I want thank you specifically for allowing me into your earbuds every day for the last 150 days. I don’t take it for granted at all!

Today I want to share with you an important story and lesson that will illustrate the best lead generation strategy.

I had an eye-opening, reality check of sorts recently. See as you know I do client service work, but also help folks like you through coaching and other products such as Feast to help specialize their business and build recurring revenue.

As this part of my business becomes much bigger, which is much different than my services, I’ve learned a lot from other folks who run similar programs and businesses.

See what I tend to do is pay attention to how they do sales, marketing, run programs, etc and if it’s something I like and feels appropriate to me, I’ll try and reverse engineer it or ask them and have a conversation to learn it.

Sales and marketing in this type of space is very much something that seems a bit unnatural to me. Only because it’s a pay-to-play and a push type of game. Meaning, you use ads to drive signups to a webinar and then pitch. Which definitely works and does very well for lots of very smart people. Obviously, I’ve oversimplified this a bit as there’s a ton more that goes into it.

I spent a ton of time and resources and developed systems and campaigns that felt more like myself that allowed me to serve you better and help in ways that you would get value from.

Sure it worked to some extent, but I did feel that wasn’t as successful as it could be. Not just for me, but for you too.

As I started to reflect on what I was doing and how I could better serve you, while still being able to build a business, I came to the realization that all the time spent on building and learning what was working for other people and their massive audiences, I shouldn’t have paid any attention to.

What was working for me was what I’ve built out for my client services part of the business. Having conversations with leads and prospects to a point where they got value specific to their situations and projects and if it made sense, the next step would be to work together.

With that in mind, I went back to having conversations. More folks like yourself started getting value specific to themselves and what their situation is.

Going back to those conversations allowed people to evaluate if it made sense for them to take that next step and work together.

As a result, this process has worked out much better for everyone, my coaching clients, Feast and Sales Kit members, and my business.

I share this with you so you maybe see the value in not getting distracted by the “new”, “shiny”, strategy. Whether that’s Facebook Ads, blogging, speaking, podcasting, or something else that you see working for someone else.

If you have something working right now in your business, own that space, as it’s said in the book Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. As it's said in the book, often we'll find success and then right when we hit 80% of that particular channel, we'll move on to try the next thing.

Work on what you know

Since you’ve explored that channel and know working and what’s not working in it, that’s your best strategy.

Make sure you completely exhaust that channel to the point where you can start to see a decline in the performance of that channel.

Companies still use direct mailers because it works for them. Even though local businesses that you see in those mailers could probably leverage the power of FB Ads, they don’t, at least not yet anyway.

The idea of doing what’s working is the best strategy for you if you decide to target a new type of client or try out a different revenue stream for your business too.

Because it’s something you know and something you’ve already built into your business, you don’t need to spend money and time on learning a new strategy. You focus on trying to sell to leads in the way you know how, then you know if the thing you are selling is viable or not.

When you try and sell something new with a new strategy, if you aren’t closing those deals, you won’t know if it’s your thing or the strategy.

Do what’s natural to you

The best lead generation strategy is what’s going to be natural for you too.

One thing that any freelancer I’ve ever spoken with has said is that they don’t like sales.

So if writing posts is natural and it’s what works best for you, continue to write on your blog.

If video works, stay with that and make sure you leverage YouTube to it’s fullest.

If podcast works, pull up that mic and continue to talk.

If Facebook Ads are working, then stick with it and don’t bother with starting up a podcast.

All these marketing channels work for certain people because it’s what they are good at. Because they are good at them, they get results from them.

Don’t stop at the 80%, completely own the channel until the point where you know it’s declining. You are much better off putting complete focus on what’s working right now with anything new you want to introduce into your business.

I’m not saying to not try and explore other channels, you should. But the best strategy is the one you know works and fits natural for you.

[optin-monster-shortcode id="bzuygihht1q3oswohwvi"]

Marketing for Freelancers

You always have to be marketing, especially when you are working on a client project. Here is where you’ll find the proven strategies and tips to marketing your freelance business in today’s market.
See all topics

More episodes in this topic:

10

Social Media Marketing, is it worth it to do?

11

What social media platforms to spend time on?

14

How to get clients when I have no portfolio?

35

How to get the messaging right to attract customers?

39

Have advice for soliciting podcasters to be a guest?

49

Should I focus on SEO or Paid Ads to gain new clients?

56

Do you get any leads from your content? And what traffic acquisition methods have worked best?

72

When creating a new freelance service what’s the best way to send cold emails?

75

What is my second most successful lead generation tactic?

76

Why is an email list important for a freelancer?

79

What is the best way to attract larger clients?

82

How do you market your business to local clients other than attending networking meetings?

89

How do I pitch some big companies in my niche?

90

Imagine I was going to bring you $100k in revenue

93

How does a freelance web designer build a client profile when preparing their marketing plans?

103

How do you price your services on your site?

110

How important is branding?

114

What are some useful tools that you use?

121

What makes a great case study?

122

How do you turn the things I do into benefits?

124

How do you decide what to start blogging with if you’ve never blogged before?

125

How often should I write a blog post?

131

Should I put pricing on my website?

138

How to overcome objections people have about you?

150

What is the best lead generation strategy?

151

What is your cold outreach strategy?

153

How would you get into the corporate business as an independent professional?

160

What is the difference between warm and cold outreach?

161

How to answer objections and get clients to say “yes”?

166

How to grow with word-of-mouth marketing?

175

How to ask?

203

All my work has been word of mouth, how do I find work on my own?

211

How do you handle a good fit for you that doesn’t really fit for your marketing message?

213

What do you say when a lead comes to you from a bad experience with another freelancer?

214

What to say when a potential client says you are too expensive?

215

How do I find the time to create content for my business and what do I write about?

217

Is this going to get me clients fast?

224

What is the #1 business trend for 2019?

227

How to sell on Twitter?

231

How do you make it simple for a lead to sign?

239

Why did I move my business from Drip to ConvertKit

240

Why ConvertKit?

243

How do you sell strategy?

244

11 Lessons on How to Find Clients

245

Finding Clients Lesson #1: Targeted Referrals

246

Finding Clients Lesson #2: Zero Line Item

247

Finding Clients Lesson #3: The Client Sandwich

248

Finding Clients Lesson #4: The Sneak Peek

249

Finding Clients Lesson #5: Buy a cup of coffee

250

Finding Clients Lesson #6: Get Yourself On A Podcast

251

Finding Clients Lesson #7: Your Up Level Skills

252

Finding Clients Lesson #8: Brag about your clients

253

Finding Clients Lesson #9: Are you priced right?

254

Finding Clients Lesson #10: Who do you hang with?

255

Finding Clients Lesson #11: Group Coaching for Leads

258

Is Instagram a better vehicle for visibility? Sales?

Related episodes from

Live in the Feast Podcast

Get Every Resource and Content Upgrade

You've made it down here 👏. Put your name and email below and you will get access to all the free resources and content upgrades on the site.