There are two ways to get in front of your ideal clients: attract them to you, or approach them directly. Both can work brilliantly when done well. And both can fail miserably when done badly.

People often prefer the first option because the idea of cold outreach fills them with dread. But direct marketing can be very effective (when done well) and often generates results much faster than indirect marketing.

If you really want to maximise your reach, it’s a good idea to have strategies for both.

Most people prefer the idea of attracting clients to them rather than having to go out and find them. But it’s often easier said than done, and plenty of people fail to generate anywhere near the number of enquiries they need (or the type of clients they’d like).

Usually, it’s because they focus on building a big following and creating lots of content, but they neglect to actually tell people what they offer or how to buy it.

I had a consultation with a woman a few years ago who was very active on LinkedIn. She was posting regularly, building a decent following, and getting good engagement. But she wasn’t getting any enquiries (which meant no new clients).

I looked through her recent activity, and there wasn’t a single post promoting her services, so I asked her why. She told me that she’d attended a LinkedIn training workshop and the “expert” hosting it had advised against talking about her products and services because “nobody likes being sold to.”

What a load of crap.

How can people buy from you if they have no idea what you’re selling?

Needless to say, I persuaded her to add some promotional posts into the mix, and funnily enough, she started getting enquiries.

Don’t assume people will be able to figure out what you sell based on the tips you share - sometimes you need to be explicit.

People often tell me they don’t like promoting their business because they don’t want to sound “salesy” or “spammy” or “pushy”, but promoting your services doesn’t have to feel that way.

Instead of thinking about it as selling, think about it as providing an opportunity.

The thing you sell could be the very thing somebody needs to solve a problem, get a desired outcome, or overcome a challenge. It could change their life.

And if you promote it - if you let people know about your thing - you are giving them an opportunity to solve that problem, get that outcome, or overcome that challenge.

But if you don’t promote it, you are doing them a disservice. You aren’t giving them that opportunity.

So don’t be scared to share promo posts. Make it clear who you help and how you help them. Talk about the problems you solve and the outcomes you deliver. Share client feedback and success stories. And make it clear how people can get in touch with you, book a call, or make a purchase.

Are you familiar with Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes?

The lyrics tell the story of a guy who spots a letter in the personal columns of the paper:

🎵🎵

“If you like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga
If you have half a brain
If you like makin’ love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for
Write to me and escape.”

🎵🎵

The writer of the letter is very specific about what she is looking for and what she wants the reader to do. And it works. Our singer reads the letter, it resonates, and he is inspired to respond.

That’s what your sales posts should be like.

They should resonate with the reader – make them feel like you are speaking directly to them.

If your marketing is too generic, it’s like putting a dating profile online saying, “I’m looking for anyone with a pulse.” You might get a few responses, but they probably won’t be the kind of responses you want.

A simple way to get your ideal clients’ attention is to focus on a very specific problem they might be experiencing. And the best part is, you can use each problem multiple times.

Let’s say I want to attract small business owners, and the problem I’m focusing on is feeling overwhelmed or confused about marketing.

There are three ways I can use that problem to open a post:

Position it as a question:

“Does marketing your services feel like a slog? Are you confused, overwhelmed, or just tired of trying to figure out how to get results?”

Normalise the problem (show you understand it):

“Marketing your own business can sometimes feel like an uphill battle - lots of effort for not a lot of return. It doesn’t help that there’s so much conflicting advice out there about what you should and shouldn’t be doing. It’s not surprising that so many small business owners feel frustrated, confused or overwhelmed by it all.”

Help them picture life without the problem:

“Imagine if you had an easy-to-follow marketing strategy that played to your strengths, got results, and didn’t feel like a chore.”

Once you’ve written your openers, you can then go on to show how you could solve the problem (or make life without the problem a reality).

While most of us would much prefer it if clients just magically appeared in our inbox every day, it’s never quite that simple. And while content marketing can generate good leads, the results are often inconsistent because you’re relying on your ideal clients to:

a) notice you

b) decide you’re worth listening to, and

c) realise you offer something of value to them

That’s quite a big ask in itself, but on top of that, you’re also likely to be at the mercy of platform algorithms. In other words, you’re leaving a lot of things to chance.

By approaching people directly, you’re not waiting for them to notice you (which might never happen), and you’re not relying on algorithms. You’re making sure the right people know you exist.

Unfortunately, many people do a bad job of cold outreach. They go for the spray-and-pray approach, sending the same generic impersonal message to every email address they can find. Or they dive straight in with an aggressive, irrelevant, or pushy sales pitch because they think ramming their offer down your throat is a good tactic.

But marketing is like dating. You get better results if you woo your prospects. Show them you’re interested in them (not just their money) and let them see why they should be interested in you.

Sending out a generic email in huge volumes is the marketing equivalent of walking up to everyone in a nightclub and asking: “Do you fancy coming back to my place for some sexy time?”

You'll probably get a lot of rejection. You might even get a few nasty responses. And yes, every now and then you might get lucky.

But when you do get lucky, the experience won’t always be what you hoped for. You might not end up with your ideal prospect.

Maybe you end up on a call with an absolute time waster who just wants to pump you for advice or information. Or maybe you get to a meeting only to find they aren’t interested in what value you can add, only how cheap you can do it.

And that’s why the spray-and-pray approach to marketing is crap.

Generic marketing messages attract rubbish prospects (or no prospects at all). You might occasionally get a good one, but think about all the people you'll put off in the process.

So instead of sending the same sales pitch to everyone and anyone, take a bit of time to personalise your message. Woo your potential clients and let the attraction build naturally. It takes a bit longer, but the quality of leads you get will be better.

Cold outreach doesn’t mean you have to jump straight in with a pitch. You wouldn’t walk up to a stranger at a networking event and immediately pitch to them, so why do it in a message or email?

Try starting a conversation instead.

Imagine if I saw a post on LinkedIn from someone who had just started freelancing, and I sent them a message like this:

They might respond, but I doubt it. They don’t know me, they don’t know anything about me, so why would they want to book a call with me just so I can try and sell them something?

But what if I tried this approach instead:

How much nicer is that?

I’m not trying to sell anything. I’m not asking for anything. I’m simply offering something relevant and free - they can take it or leave it, and there’s no pressure.

I’ve started a conversation, and they can continue it or not. But now at least they know I exist, and I haven’t gone in all guns blazing.

If you haven’t tried approaching people directly, why not give it a go? Start some conversations - you never know where they might lead.

Make a list of resources you could use to start conversations with your ideal clients. If you don’t have any, start thinking about what you could create.

And if you need help with any of the above, why not book 90 minutes with me, and we’ll work on it together.

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If you’re a small business owner, you do your own marketing and you don’t have an email list, this book is for you.

It’s a short, concise guide that will show you why having an email list is so valuable, how you can build one without huge investments of time or money, and how to turn subscribers into paying clients.

Think you don’t have enough time to write regular emails?

Worried you’ll run out of ideas?

Not convinced people will be interested in what you have to say?

This book will give you practical and realistic advice to help you get started and maintain momentum.