On Line Marketing for Consultants
Attracting customers and building a client base is the most challenging part of any business endeavor. New consulting practices are no different. During economic down-turns, many new consulting practices spring up, created by professionals with a unique knowledge of a given field who have found themselves out of work. Selling a new consulting service is a difficult task, but the success of the venture will depend upon the ability of the consultant to not only provide a valuable service, but to reach and convince prospective clients to contract with him/her.
Personal sales ability includes the willingness of the new consultant to go into the field and call on potential clients. Although personal sales ability is key to winning new business, many on-line techniques – including Low Cost SEO – are available to reach many more prospective customers. Achieving profitability in one’s consulting practice then requires both the ability to make cold calls as well as the ability to reach out via the internet to establish a relationship with those likely to need the consultant’s services.
On-line marketing and personal selling then should work in concert with one another. Most buyers of consulting services want to be convinced that the consultant can deliver the promised value. The on-line part of the consultant marketing plan can help get the consultant in contact with those needing that value.
Competing for new business over the internet requires the ability and skill to of course deliver the service, but it also requires developing a web page or presence that the common search engines such as Google will recognize and provide to internet users searching for help. There are three ‘keys’ for a successful on-line marketing campaign; Service Differentiation, Niche Identification and Active Positioning via website and direct mail.
Service Differentiation: This requires the consultant to identify exactly what traits or bits of additional value he/she provides to clients. In other words, the consultant must be able to tell prospects why he/she is a better investment than the client might make in other services. This constitutes the essence of the consultant’s ‘value proposition.’
Niche Identification involves choosing a target market perhaps from within a larger market area where particular business types are more likely to need the exact experience provided. This is more difficult that it may sound initially because prospective clients within the niche should have both the need for the service as well as the ability to pay for it. Many new businesses need marketing services for instance, but so many of these are undercapitalized and cannot afford to tell their target market.
“Active Positioning” is the art of presenting the value proposition to the target market or ‘niche.’ Once the differentiated message is determined and a niche identified, reaching those prospects may be done by positioning a web page to reach key target markets or those that have the need for the service.
Developing a web page strategy using keywords and on-page optimization techniques first requires the identification of the niche and differentiating characteristics. Keywords or keyword phrases that are short terms describing the prospect’s need or niche must be applied to the web page title, headlines and in other areas to help the search engines understand what the consultant’s page is about. A web page using the keyword phrase “Water Utility Rate Consulting” describes a consultant providing valuable assistance to water utilities or utility customers that are wrestling with the steady upward pressure on their water service rates.
Geographic identifiers can also be helpful in positioning a service on an internet web page. Many consultants specialize in a service within a specific area or region, so a geographic identifier might be an important part of niche identification. Services to improve one’s golf swing might be provided by a sports consultant only in – say – Dallas and wouldn’t be practically available elsewhere.
A well positioned web page can help a new consulting practice attract new customers and clients. Still, the essence of closing a sale requires the consultant to personally convince the prospect that he/she can deliver the promised value. Most consultants are quite capable of this, though and only need to reach out to more organizations needing their services.
Matthew Stone provides Low Cost SEO and Search Engine Optimization services to businesses across the country. Assisting companies of all sizes compete for new revenue and sales using the internet search engines, Matt’s company drives new business to client web environments.
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