How much business do you have right now? Chances are, no matter how busy you are, you are always looking for new customers. With my business and web design, even though we have multiple customers at a time, we are constantly looking for new ones. We’d rather have a waiting list than nothing to do. With this in mind, effective marketing strategies are very important. Knowing what works and what doesn’t. 

One thing I’ve learned over time is that people like to do business with people they know and trust. That doesn’t mean that you can only get business from good friends, but it does mean that you need to spend time developing new relationships with all kinds of people even before you try and sell them something.

Once a potential client gets to know you, and he likes you, he will start to feel that he can trust you. Without having at least one of those factors, it will be difficult to gain him as a customer. These relationships can be started through many different methods. One method is direct contact. Direct contact can mean either personalized communication by mail, fax, email, social media, or my favorite, in person! But how do you make new contacts in person without actually going to your target market, businesses or individual homes and knocking on doors? One way is networking groups. Try your local Chamber of Commerce. They typically hold “New Business Members” nights and often times, they are start-up companies looking for services. These meetings are perfect for both new members and existing businesses. There is no awkwardness like there is in cold-calling. It’s like they expect to be approached with offers and you expect to find people needing your services.  Once you meet and exchange information and or provide marketing materials, you can follow-up by phone or by the less personal form of communication such as email, e-zines, newsletters.

If you’ve already joined the chamber, find out what local networking groups are available. Word of mouth is and excellent form of marketing. The more people you know, the more resources you have when your friends are looking for a certain product or service and the more people are spreading the word about your services or product. 

There is a great book called “Get Clients Now!” by C.J. Hayden and it lays out an Action Worksheet to determine your goals and then with the help of a 28 day program, helps you to lay out an effective strategy to gain the clients you need. I highly recommend this book! 

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 @ 4:41 pm on the category Business Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.