Doing What Comes Naturally in Marketing
One of the worst marketing mistakes a self-employed professional can make is creating a marketing plan that consists of activities you don’t enjoy and aren’t good at. There’s no boss looking over your shoulder, so who’s going to make you do things you don’t want to? It’s much more likely that a plan you find distasteful and difficult simply won’t be executed.
Professionals often tell me they don’t like marketing or selling, but many times I find that what they truly dislike is the tactics they’ve been trying to use.
How Do You Network for Your Business During a Pandemic?
In the old pre-COVID days, we self-employed professionals went to local and global gatherings to meet people -- mixers, professional meetings, conferences, community events, cultural happenings, and more. To follow up with our contacts, we scheduled coffee, lunch,...
Inspiration for Your Business & Marketing
I was talking with a good friend and business colleague over dinner recently about being busy. She has very little free time: busy personal life, plus her business to run, and I the same. We both felt pinched for time and were longing for some space, literally and mentally, from those things that are required just to keep our businesses running on a daily basis. We agreed it seems as if there’s a giant mountain of things that we need to do that can sometimes feel like a heavy weight, and only when that work is complete do we have time to do other things.
What Kind of Marketing Plan Does a Self-Employed Professional Need?
You need a marketing plan to get clients. That’s the first thing to know. A professional who tells you that he or she has gotten plenty of clients without ever having a plan is either: a) working way too hard, b) not telling you the truth about how many clients they have, c) working a plan that they’ve never written down, or d) one of those rare, incredibly charismatic individuals who seem to draw an audience as soon as they enter a room.
I find that most of the time, successful professionals who claim to not have a plan fall into the “c” category. They are working from a plan in their head. If you can do that, more power to you. Most people — myself included — need to write a plan down in order to keep it straight.
Why You Shouldn’t Do What the Gurus Do
It’s only natural to emulate successful people. You’d like to copy their success, so it seems it would make sense to copy their approach to sales and marketing. But modeling your marketing after the gurus in your field may not get you where they are.
Simply put, the present situation of these highly successful people may be entirely different from your own. Gurus typically have plenty of money to spend, staff to help, a large in-house mailing list, many followers on social media, widespread name recognition, a suite of products and services to offer, and many years of completed work to draw from. If you don’t have all this in your business, trying to copy their marketing and sales approach may be a recipe for failure rather than success.
Don’t Give Up on Follow-Up
Follow-up may be the most underrated marketing technique in existence. Self-employed professionals spend an enormous amount of time and money on attracting or meeting people who might do business with them. They build websites, go to networking events, purchase ads, set up social media profiles, and more. But marketing activities like these are aimed at making contact with new potential clients for the first time. Follow-up is missing from the picture.
You’ve probably heard the following truths about marketing and sales before:
- People prefer to do business with people they know, like, and trust.
- It takes five to seven contacts with a prospect to close a sale.
- Marketing is a process; not an event.
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.
Marketing on a Deadline
It’s happened to the best of us: you had good intentions of getting started early, of finishing before the deadline, of easing into the task, yet there you are, last minute, wondering how you can get things done, pronto.
This may be a familiar scenario with regards to your to-do list, but what if it happens to your marketing? Marketing can’t happen that fast, can it?
Written Content Can Be the Answer to Your Follow-Up Woes
To the average self-employed professional, following up with prospective clients feels awkward or even scary. You hate making phone calls that might not be welcome. You think you might be pestering people. You worry about being rejected. You aren’t sure what to say. After all, how many times can you ask, “Are you ready for us to work together?”
I get it. My clients and students share concerns like these with me all the time. I’ve even had them myself.
Break Through to Marketing Success
Let’s face it, many self-employed professionals treat self-promotion as a necessary evil. They know they have to do it, but they just don’t like it. Professionals often say, “I love my work, but I wish I didn’t have to keep finding clients.” They describe the process of marketing as distasteful, frustrating, intimidating, and just plain scary.
Take a look at your own beliefs about self-promotion. How do you feel about it? Is it something you accomplish without too much effort, or do you put it off at every opportunity? When you tell someone what you do and ask for that person’s business, is it easy for you, or do you find it difficult and unpleasant?
