What Is the New Normal for Your Business?
The hot topic here in the U.S. this spring of 2021 is getting back to “normal.” But in my view, the more relevant topic is finding a new normal. All across the country, I’m hearing of people whose post-pandemic life includes moving to a new city, changing jobs or careers, retiring, or making remote work a permanent choice.
Does Your Marketing Spark Joy?
Marie Kondo (author of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up is famous for encouraging you to ask if the things you surround yourself with spark joy. What if you applied this concept to your business marketing?
Stop Reacting and Start Pro-Acting to Market Your Business
If you’re answering calls, replying to emails and notes, responding to invitations, and receiving referrals and leads, it probably feels like you’re taking a lot of action to market your business. But it may be that a good deal of what you’re engaged in is actually RE-action.
Waiting to hear from the right prospects is nowhere near as productive as proactively taking steps to seek them out. And a stream of incoming communications can take up time and energy, but doesn’t always lead to closed sales.
Consider these suggestions for getting out of reaction mode and becoming more proactive in your marketing.
Seven Ways to Build Marketing Relationships
“Relationship marketing.” “Get business by word of mouth.” “People like to do business with people they know, like, and trust.” You’ve heard these adages many times before. But what does it really mean to build relationships with people in order to sell them something?
Does it work to make personal connections with a hidden agenda? How do you go about creating relationships for marketing purposes without feeling sleazy? Here are seven tips for building marketing relationships you can feel good about.
1. Start with the best audience. When you choose the right target market for your business, relationship-building becomes an enjoyable process. Your ideal clients and referral sources are people you already enjoy spending time with.
What Are the Most Effective Marketing Strategies for Self-Employed Professionals?
I recently ran across a 2017 study by FreshBooks Cloud Accounting asking 1,700 self-employed professionals, independent professionals, and small business owners what they found to be the most effective marketing strategies. All the participants had fewer than 10 employees, and 77% of them were solopreneurs, making this group a close match to the readers of this blog.
I was pleased to see how closely their answers aligned with the list of Effective Marketing Strategies in Get Clients Now! and the advice Kris Carey and I give our clients, students, and readers. Here’s what these self-employed professionals named as “highly effective” marketing strategies:
Here It Is At Last – The Secret to Marketing
Isn’t that what every self-employed professional is really looking for — that one magic formula that will take the effort out of marketing and bring you all the clients you need, forever?
Searching for this marketing silver bullet, they read articles and books, take seminars and home-study courses, and hire consultants and coaches. And in the process they learn about many, many so-called marketing secrets.
These “secrets” to marketing consist of supposedly surefire approaches like search engine optimization for your website, social media marketing, joining a leads group, sending postcards, and running pay-per-click ads. There are of course many more, and each of them is being touted by someone as the ultimate solution for marketing your business.
Scheduling Your Marketing Makes It Easier
How much do you schedule your business activities, especially marketing? Working with clients over the years, I’ve seen the impact a schedule — or lack thereof — can have. The good news is that when you find a schedule that works for you, it can make a big difference in being productive, getting your marketing done regularly, and feeling on top of things.
Reinventing Your Business to Survive a Pandemic
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve heard from countless self-employed professionals who have suddenly found themselves either unemployed or underemployed. Professionals who typically work with clients in person have been stymied by stay-at-home directives or the understandable concerns clients have about exposing themselves to contagion. Other professionals have been blindsided when the industry they serve has disappeared overnight, due to shutdowns and cutbacks.
Four Consequences of Using the Wrong Marketing Strategy
Perhaps these questions sound familiar:
What happens if I use the wrong marketing strategy?
Is there such a thing as a wrong marketing strategy?
These questions are common if you’re a service-based business looking to market your services; it’s easy to think you’re doing marketing all wrong.
And maybe you are.
While there is no real right or wrong way when it comes to marketing your business, there is such a thing as choosing a marketing strategy that isn’t the right fit for you and your ideal customers – strategies that can make marketing feel harder – and this can have negative consequences.
Do You Know Who Your Ideal Client Is?
When I started my business, “everyone” told me I needed to know who my ideal client was. The pressure of figuring out the answer was intimidating; in those early days, my ideal client was anyone who had a pulse and would pay me. Needless to say, that turned out not to be a great answer.
Do you know who your ideal client is-that perfect person or entity you enjoy doing business with? Below are some questions to help you sort out who that is, and why it matters. Knowing the answer to these questions will help your business be more successful and help you sleep better at night, both desirable goals. Let’s dive in.
