WomenCo.

12 Steps for Marketing Yourself and Your Business

Whether you’re starting a new business or looking to branch out on your own as a consultant, marketing your products or services can be challenging, not to mention expensive.

- Warm Up Your Prospects: Don’t cold call. Instead, “send a short, tight, funny intro letter with samples of past work,” says freelance writer David Geffner. “Then follow up with an email or phone call.”

- Get Around: Attend seminars, trade shows and industry forums – anywhere potential customers gather. Prep a brief intro, then hand them your card. “Then go home and send a short intro letter (or email) saying that you wanted to follow up as discussed,” Geffner says. This shows you’re truly interested in working together.

- Network: Word-of-mouth is the least expensive form of marketing. “Ask friends if they have friends of their own who work in your industry,” Geffner suggests. “A foot in the door that’s already cracked is a whole lot more productive than trying to kick open doors.”

Online Tactics

- Use Email: If you can easily share your work through email, periodically send some examples to friends, peers and previous clients, Geffner says. “It’s a gentle reminder you’re looking for work; it’s not a resume,” he explains. Geffner likes to refer to it as “shameless self-promotion.”

- Invest in a Web Site: Good online marketing works, and the first step is building a good Web site that showcases your skills and experience. Heather Hesketh, CEO of the Web services firm Hesketh.com, believes creating a Web site makes a statement: “One overarching reason to create a Web site is to establish credibility.”

- Be Sure You’re Found: Include popularly searched work-related keywords in the headers and content of your site. “Your ranking also improves if people link to you,” Hesketh says. “If you publish a useful article that folks might link to in their blog, you can increase your ranking, because your perceived relevance is higher.”

- Build Community: Blogs help communicate aptitude and project a corporate persona. “Another value is in building community and a personal relationship with prospective clients or folks that would generate referrals,” Hesketh says. Try a blogging service like Six Apart’s TypePad or Google’s Blogger. And don’t forget to reach out to your competition. Good leads can come from unlikely places.

- Share Your Expertise: Create an e-newsletter to disseminate your professional know-how. To increase your chances of recipients actually reading it, go heavy on helpful advice and lighter on promotion.

Collateral Tactics

- Leave a Trail: After a meeting, don’t just leave your resume. A writer might give out a nice pen printed with her name and Web site or contact information. An illustrator could do the same with a small sketch/notepad. Or try sticky notes with your logo or name. Lynda Gluck, president of EARA Advertising, believes this strategy serves multiple purposes: “They’re promotional and practical.”

- Don’t Keep Your Cards: Never leave the house without your business cards, and hand them out like candy, Gluck advises. You never know who might need your services or know someone who does. Want something spiffier? “Get adhesive card-sized magnets, and stick your card right on,” she notes. “Now you’ve got a card that stands out from the crowd.”

- Give a Useful Gift: Instead of holiday cards, send a calendar emblazoned with your name and contact information. If you’re a designer or photographer, include original art to display your talents. “It’s estimated that we check our calendars about five to 10 times a day,” says Gluck.

- Stand Out When Keeping in Touch: Don’t wait until December to send a holiday card. “Try Thanksgiving (as in ‘thanks for your business’) or some holiday related to your work,” Gluck says. For example, if you’re in the yard-grooming business, send a friendly note on May 28 to commemorate Slugs Return from Capistrano Day, she suggests.

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