Fishing for the first client

Happy Monday!!! Hope you all had a great weekend.

My blog post tonight will hopefully be interactive, as I need some input and feedback on strategies for tonight’s topic. The plan outlined below is what I am doing, but it’s also how I would advise a client to proceed as well (the Marketing Insight my blog promises 🙂   )

Bedford Street Marketing, LLC was officially born on May 1, 2018. I say born because this start-up and idea is more than just a business, it’s me brainchild. It’s something I had thought about pulling the trigger on many times and in 2018, I jumped in with both feet.

The first things I did was set-up an infrastructure –  website, email address, phone system, and making sure I was up on all the major Social Media site like IG (@streetbedford), Twitter(@st_bedford), Facebook(@bedfordstmarketing) and even Tumblr(youbedfordstreet). I wanted to make sure I checked off all the boxes needed to start marketing my company organically.  As an entrepreneur and sole proprietor, that concept of organically is important to me. It’s more than just the Bedford Street Marketing brand I am selling, it’s my vision for how I want to run a business and how I want to interact with clients.  Happy to report that acquiring followers to my social media content has been going well, especially on Instagram and Twitter – although Facebook has been tough sledding. I am getting good feedback and positive reaction to the brand image I am trying to establish.

So now we get to the topic at hand – how to land that first client. It’s a bit like Ahab and the White Whale – always chasing an elusive catch. I am employing a multi-step plan and I’ll see how it goes.

Tenet 1: Build a Brand Image that prospects want to work with

We live in a social media/digital world in 2018. If you’re not on social media, you don’t exist. Through the various social media platforms, I am cultivating a following by posting three times a day – morning, afternoon and evening. Spacing is key to not overload or make followers sick of seeing your posts. A mixture of inspirational quotes about business, entrepreneurship, marketing and a dash of marketing humor/cute animal memes are building the image I want to attain. It is sending out the message that  Bedford Street Marketing, LLC has expertise in managing social media marketing via the success of our own social media sites. I mean, would you trust a carpenter who couldn’t build their own home?

Converting these followers to prospects is the next step and one that I am constantly reading blog posts (thank you to all who have some great content on WordPress on this topic), as well as including links to my website and email address in my posts.

In my opinion, overly promotional posts don’t do well and it’s more important to build up your following on social media because you can never have enough Brand Ambassadors in the quest for that first client.

Tenant 2: Leveraging Outside data sources

Luckily I come from 20 years of experience in the media/list brokerage industry and know that there are a ton of Business to Business email and postal data files for rental available.  While I haven’t gone down this road yet, my next steps are to target small to medium sized local businesses, within a 50 mile radius. It’s nice to dream of landing that big fish on the first pull – but I am going for the small to medium sized for strategic and branding reasons. Prospecting to new contacts requires a strategy of email marketing, direct mail and digital advertising via Google ads and social media – and in most cases, a multi-touch strategy of two or more of the above marketing channels.

1. Small to medium sized businesses are less likely to have established marketing relationships and are in need of consulting services.
2. Large businesses generally have their preferred marketing partners and the vetting process for a company to work with these big fish, usually excludes startups.
3. Local businesses are the heart of the community – and while making a profit is part of our goal – making a difference in our community is an equal, if not larger part of what Bedford Street Marketing strives to achieve.

Tenant 3: Word of Mouth/referrals

Be it via social media, this blog or through networking, the best marketing is still a direct referral. The building of a brand image that your colleagues and followers believe in and feel comfortable recommending leads to new business.

In closing, any feedback or tips on converting Social Media followers into prospects or attracting new customers (or that first one) – please comment or follow us on Social Media and let us know.

Have a great week!!!