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marketing for a consulting business?

st8icst8ic subscriber Posts: 11 Bronze Level Member
edited May 2008 in Marketing
What is the best way to market a brand new consulting business? Could be any kind, but just for the sake of argument let`s say it`s a business consulting firm.
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    RStudiosRStudios subscriber Posts: 0
    Website, then connecting with potential clients through that website. A great site with an informative blog and newsletter, then start driving traffic.
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    klafranceklafrance subscriber Posts: 1
    Also, start participating in forums, offering your expertise. Like this one.
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    Lynn59Lynn59 subscriber Posts: 1
    A website is vital, but without marketing strategies to let people know about your site, it`s like opening a business in an alley without a sign. I agree, Forums are a great idea. Article writing and submitting to websites that target the same market that you are going for also establishes you as an expert and usually has a link back to your website. Adding your site to as many relevant web directories also works. And the best thing I`ve done so far is to implement almost everything I read about in the marketing workbook I received FREE from socialmediadaily.com. My website used to be hidden several pages into a Google search . . . now I`m on the first page.
     
     
    Lynn595/15/2008 4:22 PM
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    Lynn59Lynn59 subscriber Posts: 1
    I almost forgot . . .  social networking, both online and in person, has brought clients and prospects my way.
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    st8icst8ic subscriber Posts: 11 Bronze Level Member
    I appreciate all of the replies guys! What I do isn`t really considered consulting, although I equate the marketing aspect of it to that of a consulting business. It`s project management for manufacturing projects. What that means is that I can facilitate the design, drafting and manufacturing of parts, equipment and consumer products.
    I`m a little bit hesitant to post links to my site on forums such as this one, because if these posts are indexed by google then they will show up when somebody searches my company name. I`m not saying that it`s a bad idea, but it may devalue this type of company. I currently have a website and a google adwords campaign running, and it`s getting a lot of clicks. The problem is that so far there has been no conversion...no calls or emails.
    Are you guys aware of anywhere I may post the site, where people may be looking for these kinds of services?
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    Lynn59Lynn59 subscriber Posts: 1
    I personally don`t think it would devalue your type of company. Google is one of the best ways to search for anything on the Internet, from a small craft site to a huge corporation. I am a Christian life coach, and many life coaches and other extremely reputable businesses are found in a Google, Alta Vista, etc. search. If you are having about 100 clicks, but no conversions, you may not be reaching the right target audience and need to further market your business somehow.
     
    Anyone else have any thoughts?
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    SecurityProfessionalSecurityProfessional subscriber Posts: 2
    I have been in consulting for over 20 years and I believe that this is the type of business that has to be developed the old-fashioned way.While a web site is a nice backdrop to your other marketing efforts, I don`t think that consultants in specialized fields such as yours or mine can rely on it for a very significant portion of our business. I think you are kidding yourself if you think you can simply put up a web site and wait for the business to roll in.
     
    Most people who need specialized consulting services aren`t even aware that such services exist, and therefore, won`t be searching for them on Google or anywhere else. Your biggest task will be educating potential clients to the benefits of using an outside consultant to do their project management. Once you`ve sold them on the concept of using a consultant, selling yourself is the easy part.
     
    Some things I suggest:

    Develop a list of the 100 most likely customers that could need your services. Identify the decision makers for each, cold call and tell them what you do, and follow-up with a letter and/or brochure. Keep in mind that most buyers for your type of service most often welcome the chance to learn about opportunities to outsource/sub-contract work to people such as you, so you will face far less rejection than someone who was selling a commodity product.
    Join industry-related trade associations and participate in the meetings of any local chapters.
    Subscribe to industry-related publications and online forums and make regular contributions in terms of postings and/or articles.
    Contact individuals and companies who already offer the same types of services that you propose to provide and tell them what you are up to. Although counter-intuitive, competitors can be an excellent source of work, particularly for the smaller/newer company.
    Look at help-wanted ads and job posting boards (such as Monster) for companies recruiting people to provide the types of skills and services that you propose to provide. In many cases, companies seeking employees are willing to consider alternatives to directly hiring someone and may choose to outsource if they know such a service is available.

    I wish you much success in the endeavor!
     
     
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    qsoundrichqsoundrich subscriber Posts: 0
    Some great advice here, esp. from Mr. Silva.  I am sort of in a predicament where I could probably get a job at a few different companies (who have jobs posted), but I would rather get my consulting business off the ground.  Of course in the shaky economy, I have a lot of worries about trying to find consistent business (and get paid in a timely manner.) 
    So the companies I would target would be the same ones looking for employees or contract workers.  Unfortunately, many of them are posted by headhunting-type companies and I`m not really sure how to bypass them and figure out who to talk to inside the actual target company. 
    FYI I`m in the software engineering business.  I`m hoping to build something I can scale up and subcontract, and not just do by the hour consulting. 
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