Question

Topic: Strategy

Advertising Consultant Needs Help With Self-promo!

Posted by vance.rollins on 10/21/2011 at 8:08 PM ET 250 Points
Hi Creative thinker(s),

I am an advertising/marketing consultant in the Chicago area. I’m a one person operation for the moment. I’m in my first year of business.

I wanted to ask you for some advice on self-promotion.

Most of my clients are mid-size retail or manufacturers, in the sporting goods and sports industry. My focus is to keep trying to target that industry.

I want to send companies a direct mail campaign. I’m struggling with a call to action? Actually, I’m terrible at self-promotion, period. That’s why I’m coming here for help, or insight.

The advantages of working with me is speed, accessibility (meaning I’m very reachable), and I have very good experience and know-how in sports promotion and advertising.

I know there are a lot of smart people roaming around these parts, and I’m hoping through dialogue and idea sharing you guys can help inspire me or give me some creative sparks to run to the hills with!

Like I said, I’m not very good at new business strategy, and I would love to hear some of your ideas on how to attract my desired target market’s attention.


Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 10/21/2011 at 10:55 PM Member
    Instead of a direct mail piece, have you tried walking in and talking with the workers, learning more about their business, where it's strong/weak, and then creating call-to-action for their needs, based on your observations, their sales, and your skills?

    Are you connected with local sports teams (school and amateurs)? Find out what their needs are, and where they shop, and then figure out better ways to target them (for your prospective clients).
  • Posted by vance.rollins on 10/22/2011 at 1:02 AM Author
    Jay Hamilton-Roth,

    Thank you. Much appreciated!

    Yes I have walked in and presented myself. I''ve done door to door. Frankly, That''s how I got my first Client. However, a lot of them seem to be distracted by that method, like a door-to-door vacuum salesperson.

    I want a direct mail piece that gives me the advantage. Something where they contact me first, and then I can go in their environment and figure what needs to be done.

    How can I attract them to me first? Any ideas on how to achieve that?
  • Posted on 10/22/2011 at 1:18 PM Accepted
    A few thoughts:

    First, the "advantages" you cite for yourself don't include a compelling benefit for your target audience. They are more like features of your service. You might want to spend some thoughtful time on a Positioning Statement. Answer the questions, "What's in it for the target audience to hire you?" and "What BENEFIT will they get?"

    Second, direct mail requires at least three critical components: a great list (so you reach exactly the people who are in your prime target audience), a clear benefit positioning (so they know exactly why they need you), and a compelling offer that makes your appeal timely and irresistible.

    Third, any mass mailing is likely to be ineffective and inefficient for a consultant. You'd be lucky to get a 1% response rate. So you'll spend the money to reach a lot of people, and maybe you'll get one prospect out of it.

    You're probably going to do much better if you identify and deep-dive one or two prospects, learn all you can about them, and then approach them with a clear explanation of how you can solve their most important problem -- the one that keeps them awake at night.

    ====

    If you want to learn about the experience of other consultants who got into the business as a second career, you might want to get a copy of the book Rasputin For Hire. (https://bit.ly/k3Z7m) The subtitle is: An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career.

    It's available through most US booksellers, including Amazon.com. But if you use the link above, you will also get a free bonus report that includes experience and advice from 5 successful consultants who are also experts here on the MarketingProfs Know-How Exchange.
  • Posted on 10/22/2011 at 5:27 PM Moderator
    P.S. The concept of "self promotion" bothers me. It suggests that you want to promote or sell your services to someone.

    Instead think of your mission as helping someone accomplish an objective that's really important to them. Find someone whose most pressing problem is one you know how to solve. Then explain to that person why you're the perfect solution to his/her problem.

    That's a much more effective way to generate solid new business. When you try to sell what you want to do to a broad audience, chances are you will not be exactly right for any of them. But when you pick your prospects carefully, research them and their needs, and explain to them why you're the right solution for them, then you have a decent shot at landing the client.
  • Posted by vance.rollins on 10/22/2011 at 6:19 PM Author
    You guys are very helpful. This is all stuff that is obvious to me when working on Client projects, but for some reason, I become slightly *blank* when thinking for my own promo, or advancement.

    A lot of the arguments make sense, the direct mail campaign is likely to have a very low return rate.

    I heard of someone who did web sites for a living, what he would do is target 4 or 5 companies and "improve" their site and up load his new version of their site on a different link. He would call the decision maker up and say "check out this web site..."

    Then immediately they would see what their site could be...It worked well for him. he got 2 out of every 5.

    I'm wondering if there's something of that sort I can do for my target market? Things is, it's a little less straight forward than a web site?

    I appreciate all your answers, very constructive, very helpful.

    I will give it a couple more days and see if anyone else takes a stab at it, and then I will distribute the points appropriately.

    Thanks!
  • Posted on 10/22/2011 at 7:10 PM Accepted
    Your website example is exactly right, and it applies very directly to what you can do.

    The thing that makes the website approach work is that it demonstrates that the consultant understands the problem very well and has the skills to solve it.

    That's what you have to do. You have to research the client's situation and needs very thoroughly and then demonstrate -- through case studies, sample solutions, examples, whatever -- that you have the skills to solve the problem.

    There is no difference at all. Just pick your prospects carefully and start your research. Don't call on them to present your solution until you're very sure you really understand what will make them want more.
  • Posted by vance.rollins on 10/23/2011 at 5:52 AM Author
    Thank you all very much for your input. This has been very helpful and gave me that push, that direction I needed.
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