What are you doing to get new clients?

When people ask how I get new clients, the honest answer is: I do mainly what suits me.

I’m a people person, so good old-fashioned networking and referral relationships work well for me. But formats like networking events, BNI, or Chamber of Commerce meetups aren’t a great fit for everyone. They require flexible schedules and energy levels and an outgoing personality, which means they’re a great fit for some, and a terrible fit for others.

My advice for you is:

Start with what you’re comfortable with.

Do you enjoy writing? Lean into it, with blogging, email newsletters, or articles placed in other publications.

Do you like being helpful? Answer questions and give advice in facebook groups.

Do you enjoy teaching? Find places to teach – maybe at a local college or you could host a “meet the expert” session in your community.

Big community person? Have a booth at a local community event or at local markets (even if you don’t sell physical products).

Care about causes? Donate vouchers to charity auctions, or donate some of your services to local nonprofits.

Like talking? Get on podcasts and local radio stations.

Love linkedIn? Do that. Hate linkedIn but love instagram? Do that. You get the drift.

If all else fails, you can throw money at the problem and pay for SEO, paid ads in classic media, or pay somebody do do your social media for you.

Why take the easy path first?

If you start with the things that are in line with your personality,

• those are the exact things that you’ll be good at,
• you won’t hate every minute of it,
• if you’re genuine in your approach, people will more easily believe and trust you, which is essential in your marketing,
• and if it isn’t fun, you’re not going to consistently do it anyway.

Then in time, leave your comfort zone just a bit and try out another approach to see what happens. I have tried everything one of above list over the years and found value in all of them!

Whatever you end up doing, marketing is a lot of work – that’s why we marketing people get paid to do it. But you can (and should) do some of it yourself – hopefully this list can get you started 🙂