When you run your own small business, attracting new clients is often one of the biggest challenges you face.  And especially so when you are in the first couple of years of trading.

But how do you go about finding new clients?  And why do some businesses seem to attract new clients like a magnet and yet others slog away cold-calling day in, day out without much success?

Follow these 7 steps and you will find that you naturally attract new clients week after week.  And without the need to hard sell!

Step One:  Know who you want to attract.  I know this sounds pretty obvious but you will be surprised how many small business owners haven’t taken the time time to decide on who they want to work with.  They are so desperate to bring in the business, that they are prepared to work with everyone and anyone. 

Step Two:  Be specific about your target client.  For a small business to survive in today’s economy, the more specific you are about the client you want to attract, the more focused your marketing will be.  And the more focused your marketing is, the better results you will have.  Targeting “blue chip companies” or “women in their 40’s” is not specific enough.  I’m talking about writing out a personality profile outlining their likes, dislikes, family situation, career path, inside leg measurement!

Step Three:  Understand what their problems are.  The majority of new small businesses today are started because of someone’s passion and skills.  They use their past experience or re-training to start their own business without taking the time to really understand their target clients’ pain.  Without providing a remedy for their pain, it is very, very hard work promoting oneself.  So stop marketing a service or product just because you think it’s a great idea.  It is solving someone’s problems?

Step Four:  Create solutions to the problems.  If you have taken the time to really understand your target clients’ problems, it will make it far easier to create a programme, product or service that your clients want to buy.  You will have a programme, product or service which is marketable – that attracts enquires and leads because it is desired rather than needs the hard-sell because you think its needed.

Step Five:  Find out where your target clients hang out.  It’s hard work trying to talk to one person at a time.  Yes, you have to start from somewhere [and no the local telephone directory is not a great place to start!] but make it easy for yourself.  Do your research and find out what media they would read, what groups do they belong to, which conferences do they attend and which online forums do they chat on.  Become part of those groups and your messages can reach dozens, hundreds and even thousands of target clients at a time.

Step Six:  Find out how they like to communicate.  Just because you hate email, doesn’t mean that your clients will too.  Just because you love to tweet every day, doesn’t mean that your clients are addicted to twitter too.  Understand how your clients like to communicate and make sure you provide your marketing messages in a format they like to read and act on.  If that means getting your head around email marketing, then do it.  If that means spending more money on printed material, then do it.  But don’t assume – because you know that will just make an ass out of me and you!

Step Seven:  Make an offer they just can’t refuse.  If you have followed all six steps, then you should be a position to make an offer that your target client will have to act on straight away.  You’ve understand who you want to work with, you have created a solution to the problems they have, you have found out the right medium in which to communicate with them and start to build a relationship.  If you have all this, then you’ve done your market research and making an offer they just can’t refuse should be easy and simple to do.

Marketing is easy and simple.  Marketing is also a lot of fun.  And the reason why most small business owners shudder at the prospect of promoting themselves is often because they have missed out some [if not all!!] all these steps. 

Make it easy for you.  Follow these steps and you should find yourself attracting clients naturally to your business.  And not a hard-sell in sight!

When the global economy seems to be on meltdown and all around you, you are reading, watching and hearing bad news, it’s easy to get dragged in to a negative mindset.

If it’s happening to M&S and Woolworths, than it can happen to you, too!

Wrong.  As a self-employed professional who runs your own business, you have many advantages over the big brands.  You probably have very little in the way of overheads.  And you have the ability to be flexible and highly adaptable.  There is no reason why you can’t be successful whilst others around you get sucked down.

But there is no question you are going to have work smarter.  Not harder – just smarter.

These are the marketing rules that I am abiding by this year.

1. Be Focused. Now we are in full flow social media marketing, it’s easy to get dragged in to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, spending hours clicking links and watching videos.  But ignore these marketing tools at your peril.  Embrace these tools but be focused. Have a plan for each one, automate as much as possible and focus your time so you have the conversations and get straight back to your other marketing and business actions.

2. Be Proactive. Don’t just wait for business to come your way.  This year you have to go out and get amongst it.  Follow every lead up, reply to every email, return every call.  If you get complacent or feel like a duvet day, then expect your competitors to be the winners.  Be bold, be brave, be proactive.

3. Be Niche. If you haven’t embraced the rules of niche marketing, then this is the year to.  Woolworths is a great example of what not to do:  they tried to be everything to everyone and just couldn’t compete with the likes of Tesco and Amazon.  The more focused you are on what you offer your target clients, the more likely your marketing is going to reach out and grab their attention.

4. Be an Expert. Once you know your niche, make sure you own it.  Write articles, speak at conferences, be at the right events, get interviewed.  Become the one person that your potential clients think of when they have the problem you are able to solve.

5. Be Positive. Even when you may feel down on a Monday morning, make sure you are telling everyone how great business is.  If you are active on Facebook, Twitter or your blog, it is especially important that your messages are upbeat and positive.  Be honest, by all means, but if you feel crap and write about it from a negative point of view on the internet – its there for ever.  You want to attract potential clients – not repel them!