Showing posts with label strategies to gaining clients. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strategies to gaining clients. Show all posts

Thursday, August 9, 2018

How 3 Simple Strategies Attract More Clients Into Your Business


It has never been easier to launch a business, but how do you attract endless clients and customers? In the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival, Airbnb founder Brian Chesky said, “we are in a world where people can become businesses in 60 seconds.” Shifting trends, such as globalization, give us access to the top quality talent around the globe. The Information Age allows us to access answers to almost any question imaginable with a few clicks of a keyboard. 

Technology offers access and automation, often for free. According to futurist Peter Diamandis, “As individuals, we are now able to do what only large corporations and governments could do 20 years ago.” In fact, 33% of US workers have made money in what analysts call the YouEconomy. Serial entrepreneur Mel Robbins, author of The Five-Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence With Everyday Courage, is adamant that we step into the YouEconomy sooner rather than later. We can make extra money on the side, or replace a 9 to 5 income with our own businesses. The opportunity is great if we know how to take advantage of it.

According to SUCCESS Magazine, here are seven key ways to get involved in the YouEconomy, step into greater ownership of our lives and create a blueprint for a brighter financial future:

Sharing: Feel like earning extra money in a side hustle? Download an app and get started. Lyft and Airbnb offer you the opportunity to set your hours of availability and your earning potential.

Education: Everyone is an expert in something. Create a digital course that sells your expertise or offer workshops for companies and organizations yourself. This one-to-many business model could offer a low-overhead, high-profit-margin option and this allows others to benefit from your knowledge.

Platform: Build a platform that allows others to set up YouEconomy businesses under your umbrella. CrateJoy and CreativeLive are examples of tech-based platforms with high scalability potential.

Gig: Have marketable skills to share? Companies such as The Upside, Upwork, and Power To Fly offer professionals competitive rates for flexible work options, often from home. Whereas Handy, and Thumbtack allow you to access clients and customers who need your services and perhaps bid for the project.

Direct Selling: Want a low barrier to entry with a proven model? According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and 21st Century Business, network marketing is a promising option for individuals now and in the future. You can promote science-backed, high-quality products as an extra income or make millions with this scalable business venture.

Online Marketing: Already have a platform, such as a thriving Instagram account or popular blog? Leverage your hard-earned community to start an online marketing business selling other products and services as an affiliate. Amazon is a great example of this business model, which is available for individuals, also.

Entrepreneurship: Ready to take the leap? You can purchase a franchise or create a custom business selling products and services online or in a brick and mortar store. The only limit is your imagination and skill set.

According to the Kauffman startup index, 550,000 companies are launching every single month. Although launching a YouEconomy business takes seconds, there is often a gap between start and success. For example, with millions of competitors vying for clients and customers, how do you differentiate yourself in a sea of similar options?

If you feel like you are struggling to find a way to stand out, position yourself as the go-to candidate, or become a household name, the secret lies in the art of visibility.




In future articles, I will expand on each of the categories below. For now, here are 3 fundamental strategies to set yourself apart, attract more clients and customers, and position yourself for success:

  1. Lead with empathy: As a member of the YouEconomy, you are a solution-creator. Successful businesses solve real problems that real people have. Data-driven big companies may satisfy stakeholders and investors, but YouEconomy entrepreneurs need to remember their customer’s emotion. Listen and get to know your customer like a close friend. Take notes on the struggles that they express. Those struggles ensure your business success if you solve them appropriately. Build a communication strategy to reach and resonate with your audience from a place of empathy.
  2. Secure testimonials: Your business grows when your prospects know you have something they need and they trust you enough to work with you. According to Jeff Bezos, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room.” Secure testimonials from clients, customers, and leaders in your industry to make yourself as an industry expert. (Even better if they are in video format.) Testimonies should demonstrate results, affiliation, and credibility, which will convert to business growth.
  3. Generate visibility: No one can buy from you if they do not know you exist. The primary goal of media and publicity is amplification and social proof. Visibility allows you to stand out in a crowded marketplace; whether through paid or earned media, it is a critical component to business success. Getting featured in the media should be a consistent part of your growth strategy. By raising visibility, you can connect with a broader audience, capture their attention, and convert them into clients and customers.

I am an award-winning visibility strategist who helps people package and share their message for maximum impact. Get my 5 Proven Pitch Templates here.



