You can have all the confidence in the world and think big, but if your prospects and customers perceive you as too small to do business with, there’s a disconnect. So, what’s a small business owner to do?

Fight back. You can “fake it till you make it” and “act as if” all day long, but my guess is that your mindset is already strong. You need to influence how others think about you, not the way you think!

These positioning tips aren’t magic, but rather a collection of strategies that give the impression of growth and perceived success. Stay on track and add them to your bag of marketing tricks.

Test, tweak and overcome. You may find yourself more than pleasantly surprised.

9 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Bigger

• Consider a website makeover. Whether you like it or not, your website is your prospect’s first impression of who you are and what you’re all about. Look old and outdated? You probably are, at least in their eyes. Get fresh. Add valuable content on a regular basis and look like a serious player.  Better yet, a thought leader, top of your game. Photos, social links, grammar, reviews, and please no broken links. It all counts.
• Change up your email. There are probably still a few holdouts doing business with an AOL account, hopefully not many. If you happen to be one of them, know that it dates you big time. For those have a business email (not a gmail address), think about moving from firstname@companyname.com to lastname@companyname.com. It’s an easy way to give an impression of having a bigger company, even if you don’t have one, yet.
• Add virtual locations. If you work or live in a couple of cities or towns, consider adding those locations to your contact info. Also, add a virtual office or two where you want to be noticed and add their mailing addresses to amplify your reach. Verify those Google Places listings and get listed in local searches. This again, helps you look big without breaking the bank. Virtual offices, phones, you get the point. You believe what you perceive.
• Invest in a good looking brand. Unless you’re a graphic designer or a whiz at Canva, seek professional help to design your logo and promotional materials. When you invest in how your brand looks online and offline, it makes a significant difference, especially when customers are comparing vendors. If you’re marketing yourself the right way, you’ll be at events, speaking engagements, webinars, networking meetings and trade shows. Showcase your brand, share your message and demonstrate your value. Reap the benefits with a strong brand.
• Mention your assistant in conversation. You may have a virtual assistant, part time assistant, intern, niece who visits you at home, or none at all. He/she can work for free and help every now and then, or not at all. What matters is that there appears to be more than just you on your team. Colleagues you work closely with fit in this category too. Talk your team up. Mention them so you don’t look like you work in a silo, or off in a cabin in the woods (all the time). Having a team behind you gives you a competitive edge and more brain power.
• Act busy even if you’re not. Make people wait for an appointment, within reason, of course. Squeeze them in, if you can in the next day or two. If you’re in sales, this may seem like a counter-intuitive idea, but there’s a sense of playing hard to get that works. It’s human nature to want what you can’t get right now. Create a sense of urgency. It’s about psychological positioning. Fine tune it so it fits and wear it with integrity.
• Get press. Plain and simple. Use HelpAReporter.com to get local, regional and/or national publicity. Then, repurpose your content on targeted social media platforms. Think also about creating a media page on your website and keep adding new articles, press releases, podcasts, and transcripts. Remember, your website is your own media, so promote your brand as you like. BTW, prospects and clients will love that you’re being published. They want to do business with people in the know. And, that would be you.
• Build up your social networking sites. If you’re a small company with a large following of dedicated fans, this makes you look like a bigger player. Most companies check you out online to see where you stand on the social scene, so use this to your advantage. LinkedIn with 5,000 followers? Now we’re talking. A dedicated and active Instagram account with an engaged audience? Ramp it up. If customers are finding you on social media, give them something to look at. Build up your social media platforms to build your business.
• Accept online payments. It’s easier than you think to streamline getting paid. Most companies accept a variety of online payment methods, so if you’re in the dark age, leap to the digital age. Research what’s going on in your industry and see what your best option is. Yes, you’ll most likely have to pay a fee, but that’s the cost of doing business. Ditch the checks and pitch online payment to your customers. You’ll also be able to schedule invoices, collect recurring payments and so much more.

There you have it. A sampling of ways for your company to appear bigger. And, we didn’t even get into blogging, vlogging, speaking and other ways to actually grow your brand.

Put these practical suggestions into place and let the world know you’re here to do some real business.