1. Analyze your own data. Don’t just rely on your memory of your client demographics, how and why they came to you, what concerns they had and other details. Gather information during prospect calls and intake; review marketing results, email metrics and website analytics; run detailed billing reports; and document client interactions. There are software tools that can help with this, including using a Client Relationship Management (CRM) System to capture and organize client information effectively. However, you can also use your billing or contact database.

2. Improve your communication skills. Good communicators are attentive, patient and empathetic. Do you ask open-ended questions and encourage others to share their thoughts? Do you maintain eye contact and avoid distractions? Are you interrupting speakers or making assumptions about what they mean? If your skills aren’t where they should be, get training to teach you how to interact, elicit and respond to information and build stronger connections.

3. Use social media. A wealth of information is available on social media about clients and prospects. You can review their social media pages, posts and connections as well as research their competitors and industry. Through a practice known as ‘social listening,’ you can continually monitor relevant social media conversations and trends to learn more about clients’ needs, preferences and pain points. There are social listening tools that can help with this. You can also use social media to directly engage with clients and prospects by reacting to or commenting on their posts and sending messages.

4. Search Google and online databases. As with social media, a simple Google search can reveal relevant personal and business information about clients and prospects. In some cases, you may also want to search online databases, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) website, Westlaw/Lexis, Bloomberg, Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) and others. You can also set up Google alerts and targeted searches in other databases to notify you of new search results.

5. Conduct client surveys or interviews. Many professionals will ask clients whether they are satisfied with their services. However, it’s important to get more in-depth information about clients’ experiences, opinions and preferences. Asking for specific feedback enables you to identify areas for improvement, gauge the degree of client satisfaction and loyalty (i.e., how likely they are to recommend you) and ask about the need for other services. It also demonstrates that you care about your clients and the quality of your services and can help diffuse a potential complaint before it becomes public.

6. Review or conduct industry/consumer research. Relevant research can help you understand your clients’ concerns and anticipate their needs. It also helps position you as an expert who can provide timely advice. There are organizations that may already have done relevant studies and surveys or depending on the nature of your work and target audience, you may want to invest in creating custom research.

7. Attend relevant conferences and events. Going to the places where you would most likely find your clients and prospects enables you to gather information firsthand, interact in person and share and gain insights.

8. Read publications that your audience reads. It is important to know the information sources that your clients and prospects use to help you understand their level of knowledge and the type of content they view as helpful.

9. Continue the conversation. The purpose of gathering information from various sources is to help you engage with clients and have well-informed conversations. However, this isn’t a one-time event. It’s critical to stay up to date on your clients’ interests and concerns with regular discussions.

The ultimate goal of taking these steps is to leverage your newfound knowledge to enhance your services, nurture relationships and develop more effective marketing and sales campaigns.

If you need assistance with gathering intelligence on your target audience or creating a plan to reach them, contact us for a consultation.

Evergreen content is content that doesn’t go out of date. It stays fresh – interesting and relevant – long after it was created. Trending or time-sensitive content is the opposite. It attracts attention when it is first shared, but loses relevance quickly. Both are useful in building a reputation as an expert, but evergreen content often has a greater return on investment because you can keep using it in your marketing. As long as it is still accurate, you can continue to share it in emails, social media posts, presentations and articles months or even years later. It also remains on your website to boost your credibility and drive search engine traffic to your website.

The most effective evergreen content should:

