Are You Marketing for the Right Reasons?

The title of this article may seem a little silly, for why else would we be marketing other than to gain clients. That may be true but like everything else if you don’t understand why you are doing something it will be hard to keep it going over the long term. Two areas that I see many people falling down is in the area of networking and email marketing. I see it at many of the events I attend and the clients I deal with through my design business. It happens all the time, someone joins a networking group, attends two meetings, then decides that they haven’t gotten any business out of it and quits and moves onto another group, never building proper relationships. The same thing happens with email campaigns, someone will decide to start a newsletter, do it for two months, they don’t see any new business and stop. When I tell people to give your marketing processes a year they all tell me that it is way too long. The people that think it is way too long are in it for the wrong reasons.

Marketing takes time and consistency, you need to have patience to let it work. I get business all the time from my newsletter program and I get business from my networking activities, but I don’t try to rush it. Even at an event the other day I was criticized for taking so long to build work when I mentioned it took a year before I started to see return on my efforts. The kicker is that the clients I have through those activities know me well and don’t think of anywhere else when looking for my type of expertise. People need to know who you are, try to attract people to you instead of pushing your business card in their face. Market for the long term, not the short term and you will have business for a long time. If you are out to get business because you need the money for the rent this month you may be best to spend your efforts looking for a job.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant and author of the books “How to Start an Artistic Business” and “Running By The Mile”. For more information please visit his website at www.outridge.ca