KJRA's Professional Services Marketing
Start or Build Your Professional Practice (Or Any Service
Business)
to Maximize Your Income Sooner, More Easily, Without Pain
to Maximize Your Income Sooner, More Easily, Without Pain
If you're
launching a private practice or a service business you're becoming part
of our country's economic backbone. Congratulations! Your brains,
talent, and strength helped you survive your education and work
experience. Combined with your independent spirit, those assets can
also help your business thrive. If your business is already operating
and you're ready to get busier and increase your income, the same
approach that launches startups will also help you.  Professional Services Marketing from Kim & Joseph's Remarkable Agency (KJRA) helps you reach peak business performance as soon as possible. Even if you started and ran into problems, or if you're not getting enough growth, we can help turn things around and set you on a path to your goals. This is the perfect time for a reality check. Popular notions about business growth can be misleading, such as -- "If you build it they will come" and "Do what you love and the money will follow." Common sense tells us -- if you build something, people will not necessarily come. Also, do what you love and the money might not follow. So yes, do what you love. Build something wonderful to enrich your life, help others, and even change the world but don't trust magical thinking. Starting a business is exciting. It's also scary and risky. The good news is you can mitigate risk. Start with a basic feasibility check -- "Will my business idea connect with a solid demand? Is there some competition that shows people want what I offer? Are people searching for this on the web? Who is buying this and what will they pay?" You may have heard this sobering fact -- over 90% of new startups fail within 3 years. Not to rain on anyone's parade, the survivors connect with a strong demand and engage customers at least as well as their competition. Also, they also are willing and able to fund a startup. Your training or prior work have only qualified you to satisfy the needs and wants of potential customers. (You may call them patients, clients, or students in your line of work.) Now you're positioned and face a new imperative -- to set up shop so you can exchange services for fees. Your best strategy is to plan and market effectively because that connects you with people who want what you offer, have the money to pay for it, and are willing to buy it from you. Then you might achieve a cash flow that meets your income goals.  When 'marketing' comes up, do you feel an urge to run the other way? If you feel uncomfortable with the notion of selling, know this -- it's not about conning people or pressuring anyone to buy stuff they don't need. You don't have to put on a plaid sport coat. According to John Jantsch, the respected author of Duct Tape Marketing, it's just about getting people to know, like, and trust you, and seek you out. You can market with dignity and utmost professionalism rather than hoopla and puffery. You market honestly when you believe in the value of what you do and communicate the benefits persuasively to customers and referral sources. The most successful professionals never stop marketing through messages built into their processes and procedures. When you market well, you won't need to sell so much. In fact, strong marketing in a down economy is often cited as a powerful strategy for gaining market share while competitors are paralyzed with fear, apprehension, and uncertainty. And gaining market share is the Holy Grail of business building. You may intend to rely on word of mouth. That's definitely the objective but few businesses ever begin that way. You'll need to create a crowd of happy customers to get referrals. How will you make the phone ring? Can you honestly say where your first customers will come from, how many will find you, or how you'll stimulate them to engage with you rather than someone else? It costs far less to keep a happy customer than to acquire new one. How will you keep the customers you get? KJRA's Professional Services Marketing equips your business to bring in customers, keep them coming back and motivate them to send their friends and family. | Referrals from other
professionals can also be stimulated systematically. You may be thinking you can do your own marketing. Frankly, would you try to remove your own appendix? It takes years of training and experience to understand how to get a good return on the investment you'll be making in writing a plan, pulling all the elements together, and then carrying it out. Consider one example of how it pays to engage a competent team of business creatives -- logo design.  There are several requirements for a good business logo design. Violate them and the power of your brand is diluted, your income is diminished, and you could incur extra costs or even serious losses. A great logo is just one element you need. How about design requirements for an advertisement that really sells versus one that just wastes ad space and burns cash? Expect to be too busy just delivering your service to ever learn what you'd need to know to market yourself unaided. Successful service businesses accomplish three things well. You plan your business activity even if your plan is informal. You invest some capital in your future because no business thrives by just cutting costs. You get the word out to potential customers and offer your services. In other words, you need a practical business plan, an operating budget, and a marketing plan. Helping clients like you create a healthy business on a solid foundation with plenty of customers is what we do.  What is the present state of your planning? Have you set clear, attainable goals? Do you know how much an average customer is worth, how you'll acquire them, and what that will cost? What can you charge for your services? How many customer engagements you will need? What process will you follow to achieve break even and profit targets? KJRA's Professional Services Marketing answers these questions and much more. We can walk you through creating a defined business system with predictable behaviors. By the way, you don't need fancy presentation plans unless you seek financing or equity partners but you should definitely write them out. KJRA is a full service planning and marketing firm. Our capabilities encompass business strategy and planning, services marketing, program management, local and co-op advertising, creative production, internet presence, and digital content production -- all based on decades of relevant experience. Obtaining this array from a single source dramatically simplifies your management burden, reducing cost. We go far beyond just giving you a consulting report. We eagerly roll up our sleeves and help you get things done until word of mouth sustains your business and beyond.  Let's get down to specifics about the business development process you need. Please contact us for a no-cost assessment today. ### |