• Focus on a niche area. It’s better to be an expert in a niche area because you have fewer competitors and it is easier to stand out and be memorable. It also tends to result in better quality leads because you are attracting exactly the people that are likely to need your services. Your evergreen content should drill down into your niche and cover the range of issues that may come up. It should also highlight any unique expertise that you have but others may not have (ex. industry knowledge, a multi-disciplinary approach, etc.).
• Target a specific audience and the problems they need to solve. Who is your ideal client? Now write for them. Know what keeps them up at night and give them helpful information to prove you understand them and they can rely on you for assistance. An added benefit of this approach is that writing/speaking about specific problems is likely to draw high-quality leads to your site because your target audience will be looking online for the information you are providing.
• Be based on research. Don’t just guess at what might make good evergreen content; do your homework. In choosing topics, look at what content has been most successful for you in the past. Review your website, email and social media metrics to identify popular subjects. Also, what topics have others (e.g., clients, prospects, organizations, media, etc.) asked you about. It’s also helpful to look at your competitors to see what they are doing. Finally, research long-tail keywords. These are search terms that people use online that are at least a few words long. Typically, they are questions or phrases on a specific topic or problem. Understanding what people are searching for can help you frame your content so it is more likely to be of interest to your audience and be found online.

While you should invest in creating a library of evergreen content, remember that you will need to cover topical issues periodically to boost your visibility and show that you stay current in your field. In addition, evergreen content does not last relevant forever. It is a good practice to periodically review and update it. That can be as simple as adding/changing examples or statistics, reorganizing the content or creating new versions (ex. long/short; expert/novice) or different formats (ex. video, written, live presentation).

So, how can you come up with evergreen content? Drill down into the Frequently Asked Questions you get from clients, offer ‘How-tos’ on a series of topics, provide Checklists that help your audience understand what issues they may be forgetting about, and offer Case Studies that demonstrate a successful outcome. These are just a few ideas, but there are plenty of others.

If you need assistance creating or promoting evergreen content that will help build your credibility as an expert, contact me for a consultation.

1. Identify your “best” existing and past clients. How do you define “best?” Are your best clients the ones who paid you the most last year (i.e., gross revenue)? Or are they the most profitable (i.e., you realized the highest hourly rate for your time)? Maybe they represent clients who are the easiest to get or who pay promptly and never complain? Or it could be clients who hire you for the kind of work you enjoy the most? Your definition of the best does not have to be the same as other people’s. It should fit your needs and highlight the specific types of clients you want to have.

2. Create a client profile or buyer persona. If you want to get more clients like your best ones, you need to understand as much about them as possible. You do this by developing a client profile or buyer persona which documents pertinent information to guide your marketing efforts. For example, what are their demographics, stage of life/business, interests, pain points, etc.? How did you get them as clients? Did they come through a certain category of referrals (past clients, colleagues from other firms, specific networking groups, etc.) or some other manner? What drives their decision-making? This information will help you target them more effectively by identifying where you can find them and what message will resonate with them.

3. Prioritize your efforts. Many business experts recommend putting your existing clients into 3 buckets – A, B, and C. Bucket A has your best clients. You want to give them the most attention to retain them and encourage them to give more referrals to you. In addition, you want to use the bulk of your marketing time and money to target more clients like them. Bucket B has your average clients. They need to be kept satisfied, but more importantly, focus on how they could become A clients. What kind of marketing and business development will help you get more business from them directly or through referrals? Bucket C consists of clients who take up a lot more time than the revenue they generate warrants. Often, the C clients are the ones who are easier to get and hard to get rid of because they help pay the firm’s bills even though they are only marginally profitable, if at all. When professionals complain they do not have the time to market, it may be because there is a significant amount of time spent on C clients. Time is money and you must decide whether it makes good business sense to let go of C clients in order to focus on getting As and Bs.

4. Develop a marketing plan. The key to successful marketing is to have a written marketing plan which lays out what you want to accomplish and the actions you will take. The plan should focus specifically on getting more clients like your best clients and outline the strategies and tactics you will use and the resources you will invest in achieving your goals. Random acts of marketing don’t get results. You need to concentrate on targeting your audience consistently using multiple marketing tactics.

Stop wasting time going after any client and use these 4 steps to get your best clients.

For help with your marketing plan, contact us for a consultation.

1. Do focus on your unique value proposition. What sets you apart from your competition? How do you solve your clients’ problems? Your marketing needs to make it clear why clients should hire you over someone else.

2. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Too many professionals define their business and their skills broadly, afraid of turning away potential business. However, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up with a generic message that gets lost among a sea of competitors. People want specialists, not generalists.

3. Do know your target audience. Take the time to identify your ideal client or referral source. Understand their demographics, interests, needs and pain points so you can craft a compelling marketing message and promote it in the places where you are likely to find them.

4. Don’t pitch to clients; educate them. Providing useful information that helps people with their problems is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and build trust and credibility with your audience. Writing and speaking helps you attract new attention and stay top of mind with the people you already know.

5. Do use a mix of marketing channels. You get the best results from engaging in several different types of marketing, such as networking, writing, speaking, email, social media, public relations, search engine optimization, etc. The more ways you get your name out, the more likely someone is to see and remember you.

6. Don’t neglect social media. At a minimum, use it for market intelligence to stay abreast of business, industry, competitor and client issues. However, it is most valuable as a tool for increasing visibility and demonstrating expertise. Every time you share information you have the ability to reach new audiences as well as stay top of mind with your network of contacts.

7. Do test marketing tactics and measure results. Marketing involves trial and error. There will always be some things that work better than others. It’s important to test your marketing tactics. However, make sure you put in a real effort to make it work and give it a reasonable amount of time to see whether it is making a difference. Then as you gauge your results, you can make adjustments as needed.

8. Don’t expect an immediate ROI. Give it time. Marketing is a long-term investment where many activities build on each other to get you results. Just like going to one networking event isn’t likely to get you a client; one speaking engagement or mention in the press won’t bring in business by itself.

9. Do have a written marketing plan and budget. Write down what you want to accomplish with your marketing. Who are you targeting and why? What are your specific goals and how will you go about achieving them? Then set aside time and money to get it done. Even if you’re doing most of the work in-house, you need to understand what resources will be needed – whether you have the bandwidth and the skills to implement your plan and what trade-offs may be needed. (Time/money spent on one thing means time/money away from something else.)

10. Don’t start with a big marketing initiative. If you haven’t done a lot of marketing in the past, then begin with a smaller scale campaign so you get a sense of what will be needed. A lot of firms have ambitious plans, but then other obligations get in the way or they realize they don’t have the resources and it all starts to fall apart. What’s worse is that everyone gets discouraged and it’s hard to get going again because it seems easier to abandon the whole thing instead of trying to scale back.

Whether you are new to marketing or have been doing it for years, apply these dos and don’ts to your marketing to improve your results.

If you need help with your marketing, contact us.

In developing a buyer persona or client profile, you want it to be based on real data and research, not just what you think is true about your market. To that end, here are 7 ways to gather that information:

1. Existing data from clients/prospects. One of the first steps you should take is to look at what clients and prospects have already told you about themselves. When new clients and prospects come in, you should try to gather as much information as you can, such as their individual and company information, demographics, needs, how they got to you, etc. Go through your own database (or create one if you don’t already have one) and analyze and segment your contacts. You may be surprised by how much you can learn about what types of clients are attracted to you, at what times and under what circumstances. The data can reveal niches, trends, patterns and other useful statistics allowing you to better target your ideal audience.

2. Appending data. Often you can’t collect as much information as you would like directly from contacts. People hate to fill out forms and it can be difficult to get answers without annoying clients and prospects. In some cases, you can fill in the gaps by appending your data through third parties. There are services offering to fill in gaps in your data with financial and industry information, contact names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. There are also data mining and aggregation services which gather information from public sources and the internet.

3. Analytics. Your email, web and social media analytics provide a great deal of useful information to help you to create and hone your buyer personas. Understanding how, when and where people find you online and engage with you can reveal a wealth of information about them. For example, the key words they are searching online can tell you about their concerns or reveal trends. The third party sites sending traffic to you tell you about what information sources they may be using. When you produce content, analyze which types and outlets result in more site visitors, registrations, email click-throughs, and social media sharing to determine what resonates with your audience.

