When I started my business, I hit the rubber-chicken circuit, speaking to every Rotary, Kiwanis and chamber of commerce group that would listen to me.
I’d drive 90 miles to Green Bay in a snowstorm to talk to six people, because those were six potential consulting clients.
The first five years of my business, I relied on speaking engagements, even those in which I didn’t receive a fee, to strut my stuff and impress my audiences. At the end of almost every presentation, somebody would walk up to me and ask, “Say, do you by any chance do consulting?”
These days, when people in my mentoring program complain that business is down and they need more clients, I tell them all the same thing: speak and write.
Speak before every audience that includes people who are in a position to hire you. Write articles for every article directory, website, ezine, print newsletter, newspaper and magazine read by people who need somebody to do their PR. It’s the best way to position yourself as an expert.
If you do only those two things, you’ll start picking up more clients than you can handle. And soon, you’ll be referring business, particularly the piddling little projects, to other colleagues who are scrounging for work.
Marcia Yudkin, who did a teleseminar with me a few years ago called “24 Ways to Attract Clients to Your PR Practice,” sends bright pink postcards to her mailing list occassionally. It’s sort of branded her as the “pink postcard person.”
So the next time you’re withoug a PR client, stop grumbling and speak, write or send a postcard.