How to Attract The Interest You Want in Your Business Learn the five laws of business attraction to bring in leads and eventually convert them into paying customers.
By Clate Mask Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Most everyone has a general understanding of the laws of attraction. While not a defined scientific law like the law of gravity, the laws of attraction give credence to the idea that "like attracts like." It's the idea that tells us by focusing on positive or negative thoughts, a person brings positive or negative experiences into their life. It's all about having a good attitude so that the energy you put out will be met with equally positive energy.
But if we're talking business, the laws of attraction take on a very different meaning. We have to take attitude out of the equation, and replace it with proven marketing tactics that will get leads interested in your business.
Related: How to Find Real Customers for Your Startup
Here are my five laws of business attraction to bring in leads and eventually convert them into paying customers:
1. Start with location.
You can't attract prospective customers if you can't find them -- both offline and online.
In a physical sense, do your prospects attend local business events? Are they members of your community, or do they work in the neighborhood? Entrepreneurs need to figure out the answers to those key questions, and then get moving. There is no substitute for meeting people in person. Getting out of the office is the only way to do that.
From an online perspective, are your prospects gathered on a particular social media platform? To take that one step further, are there various Facebook groups packed with people who would love to know about the product you offer? If you're selling a new kind of collapsible beach umbrella, for example, there are countless places online where people talk about how much they like the beach.
2. Focus on customer problems.
If we stick with the beach umbrella example, the entrepreneur should not be focused on why his or her product is great, but rather on understanding the problems beachgoers have with their current umbrellas.
It's important to expose the problems that exist in the minds of prospective customers -- and then to find solutions to those problems. Entrepreneurs don't need to market their product so much as they need to speak to the needs of their target audience.
Related: For a Winning Product Launch, Address Genuine Consumer Needs
3. Define your expertise.
It's challenging for many businesses to get acquainted with their own expertise, but it's absolutely critical to do so in order to stand out from the competition.
Back to the beach umbrella -- maybe your key expertise is the smart engineering of the collapsible product. While you may not win with affordability or the amount of shade provided, you can win by explaining how your product is the easiest to carry and set up when you're hauling four kids and all their stuff to the beach.
To showcase this expertise, you could create videos that show the time and effort it takes to load a traditional beach umbrella into a car and then haul it to the beach versus how much easier it is with your product.
4. Put it all out there.
This is difficult for a lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses. They may want to protect what they think is their distinct advantage over the competition, but I would argue they need to do exactly the opposite.
Businesses need to shout to the world what makes them unique. In the process, you'll be giving prospective customers exactly what they want. The companies who put it all out there are the ones who tend to get noticed.
5. Be personal and authentic.
This one isn't complicated. Consumers want to do business with people they know, like and trust.
If your brand voice is personal and authentic, that will shine through when a prospect starts interacting directly with you or one of your team members.
Related: Why You Should Be Fearlessly Authentic
These laws of business attraction aren't nearly as complicated as the laws of attraction that influence our personal relationships, but they are no less important when it comes to reaching your end goal.
To attract the kind of interest your business needs, it's important to locate your prospects and give them what they want in the most authentic way possible. If you can do that, the attraction is sure to be mutual.