About a month ago, I was hosting a coaching call for my GCN students.
One of the students was a digital marketer, and she shared that she was struggling to find clients.
“I don’t know, Maria,” she said. “I feel like I can’t find the right people, and I’m hearing crickets right and left. It’s so frustrating because I know I am good at marketing, so I don’t understand why I can’t find clients for myself.”
I totally get it.
But being good at digital marketing and being good at getting clients are two totally different things (requiring two totally different skillsets).
Take me, for example. I’m a boss at helping people get clients, but I don’t consider myself to be a digital marketer.
People expect you to be good at attracting clients because you’re a digital marketer. But, if that’s not the case for you, you’re not alone.
Lots of digital markers struggle to attract their ideal clients because they don’t know how to position themselves as an authority.
They are auditioning to get clients rather than interviewing.
I’d like to share this book excerpt with you because I think it perfectly sums up the attitude you need to have:
Taken from The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
The way to get yourself booked solid is to position yourself as an authority.
Oh, and that GCN student I coached a month ago? She checked in with me today and shared this with me:
I thought I would share the five steps I gave her to help digital markers everywhere (like you!) get more clients.
The way to get yourself booked solid is to position yourself as an authority.
#1: Become your most important client.
Imagine how your business would change if you treated yourself like one of your clients.
You’d be prioritizing your deadlines, getting yourself out there, and consistently marketing yourself.
You’d be showing up online and growing your social media platforms.
You’d likely be auditing your funnels on a regular basis to make sure they are effective.
You’d probably have weekly check-in meetings where you recapped what you got done.
Just think of the difference you’d see with that one small change!!
You likely have an established process you put your clients through; why not put yourself through that same process?
I’m going to let you in on a pro tip that should change the way you do business forever; your business is more important than your clients’ business.
I know you usually hear things more like, “The customer is always right.” and other suggestions that you put your customer first.
But I notice the businesses that do that never seem to have any clients, and they certainly never have a consistent lead pipeline.
Instead, the first priority of the day should be your business.
Think of it like putting your oxygen mask on first and then helping others.
If you’re brave enough to put yourself first, this one shift will completely transform your business from the inside out.
#2: Remember, they need you.
If we pop back to that story of the directors looking for the right actors, we remember that perspective shift.
You aren’t a digital marketer in need of clients; they are a small business in desperate need of new business.
They don’t understand marketing, and social media makes them instantly overwhelmed. They have no idea how to promote their business.
You’re the expert.
You’re the one who spent years learning and perfecting your marketing craft.
Not only that, as I am sure you would agree with me, many digital marketers talk a big game and don’t deliver.
So small businesses are also in desperate need of digital marketers who can deliver.
Keep a strong, confident attitude, and you will actually find it much easier to close those clients.
Remember, you don’t need them; they need you.
#3: Demonstrate a clear understanding of their problems.
Want to make your sales instantly much easier?
Take two weeks and commit to studying your industry inside and out.
What are your ideal clients really struggling with when it comes to marketing?
I can promise you that you do not know the visceral details. You might have a nice, general idea, but you probably have nowhere near the amount of inside information you need to be truly valuable to your clients.
This is where niching down really helps.
The more you can demonstrate a deep understanding of what your ideal clients are struggling with, the more they will trust you.
People hire specialists, not generalists.
Hop on the phone with your ideal clients and just start asking them questions about marketing. “What do you struggle with?” “What is the most frustrating thing about marketing yourself online?”
Don’t be afraid to really go deep.
The more you understand their problems, the better solutions you can create and the more of an expert you will become.
#4: Create helpful content consistently.
Nothing positions you as an expert faster than creating helpful content that solves your ideal clients’ problems.
It delivers incredible value, and it starts the relationship off on such a solid foot.
Over the last eight years, I have always had more clients than I needed. (Pause, imagine you have a surplus of clients. Feels good, right?)
But that is no accident.
I write a helpful blog post every single day. I create helpful content to my Instagram every single day. I post to my Facebook group every single day. I create an in-depth Youtube video several times a week.
All of it for free.
Is it any wonder at all that I get so many students rushing to join my Get Clients Now program? Not at all.
Most of my students have consumed (and seen results from) my free content for weeks, sometimes even years.
They trust me because I started our relationship out by giving value.
If you want the same kind of results in your business, you need to seriously commit to creating helpful content on a consistent schedule. Start small and steady and slow ramp up as you build the habit.
You will find it so much easier to get clients because they are already sold on you; your helpful content did the selling.
#5: Prioritize referrals.
If you are serious about attracting high-paying digital marketing clients, here’s something you should know; most six and seven-figure earners rely on referrals when hiring people.
That means you need to become someone people will refer clients to.
It’s not easy to break into those high-earner circles, but once you get a high-paying client, you can get twenty additional clients if you play your cards right.
The best way to do that? Deliver solid results.
Go above and beyond. Do what you say you’re going to. I know it sounds simple, but I hang out with people who earn millions per year, and it’s true; good people are hard to come by.
Everyone talks, and no one delivers.
So if you can create for yourself a reputation of being someone who delivers good results, you will never have to worry about getting clients.
In fact, you probably will need to bring on team members to help you so you can scale.
(Careful not to scale too fast, or the quality of work suffers. I’ve seen that too!)
One final thought, if you’re struggling to find digital marketing clients, it takes time to master the art of getting clients on demand.
No one is born knowing exactly what to do to get clients; we have to learn how.
But you will never regret the time you spend learning how to build a consistent client pipeline because it will ensure you always a consistent income you can count on.
Start by focusing on your business first and by delivering excellent results to your current customers.
Many of my students in the Get Clients Now program find this quote to be extremely helpful:
“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”
— Stephen Covey
Additional resources to help you find more digital marketing clients:
How I Added 20,000 Ideal Clients to My Email List (For Free!)
Email lists are the only access to our leads that we own. Facebook, Instagram (any social media) can take you off their site at any point. If you don’t think it’s going to happen to you, you’ll have to work twice as hard to recover after it does. That’s the mistake I made, and that’s why in 2021, I’m focusing my attention on gathering emails into my lead pipeline.
How I Grew My Facebook Group to 50k+ Members (5 Best Tips)
Facebook groups are invaluable. They’re hubs of potential clients and people that need your help! In this video, I show you some unique ways you grow and expand your own Facebook group.
6 Ways I Get More Instagram Story Views & Engagement (Reliably!)
Instagram stories are where your clients get to really know you. It’s so important to optimize our stories so that we maximize engagement and warm our audience. In this video, I discuss six valuable insights into fostering engagement so that you get more views and more clients.
