you’ve touched.
And in the spirit of giving:
- Book a FREE Clarity Coaching Call, during which I will help you overcome any fears or challenges you might be facing.
- Sign up to receive my weekly email packed with value, inspiration, guidance and sprinkled with humour.
- Can I offer a book recommendation? I have just finished reading The Inside Out Revolution by Michael Neill, which I highly recommend. Before that, I read Atomic Habits, which, like the Inside Out Revolution, is life-changing.
- If you live in the UK and are looking for a networking group that focuses on community, connecting, and giving, I invite you to try out ONLE. I co-host the Kent group and would love to see you there.