4. Surveys, interviews, focus groups. It’s crucial for your buyer persona to incorporate feedback from actual people. Affirmatively reach out to your clients and prospects. Find out how they found you, what their chief concerns and motivations were, how they went through the buying process, and what they like about your services.

5. Competitive intelligence. Yes you need to focus your research on your buyer, but you should also look at what your competitors are doing. In what ways are they targeting this buyer? How are they positioning themselves? You should look at their website, marketing materials, clients, and social media and web traffic. How are buyers connecting and engaging with them? From where are they getting their traffic? What distribution outlets are they using? The idea is to consider what are they doing differently from you and what lessons can you learn about your buyer.

6. Industry sources. It’s crucial to understand the industry in which your prospects operate. What is happening in their industry? Who are the relevant players? What are the key concerns? Research and subscribe to publications, blogs and other information resources relevant to your audience’s industry. Think about how these developments impact your clients and prospects both positively and negatively.

7. Social listening or social media monitoring. By actively monitoring social media channels, you can gain valuable information about your target audience. You can use social media to learn about industry developments and concerns, find influencers and communities, check out competitors, research leads, explore content ideas, and pose questions to your prospects. Join relevant LinkedIn groups, use Twitter to search for appropriate hashtags, follow companies and competitors, and set up alerts to stay current on your market.

You can do all of the above on your own, but there are also tools and service providers to help you with each of them. There are plenty of recommendations online for everything from CRM systems and marketing automation software to web analytic and social listening tools. For some suggested tools, see Social Media Today, Blogging Wizard and Curata.

Some of these may go beyond your needs and that’s fine. As I said in my last post, the important point is to not gloss over creating these profiles. The more you know about your buyer’s needs, the better you can tailor the substance of your message as well as how you promote it to them.

If you are looking to attract business clients, the first step is to think carefully about who you are targeting within a company. You should build a buyer persona around a specific person (or persons) within the organization. Then gather information on the following:

1. Company size and revenue. Potential for growth in the business, number of employees, and other factors may also be relevant.

2. Industry. You should understand your prospect’s industry as well as what is happening in that industry – news, developments, economic issues, key players, etc.

3. Competitive position. Who are your prospect’s main competitors and how do they compare?

4. Location. Where are your prospects and their customers?

5. Job title, responsibilities, and key demographics. Remember there may be differences among companies in how they title a position and the scope of the responsibilities so focus on the key attributes that define your buyer. The same is true with respect to demographic information. Consider the ones that are most important.

6. Role in the decision-making process. Within a company, are you targeting an influencer, the actual decision-maker or the person researching and gathering information? The point is that if there are multiple people involved, you want to make sure your content is appropriate to each one.

7. Buyer’s journey. How are buying decisions made? What are the steps and who controls and influences each one? What factors are most/least important at each stage? How are potential vendors identified and researched?

8. Behavior patterns/motivations/objections. What causes your prospects to seek outside resources? What are the arguments or objections you anticipate hearing during the decision-making process? What do they value and trust? What are their communication preferences?

9. Budget and priorities. How much money do they have to spend and what are their competing concerns?

10. Interests, concerns, goals and pain points. What do your prospects care about? What are they looking to achieve and what are their problems and stressors?

11. Information sources. Where do your prospects turn to for information about their industry or to solve their problems? How often and in what format do they prefer to receive information (email, print, webinars, live events, etc.)?

12. Other service providers. Are your prospects using several service providers in your area to handle their needs? If yes, who are they and how and why is the work being distributed among the firms?

13. Up-selling/cross-selling. Could they have need of other services you could provide?

14. Level of knowledge about your services. Are you dealing with experienced buyers? Have you worked with them before?

In creating your buyer persona, you can turn to free basic templates offered by HubSpot and Buyer Persona Institute to help get you started or work with an experienced marketer. However, the important thing to remember is to not gloss over creating these profiles. Know your buyers so you can tailor the substance of your message as well as how you promote it to them.

Now that you know what you need to know about your buyer, how do you find this information? That’s the subject of my next post.