Marketing Mondays: The Case for Marketing as a Problem Solver

Marketing doesn't always have to be about something you do externally. It doesn't have to be an ad campaign, direct mail, social media, and so on. A great way to generate more business for your consulting practice is to get more out of your existing client base.

An effective way to do this is to constantly be studying your clients' business.

The more aware you are of what challenges they face, the better prepared you'll be to offer them new approaches and solutions to their problems.

The more aware you are of what challenges they face, the better prepared you'll be to offer them new approaches and solutions to their problems.

Let's say your client has a new workshop coming up. Making you can help them with the setup, registration, marketing, or follow up of it - depending on what your expertise is. Before the holiday season approaches, you can speak to your client about a new idea you have for a special promotion. Some consultants choose not to take this approach. They don't want to work on client work unless it's directly related to their area of expertise. That's fine.

Some consultants choose not to take this approach. They don't want to work on client work unless it's directly related to their area of expertise. That's fine.

But remember, you can also outsource this additional work. Bring in other experts to do the work and you still take a commission or 'finders fee'. Or you can use this to build the skills of your company so you can offer the additional services to other clients. Most independent consultants don't need to have more than 5-10 clients a year. There are plenty of opportunities to help your existing clients do more, and do it better than they could do it without you. Your job is to simply help them find those opportunities and then capitalize on them. Always be on the lookout for new opportunities.