Zero Marketing is Not An Option

You know you need to market yourself and your business. You also know you need to do it consistently, to drive growth.

The problem is you’re not quite sure how to do it.

With so many options, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and do next to nothing. The reality, however, is you need to do something to get the phone ringing and generate new business opportunities.

You might try:

SEO marketing

Social media advertising

LinkedIn posts

Unsolicited referrals

Newsletters

The problem with these methods is they are passive, ineffective and inefficient for most professionals and firms. They also take too long and cost too much to generate adequate results.

Passive marketing is slow, expensive and frustrating. Trying to generate new business using only passive marketing is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

There is a better approach.

A powerful combination

For better business growth, use a combination of these two approaches:

Proactive prospecting – where you find the clients

Proactive and indirect marketing – where the clients find you.

5 proactive prospecting activities:

Cross selling to existing clients

Working with influencers

Asking existing clients for referrals

Contacting everyone in your professional and personal network

Nurturing prospective clients in your pipeline.

5 proactive marketing activities:

Inviting LinkedIn connections for offline conversations

Using targeted networking in your niche markets

Conducting workshops or webinars for your database contacts

Following up potential clients – suspects and prospects

Speaking to targeted niche market groups.

These 10 proactive prospecting and marketing approaches are proven, effective and efficient ways to build and maintain a strong, qualified sales pipeline.

Focus on Your Ratios

If you are a new professional, or if you are rebuilding or expanding your business, you should spend 60% of your available selling time on proactive prospecting activities and 20% on proactive marketing activities.

If you are a seasoned professional, managing a large portfolio, you should spend 35% of your available selling time on proactive marketing and 15% on proactive prospecting activities.

Never allow your business development activities to be dictated by your changing levels of enthusiasm or the ebb and flow of the market.

Remember, you can never have too many qualified leads. And, regardless of the stage you’ve reached in your career, zero marketing is never an option.