Archive for the ‘Creative Client Attraction Strategies’ Category

Three Great Ways to Increase Your Visibility

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Have you ever noticed that strategically accomplishing small things, one after the next, can quickly lead to much more than the sum of its parts? By taking baby step after baby step, you notice that soon you have a long trail of major successes and accomplishments behind you.

The same is true about raising your profile and increasing your visibility (generating buzz about your business). If you have the marketing basics down and are now working on elevating your profile in your industry, you will want take some take baby steps to include the following three strategies into your marketing mix.

Public Speaking

Public speaking is by arguably the best way to spread your message and attract your ideal clients and partners in a very big way. Why? Because you are able to be in front of a room full of your ideal clients listening to what you have to say and what you have to offer. If you currently have public speaking in your marketing mix, I urge you to look for bigger opportunities. For example, if you have been speaking at local chamber breakfasts and so forth, how about applying to be a breakout session leader at some annual association conferences? Or even keynote speaking?

Beyond the basics of using public speaking to spread your message, you also can use these opportunities to quickly build your list of followers by telling the audience how to get your free report on your web site. In addition, many venues will allow you to place marketing collateral at every seat promoting your business or an upcoming program. Other venues will allow you sell your items at the back of the room. There are many way to maximize your public speaking engagements, and adding these small steps will move you toward dramatically increasing your visibility.

Writing

Writing is also a great way to get in front of large groups of your ideal clients and partners. Writing articles for your ezine and repurposing them on your blog and for article marketing is a super-smart strategy to increase buzz about you and your business. If you are not a writer, consider other options like hiring a ghost writer to write articles for you or recording yourself speaking and having your recording transcribed for you to edit. Showcasing your expertise in written format make it easy to build a resource library of your tips, tools and techniques that you can reuse for special reports, white papers, ebooks, teleseminars and even topics for public speaking.

Partnership Marketing

Partnering with other businesses who serve your target market in a different way is the third way to really move your business forward quickly. I call this Partnership Marketing. It’s a win/win/win situation. By that, I mean that you have a win, your partner has a win and your clients have a win. Everyone gets something that they need. What could be better than that?

Partnership Marketing happens when you join forces with another business for a mutually beneficial outcome. The outcome can be to build your list, to sell a product or service or to increase awareness of your business. Because there is a mutually beneficial outcome, it is critical to very carefully select partners that share your target market and offer a complimentary service. Many businesses share the same kinds of customers and clients and can greatly benefit by combining their efforts into one synergistic move, versus each of them performing their marketing alone. For example, If you own a spa, you could become an affiliate for a local fitness facility. You both share the goal of helping others look and feel great.

If you are already doing these things, look at how to maximize each one. There is always room for improvement. Just because something is working well does not mean that there is not room to better our efforts. Keep doing, keep learning and keep implementing new baby steps that will lead you to bigger and better outcomes.

© 2009 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, offers a free report called “101 Ways to Attract Ideal Clients, Build Your List and Raise Your Profile,” which can be downloaded immediately at www.RichLifeMarketing.com.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.

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5 Partnership Marketing Strategies for Attracting Better Clients

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Partnership Marketing means joining forces with another business for a mutually beneficial outcome. The outcome can be to build your list, to sell a product or service or to increase awareness of your business. Because there is a mutually beneficial outcome, it is critical to very carefully select partners that share your target market and offer a complimentary service. Many businesses share the same kinds of customers and clients and can greatly benefit by combining their efforts into one synergistic move versus each of them performing their marketing alone. There are many kinds of partnerships. This article will cover five of them.

Joint Venture (JV) Partners

A JV is when you and another business develop a program or service that did not exist before, market it together and share the financial outcome.

For example, I co-created a program called the Business Breakthrough Series™. Diana Long, a success coach, and I joined forces to co-create a 12-part teleseminar series that teaches solopreneurs and small business owners specific marketing tactics to increase their businesses. This program did not exist before. Together we designed the program, we created and implemented the marketing plan and we share the expenses and profits. There are many reasons to JV with others. You get to share the work, you get the benefit of promoting it to both of your lists which increases participation, you get to solve your target market’s problems in a new way.

Let me get you thinking:

* Are you a financial planner who works with divorced women? Create a teleseminar with a divorce attorney that covers your top tips.
* Are you a real estate agent? Create a workshop with a loan officer or mortgage broker that meets the needs of prospective first time home buyers.

Affiliate Partners

Affiliate Partnerships work in two ways. You promote another business’s products and/or they promote your products. There is a monetary exchange in the form of a percentage of the sale or a flat fee. The goal in this kind of partnership is to sell a product or service.

I’ll use the Business Breakthrough Series again as an example. We partnered with several other businesses who share our target market, and they told their lists about the program. When someone from their list joined the Business Breakthrough Series, the partner received a percentage of the sale. It was easy money for them, they got to serve their clients in a new way and Diana and I got to benefit by being exposed to other people in our target market who didn’t know of us before. It’s a win/win/win! My favorite!

