To Get More Clients, Keep It Simple

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Ever notice how everyone seems to have a different opinion about the best way to get clients? One person says you should go to networking events, another swears by cold calling, someone else tells you social networking is the thing, the next person suggests public speaking, and yet another insists you should be blogging.

All these sound like they could be good ideas, but you need to spend most of your time working on paying projects. How can you possibly market yourself in this many ways at the same time?

The truth is that you can’t. It is literally impossible for a one-person business to be effective at using a dozen different marketing approaches simultaneously.

The real secret to finding clients is to choose a set of simple, effective, things to do, and do them consistently. But how do you choose? Here are three questions you can ask yourself to create a powerful, realistic marketing plan.

1. Where is your marketing stuck?

The typical freelancer is stuck somewhere in his or her marketing. Perhaps your pipeline of prospects isn’t full enough, and you need to focus on making more contacts. Or maybe you have quite a few leads already, but you haven’t been following up on them. Or it could be that you’re following up, but prospects don’t seem to want to talk to you. Or you are having many conversations, but they don’t seem to result in sales.

Make sure whatever marketing activities you choose address your “stuck place.” If you already have leads you aren’t pursuing, just gathering more leads won’t help you. Conversely, if your pipeline is almost empty, then increasing your follow-up efforts isn’t going to do the trick.

2. What marketing activities will allow you to shine?

Freelancers frequently sabotage their own marketing by trying to emulate someone else’s. It may seem like a good idea to copy other people’s successful marketing approaches, but this only makes sense when your skills, talents, and personality match theirs.

If cold calling, meeting strangers at mixers, or public speaking make you sweat and stumble, you aren’t likely to do well using those approaches. Even worse, with no boss looking over your shoulder, you may never do them at all.

People who excel at talking to strangers and speaking in public should absolutely make use of those approaches. But if that’s not you, put your attention elsewhere. Schedule one-on-one meetings instead, or write articles to establish your expertise. When you’re doing what you do best, people will be eager to hire you.

3. Where are you most likely to find clients?

This question may seem obvious, but I often see freelancers marketing exclusively online when almost all their business is local and conducted onsite. Or hanging out at Chamber of Commerce mixers filled with small business owners when their clients are primarily corporate.

Get clear about who your best clients are – not just who might hire you, but who you really want to hire you. Then make sure every marketing activity you choose is aimed at putting you in touch with exactly those people.

If you want to get more clients with less effort, start keeping it simple. A one-person business needs to have a marketing plan that one person can do.

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C.J. Hayden is the author of “Get Clients Now! A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants and Coaches”. For a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need”, visit www.getclientsnow.com