Are You in the Mood to Market Your Business?
There you sit: you know you need to do something to get the word out about your business and get the clients flowing in, yet you’re not in the mood. In fact, you’re mostly never in the mood to do marketing. The problem is, no marketing = no clients = no money = no impact with the work you’re here to bring to the world, which is a sad state to be in.
“Even if you don’t feel like sitting down to write or working on that big proposal, or whatever it is, just show up anyhow and the rest will follow.”
– Ayana Mathis
Getting in the mood to market is a mind shift, one you can bring on yourself. Consider these tactics when you’re just not feelin’ it:
4 Ways to Market in Your Sleep
As a self-employed professional, the demands of marketing your business have the potential to give you many sleepless nights. It often seems that the list of things to do is endless, and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to market your business, serve your clients, run your office, and keep up in your field.
You Are the Boss: The Entrepreneurial Mindset
Flashback to 2004: I had my shiny new coaching certificate. I had a grand vision of the future. I had five clients and several years of experience. I had just quit my job. World domination was mine! Except — I had no idea what I had just signed myself up for, and if I had, I’m not sure I would have done it.
Six Steps to Get Your Audience to Read What You Write
If you’re a self-employed professional who wants to get the attention of prospective clients by writing blog posts, magazine and journal articles, case studies, or an ebook, you already know this problem. Writing material like this takes up time and brain capacity. There’s nothing worse than sweating over a piece for hours and then having only a handful of people read it.
With a bit of care and attention, you can turn that situation around, and start attracting the readers you want. Here are six steps to get your desired audience reading what you write.
Sales for the Asking
“So that’s what I have to offer you, Mr. Prospect. What do you think?”
“Well, Ms. Professional, I’d like to think about it.”
“Okay, may I call you next week?”
Does this dialogue sound at all familiar? Yet another sales conversation is ending with a stall from the prospective client. Is he actually interested in hiring you, or was that just a polite way to say no? What exactly is it that he wants to think about?
Yes, Writing Blog Posts and Articles CAN Bring You Clients
“I’d like to attract clients by writing articles or a blog, but I’m not sure what to write about.”
“I tried blogging for a while, but it didn’t bring me any business.”
“When I write, people seem to like it, but I have only a handful of readers.”
These are some of the comments I hear from self-employed professionals who think that writing about their area of expertise might be a path to attracting clients… but feel like they don’t have a map. I understand their frustration. It’s easy to make crucial mistakes when using writing as a marketing strategy. But you CAN do this successfully. Here are six guidelines to make writing pay off.
Self-Employed Professionals: Join the Great Reinvention
There’s a revolution going on in the world of work, and it’s impacting all of us, self-employed professionals included. The Great Resignation, AKA the Big Quit, began in the spring of 2021, as significant numbers of employees began leaving their jobs. Surveys indicate that from 40-65% of the U.S. workforce is either considering quitting or already looking for a new job.
Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Work Without Content
For self-employed professionals, trying to use social media marketing without regularly producing good, original content is a waste of time and money. You’ll find plenty of social media “experts” trying to convince you that anyone can use social media to get clients, regardless of whether you have content of your own to share. But that’s simply not true.
The purpose of using social media marketing for consultants, coaches, and other service professionals is threefold: 1) stay visible, 2) build credibility, and 3) get prospective clients to feel as if they know, like, and trust you. Far too much of what you’ll hear about using social media relates to purpose #1, but simply staying visible to your desired audience is not enough. If it was, we’d all be getting business by simply running ads.
How to Keep the Most Important Person Interested in Your Marketing – You!
If you’ve read my book Get Clients Now!, you’ve seen my personal definition of marketing: telling people what you do, over and over. The book also spills the beans about the secret to successful marketing: choosing a set of simple, effective things to do, and doing them consistently. Following these two pieces of advice will make your marketing both simpler and easier. You design a marketing plan, refine it, and then repeat it. Voila – clients! But there’s a problem.
Why You Need to Include Outreach Strategies in Your Marketing Mix
I’m a big fan of using attraction strategies to fill your marketing pipeline as a self-employed professional. Attraction-based tactics like blogging or publishing articles, posting on social media, and generating media publicity can all be effective ways to bring prospective clients into your sphere. Under the right circumstances, promotional events and advertising can work also.
And… attraction strategies alone are rarely enough to build a thriving business.
