The previous blog post article outlined ways for you to get more clients online. This doesn’t mean you put all of your eggs in one basket, because there are still clients to be won over to your products and services by using traditional offline promotional methods …especially as so many businesses are drifting online to spend their marketing budgets.
Which means you can negotiate cheaper and free options for offline marketing to attract your dream clients and reap the rewards. Again, just as you did when attracting online clients in the previous article, sit down and clarify your goals and be as specific as possible, stating things like how many new clients you’d like to gain, how you’d like to go about getting these new clients who you’re going to prospect for.
Then go through this list below to judge which ones are suitable for you that can help you gain new clients…
Media: Local, and even national newspapers, magazines and publications, are still a great way to get in front of potential clients by negotiated good deals and getting agreement to run you free editorial sections. These offline paper versions still like to print great stories with photographs, so keep your eye on the look out for opportunities and contact the right press people and let them know what you can do for them.
Events and Networking Meetings: Also look out for events that are related to your product and services. Prepare how you are going to participate as a visitor or if you become a regular member of a group by making yourself visible and create fun and interesting material to pass out. Then make sure you follow up with people you meet by figuring out what they need and want from you before requesting any favours from them. You can set up your own events such as…
Workshops: These are great for bringing together your potential clients with you existing clients who can act as social proof for the value of your offers. So, have a well-planned curriculum with demonstrations and exercises. You can both give away free samples and subtly sell to interested parts. Just don’t over do it and use a pull sales strategy, rather than push them into committing there and then. And make sure you collect contact information, follow up and nurture your new prospects. And of course, thank your current customers in ways you think appropriate for generously giving up their valuable time to support you.
Contact Your Local Chamber of Commerce: Join your local chamber of commerce or other business groups to benefit from gaining access to exclusive events and training, their mailing lists and people they know who they could refer you to and/or other businesses that could benefit from your products and services.
Public Speaking Engagements: Find events where you can speak or host your own events. Publish engagements on your website and social media platforms and focus on an activity or problem that would help clients.
Referrals: This is perhaps the very best way to get new clients offline, so, it’s must that you put a system in place for asking for and getting referrals. Most businesses either overlook or fail to ask their happy customers to refer them and yet they’re missing out on a wonderful way to use social proof to get others who would be more than happy to recommend to family, friends and colleagues …even other businesses. Do your best to set up others to help and support you by exceeding service expectations and then providing great information and resources for them to use and refer you when they hear someone talking about a product and service experience they want and need which is just yours.
Next Steps: Which of the above ideas could you now potentially use to get more clients for your business? Which ones sound the most interesting to you? And which are workable within your marketing budget?
When you work out which ones you’re going to add to your regular marketing activities, start off with one or two of tactics that play to your strengths and gradually add more after getting some results. Make that you test every tactic in details and measure and monitor everything closely.
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