Over the past couple of months, I’ve sliced and diced the whole topic of Positioning and laid it all out on a silver platter for you.
If you’ve followed along and implemented the action steps I suggested in those posts, you now have a web presence (website and social profiles) that includes:
- Copy that speaks directly to your Ideal Client Avatar about their problems and empathizes with their situation,
- Positions you as an authoritative expert in your niche,
- And offers a solution to your Ideal Clients’ problems that’s unique from what your competitors offer.
And that’s fantastic.
So now, it’s time to talk about Marketing, which is Phase Two of my Consulting Business Blueprint.
Because, after all…
Now that you have your messaging right, you want as many eyeballs on that message as possible.
So, over the course of the next few blog posts, I’m going to dig into this phase of your business building efforts a bit.
Two Goals for Your Marketing Message
But before we get too deep in the weeds, I want to talk today a little more broadly about the goals of your marketing efforts and several pathways people can follow on their journey to becoming a client of yours.
Notice that I said “goals” and “pathways,” plural.
Because, in order to build a marketing engine that delivers new clients consistently over the long haul, there are two goals that you need achieve:
- Goal #1: Attract the attention of prospects, make them aware of your expertise, and direct them to your website, where…
- Goal #2: You can either sell them on your services directly or get them to opt-in to your email list.
And in order to achieve these two goals, you need to establish a system that brings people consistently into your world and then converts them into either immediate buyers or followers who may become buyers in the future.
And that system consists of three pathways…
Three Pathways for Your Marketing Message
Think of those two goals I just mentioned as destinations. You want to go from where you are now and arrive at those destinations.
But, as with any other trip, there are usually multiple ways of getting from point A to point B. And when it comes to marketing, that’s true, also.
Pathway #1: The first pathway is content marketing.
I’ll go into this in detail in the coming posts, but here are the basics for now…
Content marketing is often referred to as “inbound marketing” in the sense that you put content out there into the world, people find it, and they come to you (inbound traffic) to learn more.
The big challenge with content marketing is that you’re putting out content to what’s often called “cold traffic.” This means the people who find your content often have never heard of you before, meaning that you’re probably going to have to demonstrate your expertise to them multiple times before they feel confident enough about you to reach out directly to learn more.
As such, content marketing is playing the “long game.” Sure, sometimes someone will really resonate with a single piece of content and opt into your world right away, but that’s definitely the exception to the rule.
Pathway #2: The second pathway is outbound marketing.
This is where you reach out directly to individuals, connect with them, provide value, and build a relationship. In other words, to use the “old school” term: networking.
With today’s social media platforms, this is a lot easier than it used to be, and some aspects of the process can be delegated to a VA or even automated with AI agents.
Again, this is reaching out to people who don’t know you yet (cold traffic), but in a more direct, one-to-one way.
And yes, it takes some time to build relationships online, but with persistence and a willingness to be helpful, you can create new fans and followers using this approach.
The goal of both Pathway #1 and Pathway #2 is the same–to invite these people to click through to your website.
Now, when they land on your website, you hope that they read all about you, learn more about your offer, and click your call to action button to contact you about hiring you.
That’s the ultimate. But (sorry if this brings you down) only a very small percentage of the people who land on your website are going to become clients right away.
And that leads us to…
Pathway #3: The third pathway is building an in-house email list and marketing directly to the people on your list.
When someone comes into your world from pathway #1 or pathway #2, you want to, at the very least, capture their name and email address while they’re there.
You do this by offering them something of value (aka, a “lead magnet”) while they’re on your site. If they sign up for your lead magnet, even if they don’t contact you directly right away, you’ve still managed to bring them one step deeper into your world.
And now that you have them on your list, you can continue to deliver value, grow the relationship, and market new offers to them over time.
This group of people who have joined your list will become your best source of future clients, hands down.
And that’s Marketing in a nutshell…
- Get the attention of people who match the characteristics of your Ideal Client
- Share valuable content with them and/or
- Reach out to them directly to start building a relationship
- Give them a reason to click through to your website to learn more about you and present them with your direct offer
- And, while they’re there, give them a reason to sign up for your in-house email list
Now, there’s a lot of detail not included in that description, so over the next few days, I’ll flesh all of this out a bit more.
So, if you’re not currently getting enough people to visit your site, or you’re not getting your site visitors to convert into clients, or at least to sign up for your email list (or you don’t even have a list yet), stay tuned as I break it all down for you in coming posts.
Till then…
To Your Success,
Willy
P.S.–If you have questions about the basic outlines of the marketing approach I’ve laid out above, don’t hesitate. Hit me up with those questions.
I’m here for you.
Just reply in the Comments and lay it on me. I get back to people in 24 hours or less.
Or, if you ever want to reach out, just email me at willy@edconsultantmarketing.com.
