4 Effective Ways To Use Content Marketing To Get More Clients

Christ is the greatest content marketer of all time!

Yeah, I know…you’re probably raising an eyebrow at me right now, but hear me out.

He said it Himself…

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

As a creative professional who wants more clients, you’re saying the exact same thing. Only it’s not the same way.

But really, what you’re saying is,

“Come unto me, all ye clients who are actively looking for a solution, and I will give you rest.”

So, what’s the difference?

With content marketing, you’re basically preaching the gospel of what you do. Only this time, you’re using the internet, and not saying it from the top of a mountain.

You’re not restricted by geographical area because you’re virtually boundless, spreading the word with whoever chooses to hear. And then attracting those clients who have laboured and are heavy laden because they tried and failed at implementing your service themselves.

So you see, you‘re at an advantage.

But at the same time, this model could work against you, big time!

We all attract different kinds of people into our lives. We attract some good people, bad people and then complete twits.

It’s the same with attracting clients.

To make content marketing work in your favour, you need to attract the right kind of clients into your creative business.

But more on that in another post.

Here are 4 ways to use content marketing to attract those clients looking for help.

1. Use Social Media To Network With The Right People

According to Jason Miller, who happens to be the Senior Content Marketing Manager for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, 1 of every 3 professionals on the planet is on LinkedIn. That tells you something about the kind of social network you should be focusing on as a creative professional.

I admit, I haven’t mastered the art of being on social media, but I’ve virtually met quite a few awesome people on Linkedin. Linkedin is said to be the social network for professionals. However depending on the kind of service you sell, you can choose out of the vast array of social networks to hang out on.

When making that decision, have two things in mind;

1. Only REALLY hang out on social networks where your potential clients are.
2. Don’t just choose a network because you like it. Choose it because it serves a purpose.

When Google Plus became the trending social network at a time, a lot of people rushed there. This included those who had something tangible to do on it, and those who had no business being there. Soon, the unserious ones had to leave because they started saying things like, “Google Plus isn’t fun.”

It’s fun for the people trying to get good search rankings in Google. But for those who wanted to say things like, “I had rice yesterday morning…what would I eat today?*sighs*”, they were better off on Facebook.

If your service deals more with visual content, Instagram or Pinterest could be a good fit for you. To help you make a better decision, here’s a post on how to determine the right social network: How to Choose the Right Social Network for Your Business.

2. Publish Content On Your Personal Website To Build Your Brand

To some, it doesn’t make sense starting a website. Really, who is going to see it? How will you get traffic to it? Why should you waste your time doing that in the first place?

What a personal website does is it adds credibility. And when you have an audience on it, it gives you even more authority.

It’s true, every entrepreneur has to pass through that stage of obscurity. But I think the issue most people have with blogging is they see it as a profession. They try to avoid the, “I’m a blogger” job description.

The truth is, you’re not a blogger, neither am I. We’re simply using a blog as a medium to sell our services and attract other people with like minds to our businesses. In future, these people could become partners, or even buy products we may create.

Having a blog is simply a way of talking about what you do. You’re basically spreading your gospel with that. And it gives your potential clients something to associate you with.

3. Publish Content On Other Sites To “Steal” Their Audience

This is called guest blogging. In other words, you submit your content as a guest to be published on another blog. If the owner of that blog likes what you sent, it gets published and his/her audience starts to recognize you.

This is really what would get you that first set of clients because it puts you out there. But it’s a ton of work, no kidding. That’s why some entrepreneurs hire guest bloggers to do this for them.

The success of this process depends on two things:

1. The quality of the guest blog you’re submitting to. If you’re looking to get clients, they need to have a large audience. But if it’s for the relationship, then break all the rules and share your content even with the smaller blogs.
2. The number of guest blogs you submit to. The more the merrier. The more posts you submit, the more people will come over to your website to see what you’re made of. And a bunch of them would be potential clients looking to hire a new professional.

Not everyone likes to use this strategy because of the time investment required. But it has a really good return on investment because of the audience you’ll acquire and the relationships you’ll build. However, there are other ways to build traffic to your website.

4. Use Emails To Share Your Expertise And Convert Clients

Usually, email marketing comes in only after you’ve been able to attract people to your website and onto your email list via guest blogging. But what if you don’t want to blog, or guest blog and only want to send daily emails to a group of people…what do you do?

Well, another way would be to contact people directly and ask if they’d like to be on your email list. Don’t go buying emails or subscribing people’s email addresses without their consent.

In the first method, I said you could use social media to network with the right people. You could take this relationship further by asking them if they’d like to join your email list. Some would agree, some would turn down the offer, while others would ignore your message. That’s okay and expected.

But one way to ensure that a larger percentage of them say yes is to share valuable stuff with them even on the social network of your choice. This way, they’ll be sure that when they subscribe to your list, you’ll share even more info that would be valuable to their businesses.

Out of these 4 ways, pick what suits you and run with it. If it’s social media you decide to use, choose the right one so you don’t waste your time. Connect with the right people, then combine it with the fourth method and invite them onto your email list.

And if you choose to market your services through a blog, good for you. You’ll build more credibility and get on the radar of several people, including Google. Just ensure you submit content to the right guest blogs too.

So what’s the next step? Just figure out which one you want to choose. Then let me know in the comments and we’ll figure out your next step. Sounds good? Sure! Share in the comments.

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