Marketing Rules for Solo-Professionals

The 3 Golden Marketing Rules
By Karen Skidmore

Marketing questions are by far the most popular topic that I get asked about.

“How do I target corporate clients?”

“How do I attract clients?”

“I find that I don’t really enjoy marketing and am not very confident that I can generate enough business or even how to do that.”

These are just some of the emails I have had this week. It seems that marketing is one huge topic that stumps many of you when you are out on your own and working for yourself. And I can relate to this.

After all, it was exactly three years ago that I sat at my desk in my home office with a phone and a PC wondering where on earth my customers would come from. All I had was 50 contacts made up of friends and family (I threw away all my business contacts from my 11 year corporate career thinking I wanted to be rid of my background and wanted to start again – umm, not something I recommend to anyone now!!).

As I sat there waiting for the phone to ring I made a decision that I couldn’t sit there and wait. I had to get out there and market myself.

If you are sitting at your desk wondering when your phone is going to ring next, here are my three Golden Rules to Marketing.

1. Marketing is Fun
Many women seem to speak about marketing their business with a grimace on their face. They often associate the word “marketing” with “cold-calling” and “leaflet dropping.” If these were the only ways to attract clients I think I would have given up a long time ago.

There are many, many ways to market yourself. Just think about the dozens of ways you communicate with people on a week by week basis. From phone calls to meeting people face-to-face. From emails to popping a postcard in the letter box.

Why do the things that fill you with dread when you can choose between having a cup of coffee with someone to writing an article for your local newspaper.

Think about what you enjoy doing. Do you like standing up and speaking in front of audience? Do you enjoy writing articles or developing workshop programmes? Do you prefer using the phone or like getting out and meeting people face-to-face?

If you are not focusing on what you enjoy doing, then marketing is horrid.

Focus on what you love to do and that way marketing becomes fun. Something that you look forward to doing.

2. Marketing happens each and every day
In simple terms, marketing is communicating with potential customers and building relationships with them so that, at some point in the future, they purchase from you (preferably several times) and go on and tell others about what you do.

Marketing is not something that you have a blast at for 2 days one week and then don’t bother for the rest of the month.

Marketing needs and should happen each and every day of your working life. Every time you send an email think about what you are communicating about. Can you include a link to one of your products or programmes at the bottom of your email signature?

Every time you meet someone think about how you follow up. Can you send them something in the post that may be useful to them and help them remember you and what you do?

Marketing happens every time you speak about your business, email someone about your business and write about your business.

3. Marketing is doing more of less
One of the biggest reasons that most self-employed people end up hating marketing is that they flit from one thing to the next.

Too many people end up placing an advert in their local newspaper, submit a few articles online, turn up to a dozen or so networking events, make 20 cold calls and send out a direct mailing to a database they bought. And after 3 weeks then declare none of it works.

If it far more effective and far easier to pick just two marketing activities to do each and every day for several months AND then always measure the results.

The repeated actions also help make marketing part of the way you communicate so that the process becomes a subconscious one. The marketing process can be so natural that neither you nor your prospect client, think of it as marketing. It just helps build that relationship. When this happens, it is time to start with the next one and then the next.

So remember: Less is more if it is done each and every day with a smile on your face.

Karen Skidmore publishes her weekly newsletter for coaches, consultants, therapists, trainers and -. If you would like the latest practical, no-nonsense marketing advice to help you attract more clients, then sign up at http://www.CanDoCanBe.com TODAY for free!

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