Is your Kent business being overlooked? There are thousands of weird and wonderful businesses in Kent. Competition is high in a lot of industries, and it can be difficult to stand out. In this month’s blog I’ll be sharing why your company might be overlooked, and how to fix it.

Is your business’ website working properly?

Hear me out… Lots of Kent companies have a website that they “like the look of” but that doesn’t always equate to a website that actually works well, or enhances the user’s experience.

There’s a big difference between a website made to satisfy the customer, and one built to satisfy the business owner. All too often these concepts don’t align. A website should be built for the audience to help them make a purchasing decision.

The next question – is your website getting any hits? And could it get more traffic than it does right now? Websites provide a huge amount of credibility for a small business and help them stand up against larger outfits. A good website says “we are professional and established”. A bad one says “we can’t be bothered” or worse – “we cut corners”. It’s that vital first impression that we have to grab by the horns.

Here are some basics to give it a boost:

• Is it easy to use on a mobile phone?
• Does it clearly explain what you do within a few seconds?
• Is your picture (or your team) easily visible on the homepage?
• Can visitors quickly find your contact details?
• Does it load quickly?

If you’ve ticked these off your checklist it’s time to start looking at local, organic search engine optimisation. Is your website fully optimised? Could it be seen by more people? Is there anything in the design putting people off?

That leads me nicely into the next question:

Is your Kent company’s branding really speaking to your ideal customer?

Every now and then some Kent companies will go with a wildcard brand colour – blood red, lime-green or shocking pink, simply because they think it will stand out. You could say some branding stands out to a fault.

Brand colours and logo designs should be carefully curated to get the right message across to your customer. It can imply price point, communication style, quality, speed and set other expectations like value for money. This matters if you’re trying to market a high-end product or service but your branding screams “affordability”.

Getting branding wrong can tell a story that is not what you intended. Colour, font and shapes all matter a great deal. Step away from ChatGPT and get a real designer in to help you.

People in Kent vary in lots of ways – these are the key ways to understand them:

• Generational purchasing behaviour
• Personality types
• Locations and income
• Their use of tech, social media and search engines

When you have this information readily available branding comes to life. Not only that, but it can be applied to your marketing efforts and social media content.

Is your social media reaching the right people?

There are right and wrong ways to use social media. Your content has to speak to Kent locals and be convincing that you are credible, qualified, likeable and local. That involves accurate customer profiling in order to make content that works. It also means doing a better job of it than the company up the road.

Next you will also need to know where these customers hang out online for the best chance of reaching them. If you’re keen for Kent adults aged 30-65 Facebook and Youtube are great places to start. Closely followed by Reddit, Pinterest and Instagram (depending on your service or product). I always say it’s better to do one or two platforms really well, than try to be everywhere at once.

Once you have customer profiling and the right platforms set up, it’s time to look at content. Here are some do’s and don’ts to make sense of it all.

Do NOT ❌

• Make every post a sales post
• Use AI to write your captions or design posters/flyers/headshots/etc
• Post once in a blue moon
• Post competitions for free stuff or giveaways
• Spam groups with the same post over and over
• Follow 7000 local companies in the hope they will pity-follow you back
• Make it all about you, or what a great time you’re having
• Hide your face or identity

Do ✅

• Make content that will educate, entertain or inspire your audience
• Post regularly (3-5x per week)
• Experiment with video, reels and photos
• Join groups that are relevant to your industry
• Show your face in selfies and videos
• Make your hours and contact details clear
• Include your website URL in every caption
• Share review and recommendations where possible

Remember that social media can drive traffic to your website or business phone number. Social media now also impacts your website’s SEO performance thanks to the Google Core Update May 2026. If that all sounds Greek to you, give me a call. Let’s talk about where you want your business to be.

Don’t try to be everyone’s cup of tea

It always makes me smile when a client says “we mostly sell to people 40-60 years old but we don’t want to rule out people in their 20s.”

There is a genuine fear of waving goodbye to opportunities. The truth is you can’t be everyone’s cup of tea, so don’t try to be. Some people will prefer tap water no matter how much you try to convince them. Leave them be.

Instead, fully invest your resources into figuring out who your core demographics really are.

I once worked for a funeral director and told him “there will be a significant, defining characteristic between the people who choose you.” He told me that wouldn’t be possible, because the families he worked with all came from such different walks of life. They had different jobs, personalities, ages and came from all over the world.

Eventually (after a customer profiling session) I found that defining characteristic – all of his clients deeply loved the person who had died. The funerals were a celebration of connection, because the families got on. There was a definite absence of families with tense relationships, rifts or fights. That’s the magic of good marketing.

The bottom line…

If it feels like your business is being overlooked, don’t assume it’s because your service isn’t good enough.

More often than not, it’s simply a visibility problem. If you have a good reputation, this problem is easily rectified.

The businesses that consistently invest in their online presence today are always the ones that will continue to grow tomorrow.

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