I'm going to share a little wisdom about marketing that I've learned in the past few years and what has worked for me and many others. Internet marketing is just another medium for getting your name out to the world, it has its benefits but that should not be your only means of finding new work. Everybody is competing for the same customers no matter what niche/business your are in, we get inundated with internet ads for everything. How about we go back to old fashioned classified ads in your weekly free papers? I used to work for a company and the owner was always crying because he was just getting by with the work that he had. I said to him, why don't you run an ad in one of the "free papers" since your not getting the work that you used to get. His response was, "I don't know", then he said that one of the big contracts that he landed years ago came from one of those penny pincher type paper ads that he ran. You have to look at marketing like anything else, if the masses go left, you go right and do the complete opposite(atleast that's how I look at things). Not everybody has a computer or internet or a smart phone, so you have to go "old school" to help these people find your services. If your going to try this, run the ad for atleast 30 days, the more the length of time the more the exposure. Here's a tip with running any ad or making business cards. Never put your company name first! You want to focus on the customers needs to solve their problem first and then your info last and don't be afraid to have fun with your marketing. In general, here's an example of what 97% of the ads that I see: Bob's Septic Service In business since 1900 xxx-xxx-xxx Lets spruce it up a little: Is your tank overflowing with honey? Call Bob's Septic, We'll dip it for you! xxx-xxx-xxx (no offense if there's a Bob's Septic on here ) *Tip #1 - When someone new calls you, you should ask where they got your number from so you can track the results of what ad is working and what isn't. *Tip #2 - If one of your past customers refers you new business, send that past customer a "thank you" gift. I hope this info helps you, and if you do any of this, post your results in here to help encourage others!
Here's a tip with running any ad or making business cards. Never put your company name first! You want to focus on the customers needs to solve their problem first and then your info last and don't be afraid to have fun with your marketing. grt idea ...!
Very interesting. With Marketing it all about what gets you the best Bang for your Buck as it is unlimited what you could spend and where you could spend it.
Actually marketing is a science. You can spend boat loads of money in the wrong area and not get any clients, but if you know where to find your potential customers, then you can target those folks.
Here's another strategy to finding new clients, The 80/20 rule. Find out what your top 10-20% of your clients have in common. Now after you do your homework on the similarities, you now have a blueprint of who you should be marketing to.