There are many different marketing resources available on and off-line. The following are vendors and organizations which have been researched personally used by me.
Building Your Network
Business Networking International
Terrific networking organization that only allows one member per profession. BNI is quite structured and requires weekly (usually quite early in the morning) meetings. It costs around $1000/year between the dues and the breakfast fees, but can be well worth it. I think there are three reasons to join BNI. 1) you have to get up once a week and say what you do and describe your ideal client. 2) you will likely get referrals from members of your chapter and 3) you will likely get referrals from the people that they know.
Building Your Client Base
ClientAttraction.com with Fabienne Frederickson
Down-to-earth and practical tips for building your client base quickly. Fabienne provides great content for free and also offers some courses, coaching and mentoring for paying customers.
Perry Marshall ‘s The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords:
Several years ago I bought an earlier edition of Perry Marshall’s book and have been on his email list ever since. I’m usually cautious about getting on lists, but Perry’s book was incredibly helpful in getting a fast understanding of how to use Google Adwords and how to use them for testing– both the ads themselves and also thinking about using that knowledge outside of the Adwords context. This link will take you to a FREE 5-day intro about Google Adwords so you can decide if it’s for you.
(Now, we just need the same thing for Facebook Ads!)
For Business & Postcard Printing:
For managing & scheduling Twitter & Facebook posts
I had used SocialOomph for a few months successfully but then started having problems. And, in the meantime, HootSuite added Facebook service. So, I recommend HootSuite and not SocialOomph.com now.
Domain Name Registrars
In spite of their sometimes sexist advertising, Godaddy rocks! We’ve been using them for nearly a decade for our businesses and our clients. They have great customer service, post a phone number on their website, and offer terrific pricing for domain names. Making it sometimes too easy to register a domain name…. CasaKielbasa.com anyone!
Free Classified Postings
If CraigsList serves your community, it’s worth posting your services there. It is free to post (although your post will scroll off within a week or two depending on how active your community is on CraigsList). You should post a few times a week with different versions (perhaps targeting different types of clients or highlighting different types of services that you offer.)
Social Media
Get a business page unless you’re comfortable with all your personal information being available. You can watch a quick tutorial of how to create a page here at MarketingU.com
Fine tune your messages with just 140 characters allowed.
Get expert assistance with your marketing.