How many times have you heard the phrase "People do business with people". In other words, we do not form relationships with corporate entities, but rather the people within them.

Whether you are promoting your business to the outside world, or promoting your aims and aspirations to your employees, there is really no substitute for direct face-to-face contact. If you do not promote your message face-to-face, how can the recipient gauge your commitment, how important it is to them or be enthused to do something differently?

All business leaders I meet are totally passionate about their business and demonstrate huge commitment to achieving their aspirations and goals. Yet often I find that little of their time is spent directly communicating this to a wider audience. Those that work closely with them may well be inspired by their ability and vision, but those outside their 'inner circle' may know nothing about them at all!

The success stories of those that run big businesses are usually the ones who work hard at developing a face-to-face public profile. Richard Branson is an excellent example of how to do this. You may not have Virgin's PR budget at your disposal, but neither did Richard when he first started out. He did however, from the start, clearly recognise the importance of his relationships and profile with people.

Whether you are a one-person business, or employ thousands, you will derive the greatest benefit from making yourself visible to all those who can help you to realise your ambitions.

Take every opportunity to address your staff, customers, prospects and partners directly, face-to-face. Doing this on an individual basis is sometimes necessary, to your biggest customer for example, but it is far more efficient to address large numbers of people whenever you can.

Do you talk to all of your staff on a regular basis? Do they all know what sort of person they work for? Do they share YOUR dreams and aspirations? If not, it's pretty obvious what you need to do.

What about the outside world: your customers and prospects? Make yourself available to speak at conferences, trade associations, events and seminars. Don't go for the hard sell of your company, but do go for the hard sell of yourself. Share your expertise and experience and choose a subject to talk about that will provide value to the audience.

Now for the critical bit. If you are a nervous and hesitant public speaker you will do more harm than good. People will not remember what you said; they'll just remember that you were not very impressive. This is all most people need to 'cop out' of this opportunity. It's so easy to say "I'm useless at giving speeches, it's best if I don't do it". Well, I'm hopeless at golf. Why? Because I've only played golf once and I've never had any coaching. I'm sure that if I arranged some coaching and then put in some practice, I'd become quite good. I may even enjoy it!