Source: https://www.forbes.com
Image Credit: Unsplash



ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!
Join WNFP Communities!

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Email Marketing Is Still The Top Way To Generate Leads


As the general public became familiar with electronic communications, mass postal-mail marketing campaigns gave way to email marketing campaigns. If you have been working in marketing prior to the social media boom, you surely remember when emails were the top marketing platform.

Over time, the popularity of email marketing campaigns resulted in personal email inboxes that were overflowing with the latest and greatest offers. Email campaigns grew and people grew tired of them. Laws that allowed customers to unsubscribe breathed new life into email marketing campaigns as customers could easily pick and choose the companies they were interested in.

Email marketing has long been a tried-and-true method for generating leads. This approach continues to enjoy a strong track record in spite of the rise of social media platforms. Email marketing is still an efficient way to generate leads at a reasonable cost.

One thing that hasn’t changed with email marketing is that you need to be strategic about how you word every part of marketing emails. One of the best things about email subscriptions of today is that you can count on your prospects having some level of interest in your product or service that encouraged them to sign up for your subscription list to begin with.


Write email campaigns that get results.

One of the first lessons that I learned about email marketing campaigns is to give sincere thought to how a customer perceives every component of the email, starting with the subject line. Media headlines grab your attention and get you to listen longer or read further. A meaningful subject line for an email offers the same punch. Subject lines should be relevant, interesting and genuine.

Journalism students quickly learn how the inverted pyramid style of writing gives readers the most important information first. The rest of the paragraph or article supports the initial information or offers additional details. Your email marketing customers will respond to the same style of writing. They want the big news first because they’re often reading your email while they’re commuting or at work. If they want the details, they’ll read the email again just before they buy.

Keep your emails simple and minimal. Just as a crisp, pressed business suit sends a professional message, a clean, uncluttered email tells consumers that you are professional. If you can’t create a professional-looking email, look for professional-looking templates where you can fill in the blanks.

Be cognizant of your purpose. Each of your emails should have a clear goal such as educating your customer, asking for referrals or getting them to follow your company’s social media platforms.

Engage your email readers with content that is short and to the point. Wordiness and fluff have no place in email marketing campaigns. Reveal your purpose up front and talk about how your purpose relates to the customer to get a connection started. Choose large fonts in an easy-to-read style. Your readers may be people who constantly read while they’re on the go or they may have poor eyesight. You’ll want them to be able to read and scan the email quickly.

Move the wording in your email toward your call-to-action section quickly and make the action that you want them to take ultra-clear. Try to think about the ways emails in your inbox grab your attention and those that cause you to hit delete.


ADVERTISEMENT 


Create customized emails for cold leads from all sources.

The main sources from which I get our leads are our blogs, organic traffic, pay-per-click ads and salespeople. No matter where you source your leads, use several email chains that are customized according to what those leads are looking for. Next, categorize them and get them in the right automated email chain. This places them in your sales funnel to warm them up and get them ready for sales.


Generate leads from blogs.

Our prospects love our informative blog articles. Use your blog as an opportunity to send them related articles. This primes the prospect for a call to action asking them if they want you to call them.


Move warm email leads to hot leads and make the sale.

It’s important to give your warm leads as much attention as your cold leads. When our emails move from the cold list to the warm list, I have a specific email that I send to nurture the relationship and make it a little warmer. I also include a thoughtful testimonial to help gain credibility.

After sending the warm email, follow up with a second email asking if they’re still looking for your services. Include a sale offer or coupon to move the lead closer to a sale.


Test and analyze email marketing campaign results.

There’s still a lot of power in A/B split testing. Testing emails reduces bounce rates, tells you more about your customers, increases conversions and is cost effective.

In analyzing my email marketing campaigns, I look for open rates at 30% or higher to know if they were successful. I don’t expect as much from click-through rates, where I like to see around the 5% range.


When a new approach to marketing takes marketers by storm, some marketers make the mistake of moving into new strategies full force, leaving methods that have worked well in the past smoldering in the dust. The best marketing campaigns use several marketing forms simultaneously. The key to maximizing results with every effort is to know your purpose, target the right customers and learn from your results.



Source: https://www.forbes.com
Image Credit: Pexels



ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!
Join WNFP Communities!
Business blogs
Business Blogs - Blog Rankings