Let me get you thinking:

* Do you own a spa? How about becoming an affiliate for a local fitness facility? You both share the goal of helping others look and feel great!
* Are you a life coach? How about being an affiliate for a meditation coach? You both share the goal of helping other become self aware, reducing stress and so forth.

General Partners

Referral sources, list builders and general promotions fall into this category.

There are many people, your clients most of all, who are thrilled to give you referrals without compensation. However, if you have a formal referral program in place, your referrals are likely to increase dramatically.

I know of an energy healer who asked all of her clients for referrals and incented them with a free energy session for each new paying client. With this one strategy, she filled her practice in less than 2 months and had a waiting list!

Using partners to help you build your list can be very beneficial. This is a strategy that works well for online marketers, but also for brick and mortar shops as well. For example, when someone signs up for ezine, you can offer the ezines of your general partners that they may be interested in. In exchange, your partners offer your ezine as well.

General promotion can work very well too. For example, if you own a pizza store, you can promote the neighborhood child play/party center. In return, the party center can recommend or require the pizza place for meals for kids parties.

Let me get you thinking:

* A Feng Shui consultant can partner with a spa, massage therapist, energy healer, life coach, nutritionist
* A wedding consultant can partner with a flower shop, caterer, bed and breakfast, stationary store
* A flower shop can partner with a garden center, stores in your area
* A small business attorney can partner with a branding agency, web site developer, marketing coach

Formal business partnerships

This gets into legal territory and because I’m not an attorney, I’ll leave this one to the professionals! But formally going into business with another person requires much more than a handshake. There are many reasons to do this and you should be crystal clear on your reasons prior to entering into this long-term partnership.

Let me get you thinking:

If you are interested in going into business with another person, ask these questions of yourself and your potential partner:

1. Why do you want a partner?
2. Why do you want me as a partner?
3. What strengths will you bring to this business?
4. What strengths do you think I am bringing to this business?
5. What is your vision for this business?

Sponsorships

This is where you get to think big! Are you an author or aspiring author? Did you know that you can get a sponsor to finance your book tour? Are you a motivational speaker? There are businesses out there that would love to sponsor your work.

The key to finding sponsorships is to find businesses who want to reach your target market. There are big players such as Hewlett Packard or Microsoft who promote women in business. If you are a woman and speak on a topic that is of interest to these companies, they may be interested in sponsoring you. As you can imagine, it takes some time to cultivate relationships with these big players, so don’t start down this path at the 11th hour. And also don’t forget that there are probably local businesses who may be interested in sponsoring your work locally! You’ll probably get less money, but if you don’t want to travel anyway, or you are just getting your feet wet with sponsorships, don’t forget to look in your own backyard.

Let me get you thinking:

* Are you a fashion consultant who just wrote a book? Partner with a local clothing boutique who can sponsor your local book tour.
* Are you an etiquette consultant? A regional restaurateur may be interested in sponsoring your regional workshops.

As you can see, there are many creative ways to use partnership marketing to creatively attract more ideal clients to your business. It starts with brainstorming ideas and them putting the best ideas into action! Start your brainstorming today and see what you can come up with!

© 2009 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, publishes Smart Marketing, a free bi-weekly ezine featuring marketing tools and resources designed to help the busy entrepreneur attract more clients. Subscribe today at www.richlifemarketing.com.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.

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8 Keys to Creative Client Attraction

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Marketing for the solopreneur really means attracting more clients. People in my circle of influence consistently comment about my ability to be creative yet practical about attracting ideal clients for myself and for my clients. How do I do it? I have an eight step process that I follow consistently to keep my pipeline filled with my ideal clients. Not all of them are ready to work with me at the same time or in the same program, and that’s perfectly fine with me. Filling my pipeline with my ideal clients and building a genuine relationship with them is paramount to my immediate and future success. Here are my eight steps.

  1. Commit to Attracting New ClientsI find that most solopreneurs find it difficult, if not impossible, to find time in their day to commit to marketing. This is a big catch 22 because if you don’t spend time on attracting your ideal clients, you will end up either working with anyone to crosses your path, even though they may not be ideal for you, or not finding any clients or customers.What you can do today:

    You calendar is your best friend when it comes to client attraction! Use it. Find a minimum of eight hours in your week to focus on attracting your ideal clients. Don’t worry right now what you will do with this time. Just carve out time on your calendar by noting: Creative Client Attraction Time.

