Bulldog Marketing

Step 5: Go Get Em'!

You have defined your ideal client, you know what you are going to sell them, you have your marketing material ready for them to land on, so now you should be pulling at the leash and ready to set the world on fire. So what's next you ask?

Get Yourself A Client!

For some of you, this is a no brainer, for others it may be a bit of a stretch, but if you begin to understand the difference between marketing, networking and sales you will be able to create a game plan that will drive qualified prospects to you, and then you can work them through your sales process.

I like to think of it this way- Marketing and Networking Activites drive suspects into the top of my sales funnel. My sales funnel is where I work with suspects to turn them into prospects and eventually clients.

In case these terms seem a bit foriegn to you, here is the way I define things:

Step 4: Give 'em something to talk about!

You know who you want to sell to, and you know what your product offering is, and you may have created your products. So now what?

You need to tell people about what you are doing, which means it is time to create your marketing materials and spend some time marketing yourself. Your marketing material and activities may consist of:

Blogs
Websites
White Papers
Free E-Books
Speaking Engagements
Networking

In the bulldog world, which means keeping it simple, easy and quick and you are starting out from scratch, I would suggest using a blog as your key marketing piece. If you are unsure about how to go about doing that, the good news is, this blog is all about that, so read away, and figure out what you need to do to get going.

In the beginning, you will spend most of your time creating 'Marketing Stuff' but it is worth the effort. The goal of your marketing material is move Suspects ( people who may be interested in your products or services, but you have never made any type of contact with ) to a place where they are either saying "Tell me More" by contacting you, or in the ultimate case, If you are selling online, getting them to click through and make a purchase through your shopping cart.

When you are getting started, you need to have enough material so that if you encounter someone through a networking function, or if they come to your site, they will know enough about what you do and what you offer to figure out what the next best step for them should be.

Rembember that your marketing message will change over time, so try to balance sitting alone at your desk with getting out and getting feedback from the marketplace. That way, you won't lose sight of the goal, which should always be getting clients!