Hi,

Am just after a little bit of advice on what you all think is the best forms of marketing that have brought in business for you?
I'm just starting out and am overwhelmed with how many options there are for marketing your business. I don't want to waste money on ads etc that aren't going to get me business, so from your personal experience what are the ones that work for you?

Megan

Megan,

It all depends on you. Ask yourself: Do you have local business groups in your area that you could benefit from? Are you better at social media than face to face? What services are you providing that you can market to?

I use F2F networking for my local clients. I rely on referrals from my current ones. Some of the things I do is attend events in my area of business chapters. I also get a business times news that lists all those who have recently applied with the state for fictitious names and LLC and send them a congrats card with a little about me. I visit forums and boards to answer questions and I try to keep daily postings on Twitter and Facebook.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Megan those are good questions and I have started collecting some various marketing letters also and not sure where to start or with which ones? I think I would prefer networking vs. F2F but I know that can go a long way at times with some people. Also, I was also thinking of checking out the new business licenses and I would love to get my hands on local area solo attorneys out there. Any ideas let me know. Thank you and good luck!

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Deana Snyder, CEO/President
Today's Virtual Paralegal, LLC

My last two potential clients (that I had to turn down *sigh*) both came through followups from posts I had made on another forum and the one before that came from a different forum with which I have been heavily involved. I try to show myself as a 'bookkeeping expert' on various industry forums by making intelligent, helpful responses to posts directly related to what I do as a VA. This form of networking, all though relatively new to me, has proven to be invaluable for getting my name/company name out there and I also have made quite a few contacts that I may utilize in the future myself.

To date, working Goddess part-time, in the past two years I have attracted clients from all over the US and in Canada and worked for small business owners, non-profits, attorneys, realtors, and individuals. All of these contacts have been made from various sources, not from any one form of marketing.

I don't believe there is a 'magic bullet' when it comes to marketing. I am constantly attending webinars and tele-seminars, reading marketing books, blogs, posts, articles, etc. and trying to follow their advice as it pertains to my business. I network (both online and in person), I send out postcards to my niche market, I involve myself in various forums (industry-specific, VA, and entrepreneur), I offer myself as a resource for podcasts, blogs, etc., I place postcards on bulletin boards all over town, I 'place' my biz cards in lunch drawing fishbowls (up against the front glass so people see it), etc.

I can't tell you for certain which forms have produced the best results as I have had clients/potential clients tell me they've seen my logo before and/or heard of me but not sure where, and came to me from a different source from the initial first contact w/Goddess.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Honestly, networking has worked best for me. I've met a lot of clients and business partners by getting involved with online forums frequented by my target market and offering helpful advice and encouraging words. Sometimes just posting, which gets your signature line (which should contain your biz name and a link to your website) out there for potential clients to see, is enough. Also make sure you have a profile on as the forums you frequent and any other free directories you can find; this move has resulted in several people contacting me just within the past few weeks.

As far as face-t-face networking, this doesn't necessarily have to end with business networking events. Just talking to people in everyday situations about what you do can lead to valuable business. For example, I was telling a friend of mine all about my business a few months back (with the hope of convincing her to give virtual assistance a shot, I must admit ) and she ended up handing off one of the business cards I gave her to one of her coworkers, the head of a division in her company who needed copywriting assistance. He has been an unbelievable source of ongoing business for me. And just last night, I met a group of old friends for dinner, and I got to talking to a friend of a friend who happens to own a local small business. We started talking about what she does and what I do and how I might be able to help her down the road. I gave her a business card and voila - potential client, right where I least expected it.

The moral of the story is that if you keep your eyes open, you can find opportunities on the street, in a restaurant, even at a friend's home.

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Tammi Metzler ~ The Write Associate
Free call: "How to Write Email Subject Lines That Grab Attention!"

Lee,

I like the idea to see who have recently applied for fictitious names, where can I get that information? Is that in the business section of the newspaper or is it a special paper?

Thanks for all your replies
I have recently joined a local forum for business owners so i will make sure i put my profile on and website in sig. There's a group who regularly get together for networking days locally as well (women in business) so i might look into going along to some of their events. I emailed everyone in my network with my new business details and what i offer and asked them to keep the info on hand if anyone they hear of needs some assisting. Hopefully this should be enough to get me started and then i can look into more opportunities as i start to earn some $$$.
Fingers crossed i can start getting some clients soon