  2. Define Your Target MarketIt may be true that anyone can buy your products and services, but figuring out who is most likely to buy your services will benefit you tremendously. When you know who is most likely to buy from you, you can spend some of your creative client attraction time to find large groups of these people. This allows you to be very strategic and targeted in the way that you use your time and where you spend your marketing budget. In addition, when you carve out a niche market, you become an instant expert! Who would you rather see if you have a heart issue: a family doctor or a cardiologist?What you can do today:

    Look at your existing client list – who do you like working with the most? Which clients and customers bought the most from you? What are common characteristics? Do they share a common trait – for example, are they all attorneys, mothers of preschoolers, business owners? Keep asking questions until you find some commonalities. These are clues to your target market.

  3. Know Your Target Market’s ProblemsNow that you have identified your target market, it’s imperative to learn what their struggles are. What are their pain points? What would they pay almost anything to have fixed? Once you have uncovered their problems, you can then create a meaningful solution. Once you create and communicate your solution, making sales and helping others becomes much easier.What you can do today:

    Understand that people don’t really care what you do. They only want to know if you can solve their problems. Take some of the client attraction time you’ve set aside and figure out the problems that your niche wants solved. You can do this in a variety of ways: a written survey, an online survey, informal communication with your clients and prospects, a focus group or even an email with a single question.

  4. Define Your Unique Selling PropositionChances are very good that you can name at least one other business that does the same kind of work that you do. So how are your clients and customers to decide who to work with? This is where your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) comes into play. Your USP tells the world how and why you are different than the rest. Think of the Food Channel. This channel is filled with cooking show after cooking show. We can see a variety of chefs prepare glorious meals and teach us how to make them in our own homes. What is it about each show that either draws us in or not? Here’ an example, “I’m Rachael Ray and I make 30 minute meals.” In 10 words, we understand what we’re going to get from her. Fast meals. Is she the only person who can make fast meals in 30 minutes? Absolutely not! But she’s the first one to say it and build her empire around it.What you can do today:

    During one of your Creative Client Attraction time blocks, write down 100 (yes, 100!) things that make you unique from your colleagues and competitors. The reason why I say 100 is that I want you to really dig deep and get beyond the superficial. Once you have that list, determine how you can use one or two of those things create statement that makes you stand out. Perhaps on Rachael’s list she wrote down: Fast meals.

  5. Create a Marketing Plan of ActionNow that you know all of the foundational pieces to your creative client attraction plan, you are ready to take a thirty thousand foot view of your current marketing activities. Your marketing plan of action is just that: an action plan that spells out exactly how you will reach out to your target market and, like a magnet, start attracting them to you.What you can do today:

    During one of your Creative Client Attraction time blocks, assign yourself this task: Make a list of all of the marketing tactics you are currently using. Which ones are paying off for you? Which ones are costing you money? Do you have the basics down: a great marketing message, an elevator speech, a high quality business card? Do you have a way to constantly reach out to your prospects, like an ezine? Do you have a compelling free offer to entice your target market to sign up for your ezine? Doing this assignment gives you the power to start making important decisions on where you spend your client attraction time and where you don’t.

  6. Leverage Your BusinessCreating leverage in your business is imperative. By leveraging your knowledge, you can start to shift your business away from only working hours for dollars, as in, “I charge $1000 a month for my services.” The truth is, if you only offer one way for your clients and prospect to work with you, you are leaving money on the table and are not serving them as well as you can. By creating packages and products, you can help more people and make more money. It’s the definition of a win/win!What you can do today:

    What common questions, problems or concerns do you hear from your customers and clients? How can you bottle and sell your solutions? There are many ways to do this but here are just a few ideas: ebooks, membership programs, teleseminars, coaching clubs. You can really get creative in this area of your client attraction! Put this assignment in your Creative Client Attraction time blocks.

  7. Create Systems in Your BusinessHave you ever said, “I just need to duplicate myself!” If you have, then you are ready to create a system around whatever you are frustrated with. To get ahead and stay ahead, having systems in place will help alleviate your frustration. Plus, having systems makes scaling your business so much easier.What you can do today:

    During one of your Creative Client Attraction time blocks, add the things that you would like to systematize. Processes like your client intake system, invoicing and tracking, filing, appointment setting, social media are all good things to systematize.

  8. Closing – Turn Prospects Into ClientsTo be great at creative client attraction, you need to know how to turn prospects in to clients. Otherwise, you’re just engaging in prospect attraction! Closing the sale does not ever have to make you feel pushy. If you are like most business people, women particularly, you have leads, but you don’t follow up. Why? Most of the time, it’s due to fear. Fear of being perceived as pushy, or having to talk about money or fear of being rejected.What you can do today:

    During one of your Creative Client Attraction time blocks, task yourself with making a list of your prospects. You will probably have between 5 and 50 if you really think about it. These are people who have shown some interest in your business. Make a decision to contact them and like Nike says, just do it.

© 2009 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, publishes Smart Marketing, a free bi-weekly ezine featuring marketing tools and resources designed to help the busy entrepreneur attract more clients. Subscribe today at www.richlifemarketing.com.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.

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