I believe in a three P process for New Business. Plan. Promote. Pursue.
I wrote a blog recently that was part one in this series of blogs and videos on How to Develop an effective New Business Plan for your agency.
The first P is Plan which most agencies don’t do.
The second P of developing an effective new business plan is promoting your agency. Most of you haven’t done much of that recently or ever.
You may be reading my blog or watching my videos but you don’t have use either of these two platforms much to promote your business. You should. I do and you probably are more scalable than me.
Outside of your circle of referrals nobody know who you are.
If you go to a networking event and hand out your business card if you remembered to bring them and somebody says I’ve never heard of your shop you have a problem.
When is the last time you did a press release for you firm that still populates Google?
Wire services are very robust and populate your press release on Google quickly but then who wants to spend $465?
If a client searches for your shop what will they find?
You thought leadership that you crafted which appears on Google and makes you look smart or what Google puts up there. That is going to be pretty random. Glassdoor reviews maybe, some odds and sods postings but nothing that really motivates prospects to want to click on your link.
Promoting your agency is relatively easy because once you have content you can repurpose it.
You can do press releases on a variety of topics including a new website launch, new client wins or new hires. Do you think your new hire will be more loyal and stoked to work for you if you do a press release about them?
You need to also implement a social media campaign to promote your agency. I know this is old news but I am always amazed about how lame most agency’s social media campaigns are.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are a must. Speaking of LinkedIn how many times a day do you post relevant content on LinkedIn. For many the answer will be a big never.
Most agencies say they will implement a social media campaign on their own but won’t. I know agencies that have taken years to revise their site. The best way to get something done is to pay somebody to do it. We all know that.
You will have much more interaction with prospects if you are out there telling the world how smart your shop is than by just talking to yourself.
So that’s the second P of having an effective New Business. Promote your agency.
Watch for the third P. Pursuit.