Top marketing strategies for your consulting business

According to a study, 32% of consultants struggle to get their marketing right. However, you do not have to share this fate with the herd when you can do better. Hence, we aim to share strategies to help you generate clients when you want and need them and give you some control over your business growth rather than just floating aimlessly. We want you to have systems that can get predictable results and generate clients. 

This article discusses eight major marketing strategies. With each, you can gain a better understanding of how to market your consulting service, identify gaps and areas for improvement, and plan strategies to make your consulting business exciting and growth-oriented. The eight marketing strategies you must have in your consulting business are as follows:

1. Generate quality leads

You need to know how to promote your consulting business to generate leads, which ultimately means consistently attracting clients to your business. So this is where the question 'do you have a trusted marketing technique that generates clients for you, and do you know how to market yourself as a consultant?' comes to play. Below are sub-strategies on how to market your consulting business, generate leads and get paying clients.

Start your consulting business with Workee today. It's 100% free!

2. Keep track of winning strategies

Under lead generation, there can be different kinds of things. A clue as to what you need to include here is to look back at what brought your clients to you because that shows you what's working in your consulting marketing strategy and what is not. Go through your clients, as many as you can remember, and note how each of them found you and how they came to work with you. That shows you what is working in your marketing. As a consultant, keeping an eye on winning marketing strategies will help you consistently generate more leads without burning your marketing resources. 

3. Use referrals and joint ventures

Gaining clients through referrals or joint ventures is one of the most efficient marketing strategies consultants can use in growing their businesses. According to a study, 37% of consultants adopt referrals as their primary source of client generation. However, you will need a referral system with a reward model to get the best out of this strategy. This will give you control of the referral inflow and motivate your partners to continue to refer clients your way.

4. Build your brand

As a consultant, you should also be able to generate clients without relying on anyone else or other businesses. So consider building your brand and being consistent enough in your consultancy marketing strategy that you attract your leads. The traditional way you can do this is to imbibe the "Why Principle" into your marketing strategy. In Simon Sinek's words, people don't buy what you do; they buy Why you do it. Once you have done this, organize a get-together to educate people about your brand. You can also get in front of other audiences that have your potential clients in them. If you can build your brand around clients who share your core values and philosophies, you will have a cult followership that will consistently sing your brand's praise at every opportunity.

Start your consulting business with Workee today. It's 100% free!

5. Network

Networking is the tried and true method of lead generation, and most consultants have discovered that networking has brought them almost all their clients and the jobs they have had. Networking is a good way to get in front of those potential clients. Nowadays, where everything is almost done online, we see that online networking, especially in the networking event setting, is growing and gaining traction. Networking on Facebook, LinkedIn, and all social media platform are super powerful tools where you can connect meaningfully with others for mutual benefit and get them to get to know you. 

6. Publish content online

Previously, publishing was limited to writing a book, having a newspaper column, publishing something in a magazine, and so on. The internet then democratized publishing, removing the need for having a newspaper column. Nowadays, you can have a blog and be visible. Also, social media has made it possible to post little snippets of an article.

The intention of publishing online is to put out nuggets that attract your perfect clients to you. Publishing doesn't have to look like writing; it can look like video. There are many ways you can create a piece of value and put that in front of your audience. As a consultant, it is immaterial if this strategy has generated clients for you in the past. It is critical to employ the publishing strategy anyway because it is how you build your brand and get known as a thought leader and how people know what realm you're an expert in. 

7. Use direct outreach

There are some excellent methods for doing direct outreach that could be very beneficial to you. You could contact potential clients directly, use existing contacts to spread the word, use social media, make tempting offers, and so on. Direct contact should not be limited to selling something to them. It should include reaching out to potential clients, providing value, and showing them why they need you.

Start your consulting business with Workee today. It's 100% free!

8. Follow up

The next thing you need to do in marketing a consulting business is a follow-up. You need to have a follow-up system as part of your consultant marketing strategy because sometimes a client might be interested in your service but not ready for it at a particular time for several reasons. However, it would be best if you found a way to remain in their minds so that you will be the go-to when they are ready. Follow-up when marketing a consulting business is achieved through the following;

• Automated emails/calls

When you contact a person, always make sure that they are glad that they got an email or call from you or that you have been able to impart a little bit of value to them or share a tip. Please give them a little piece of value so they're happy they took your call or read your email. This will keep you relevant in their minds.

• Manual follow-up

Apart from an automated emailing system, you will need a little manual follow-up, so have a system where you know all the basic info about your potential clients. What you don't want to happen is not haven't kept in touch at all. So that when the need is finally awakened and they are ready for your offerings, you will be the first on their mind.

• Consistent communication

Continuous communication is similar to follow-up, but in this case, you deal with everyone who needs to know about you for whatever reason. You keep in touch with them, and in so doing, you are keeping your brand at the top of their minds. This is great for referral partners and colleagues. It can be people who have not inquired completely about your services but are hovering around in your orbit. You can keep in touch in the following ways; 1. Email newsletter/Social Media groups

The easiest way to keep in touch is with an email newsletter. So definitely try to get someone to sign up for your email newsletter if that's how you can do it. You can also have a Facebook or a LinkedIn group to nurture your leads easily. 

2. Snail Mail

You can send a snail mail to those big potential clients you need to keep in touch with but have refused to sign up for your email newsletter or be in your group. Keeping in touch is how to market a consulting business even before the clients have inquired specifically about your services, but you want to stay on their radar screen.  

Start your consulting business with Workee today. It's 100% free!

3. Phones/In-Person/Podcasts

Apart from those mentioned above, to market consultancy business, phones and in-person are great ways of keeping in touch, as well as podcasts. In the case of a podcast, it is not for a specific person but very general. However, it is an excellent way to nurture a general audience. 

Promote your consulting business with Workee

Workee offers an all-in-one solution where professionals can handle business processes and save hundreds of dollars and time. Workee is the simplest tool that makes it easy to manage work, your clients, and payments in one place. You do not need to have different tools for calls, bookings, payments, and CRM. Run business in one place with Workee.

Start your consulting business with Workee today. It's 100% free!

Conclusion

Even though luck can play a role in marketing, the success of your consulting firm cannot be built solely on chance. As a result, standing out from the crowd necessitates a well-thought-out approach to the market. These strategies are effective at attracting new prospects. If you give them a shot, you could be on the fast track to success.