Consultants are professional advisers who provide business and marketing knowledge
to companies. They usually work remotely as independent contractors, offering
their services to businesses across the world. Although they can provide vital
advice to businesses, they usually have to work on their own terms – which can be
a struggle when you’re just starting out. That’s why we’ve put together this
Guide to help you successfully market your consulting business online.

What Type Of Business Are You In?

The first step to establishing your career is deciding what type of business you
want to get involved with. There are a variety of opportunities in the industry,
from providing strategic marketing advice to developing products for famous
companies. It all depends on your experience. The better you are at describing
yourself, the better your opportunities will be. Before you begin your
consultancy, build a business card that will make your clients and potential
clients believe you are an expert in your field. Remember to keep your cards
short and sweet. This will help you keep your business fresh in the minds of
potential customers. If someone is browsing a card rack for a marketing
consultant, you don’t want them to remember any details about your services. For
instance, do you provide advice on SEO or social media?

Keep your services simple yet impressive. Let’s say you’re an expert in SEO and
social media marketing. Your services would probably include helping businesses set
up social media accounts, analyzing their performance, and devising strategic plans
to grow their audiences.

If you’re new to the industry, it’s a good idea to start out small. Developing
clients who are willing to work with you and your approach will prove to be more
beneficial than attempting to pitch to huge brand names. By establishing
yourself as an expert in your field, you will be able to convince businesses
worldwide to work with you.

How Do You Find Clients?

Now that you’ve decided what type of business you’re in, you can start thinking
about how you’ll find clients. There are a few distinct steps you can take to
market yourself to potential customers.

The first and most essential step is to establish yourself as an expert in your
field. The better you are at describing your services, the better your
opportunities will be. So, build a business card describing your services, fill it
out with as much information as possible, and get it printed. This will prove
that you’re an expert in your field and give you the credibility you need to
establish yourself as an in-demand professional. You can also use this
business card to pitch to potential customers if you’re out and about – it will
make your expertise known to everyone you meet.

Setting Up Your Consulting Website

Once you’ve started to build up a business, the next step is to establish your
own consulting website. A good place to start is WordPress.com. With a free
account, you can put up a professional-looking website in no time at all. From
there, you can branch out to the various platforms and software that WordPress
offers – from a simple blog to a fully-featured corporate media website.

Your WordPress site will act as an online hub for your work. From here, you can
publish articles that highlight your expertise and knowledge, as well as any
upcoming events or webinars you might host. At the very least, you can use the
site to store samples of your work – including case studies, blogs, and
presentations. This will make potential customers more eager to hire you. When
they find your website, they will be able to get a quick snapshot of your
expertise – and perhaps even learn a little bit about your consulting services
too.

Depending on the type of business you’re in, you might need to consider whether
or not to make the website secure. If your clients are likely to be dealing with
top-secret or personal information online, then making the site secure might be a
good idea. Otherwise, having a non-secure site will probably be acceptable. Even
if you’ve decided to go with the secure route, there are simple ways to secure
your WordPress site. For instance, you can use a VPN to encrypt your data as it
travels to keep it secure. You can also use a GDPR compliant form to collect
quantities of personal data – this is a legal requirement enforced by the
European Union. The form should be easy to understand and presented in a
straightforward manner.

Creating An Outstanding SEO Strategy

In the world of SEO, SEO stands for search engine optimization. If you’ve
established yourself as an expert in your field, then you can start thinking
about doing some SEO for your clients. The better your strategy, the better your
ranking and the more customers you’ll eventually gain.

There are several distinct steps you can take to create an outstanding SEO
strategy. The first and most essential step is to audit your current SEO
strategy. This will require you to take a good hard look at how you’re currently
performing online. The second step is to set yourself benchmarks for
succeeding– establish what you need to do to improve your ranking and bring in
more business. With goals in mind, you can devise an SEO strategy that will help
you succeed.

Generating Leads

Once you’ve setup your website with a reliable and authoritative source of
information, you can start thinking about generating leads. The best way to do
this is to put out consistent and regular content– whether it’s an email newsletter
or a weekly blog post. The content should be relevant to your target audience and
high-quality to keep them coming back for more. If you’ve got a sizable audience
already, you can take this opportunity to pitch to potential customers directly
from your blog – which will increase your conversion rate.

A good lead magnet can be an attractive piece of content such as an ebook,
white paper, or case study. You can also try out a variety of marketing
techniques to attract potential customers to your site. For instance, you can try
out various forms of advertising such as display ads, sponsored posts, and
affiliate marketing. You can even get creative and come up with your own
methods– but you must be consistent in your approach to see results from your
marketing efforts.

Marketing Your Consulting Services

Once you’ve generated some leads, you can start marketing your consulting
services. The best way to do this is through a combination of inbound and outbound
marketing– meaning you’ll try to attract potential customers through both
traditional and digital means.

Through inbound marketing, you’ll try to attract potential customers by
providing them with useful information. You’ll want to create high-quality
resources that are relevant and interesting to your target audience. These
strategies will also involve establishing yourself as an expert in your field,
which we mentioned earlier.

Outbound marketing is all about getting your message out there to potential
customers – whether that’s through advertisements, web banners, or simple
word-of-mouth referrals. It’s about getting the information out there so that when
someone is searching for your services, they find you.

Now that you’re equipped with the basics of marketing a consulting business, it’s
time to get creative. The more you put in it, the more you’ll get out of it. Good
luck out there.