Alpha consultants and developers often network for tips on how to market themselves and their services more effectively. I've compiled eight of the most popular suggestions. Some you might already be doing; others will (hopefully) be new and useful.
1. Get a professional Web site. Don't laugh. Many professional consultants and small business owners don't have a good looking, hard working Web site. It's nearly 2008. Stop delaying. Get the site done and up.
A well-designed Web site will attract new customers, and make your business accessible online. It also boosts your credibility with potential clients, and that increases your chance of closing more deals and sales.
It's easier than ever to get a professional Web site up and running. Many companies offer low-cost plans and easy-to-use templates. Check out TemplateMonster.com as a start.
2. Optimize your Web site. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of using keywords on your site to improve your search engine rankings. When your site is listed among the first batch of search results, it's more likely be seen and clicked on by Web surfers.
You can hire an SEO consultant to optimize your Web site, or task a tech-savvy employee to do it in-house. At Alpha, we use BonazaTech, and have been very happy with the results.
For more tips and information on SEO, take a look at the Happy Marketing Guy and Google's Webmaster Help Center.
3. Use pay-per-click (PPC). Pay-per-click lets you bid on keywords you believe (or know) your target customer is using to search for your type of products or services. Done right, you ad will appear at the top of the list when users type in your targeted keywords. You pay for an ad only when users click on it.
PPC is a very effective way to advertise online. It delivers incredible reach, and can measurably drive up visits to your Web site. The downside: it can quickly get expensive if you don't manage it properly. You'll also need a landing page or other call-to-action to optimally convert your clicks into sales.
Hit SmartSearchMarketing.com for a good primer and other resources on PPC.
4. Invest in public relations. A good PR firm will help you reach customers through the media coverage, a company blog, YouTube videos, and other non-advertising promotional venues.
When the media writes about you or your company, you gain credible third-party validation of your business and products -- something no advertisement can do. But be forewarned: PR alone won't build your business. You have to leverage resulting media exposure or blogging as part of the sales process to close new deals.
For example, add a "In the News" section to your Web site. Get reprints of articles and give them to prospects. Feature news coverage on your blog, and make sure you a building relationships with other bloggers, who will help you spread the word.
You can hire an agency or handle PR in-house. If you're doing the latter, you can use free wire services, or paid wire services such PR Newswire and BusinessWire to disseminate product launches and updates, and other company news.
Our PR firm is Gregory FCA, in Ardmore, Pa. If you do decide to source a firm, develop an RFP, and send it to several firms. Review their suggestions, and go with the firm that seems to have the best media relationships, track record, and ideas for your line of business.
5. Use an e-mail marketing list. As part of any marketing campaign, it's crucial to target your outreach to people who are most likely to need your products or services. Don't waste time or money pitching people who aren't interested.
Hire an experienced list broker, such as MeritDirect to develop your lists. List brokers have access to an array of qualified, clean, opt-in e-mail lists, and can provide them on a cost-effective basis.
Or, do it yourself by contacting the Multichannel Merchant ListFinder, which connects you to over 60,000 lists for print mailings and opt-in e-mails.
6. Network. Reach out to old and new contacts. It's a tried-and-true technique to gain and retain customers. To refine your networking skills, I recommend reading Business by Referral: a Sure-Fire way to Generate New Business.
In addition, get involved in your college alumni association, or join social and business networking sites such as LinkedIn, Elance, sologig. These approaches cost you nothing but time, and the results can be impressive.
7. Blog. I touched on this earlier, but it deserves its own section. Think of your blog as a public business journal; a conversation between you and your customers. Write about anything that you're passionate about, and nothing that you're not. Industry analysis, new products, trends, ideas, problems, challenges, predictions, career opps, an interesting e-mail thread you're engaged in, noteworthy links and videos, and so on.
Blogging lets you create a "dynamic" Web site that shares your personal business views, analysis, and insights with your market. And that's builds bonds with customers, by establishing and strengthening your credibility.
Tools such as Blogger and Typepad make it fast, easy, and free to set up a blog (the blog you're reading right now is running on Blogger).
Also check out Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Ways Businesses Talk to Customers for a good overview of how blogging can build your business.
Blogging works (after all, you're reading mine). :)
8. Join Alpha Pro Services. OK, here comes some shameless marketing of my own. If you're an experienced Alpha consultant, consider joining the Alpha Five Professional Services Partner program.
Alpha Pro Services pairs Alpha users who don't have the time or desire to create their own programs with a trustworthy Alpha consultant who can handle the job. It's a great way to compete for and win new projects, and is proven to help Alpha consultants build lifetime customer relationships.
