As a marketer, I’m most comfortable creating content about the work I do and letting that content attract new prospects to me, but it’s not always enough to keep the lights on. I’ve had to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone and do some outreach.
One conversation I had as a result of that outreach was with someone who was absolutely interested in my services, but, as she put it in one of our first conversations, “I didn’t know people like you exist.”
As much as I love an easy sales conversation when someone finds me online and is already ready and willing to work with me, it’s not always that easy. Sometimes you have go out and look for the people who don’t even know they should be looking for you.
Nevertheless, this conversation got me thinking about how I could have marketed my services to this person without the cold call.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not, by any means, trying to put down cold calling. If anything, this story demonstrates, not only that I have made more than a few cold calls, but that doing so has gotten me clients I wouldn’t have had otherwise.
But I am still a marketer with a marketer’s brain, which means I can’t help but try to solve the puzzle of marketing a business no one knows exists.
So here’s what I’ve come up with, but to be clear, I advise companies use both marketing and direct outreach to grow their business, because they’re both more effective when used together.
Table of Contents
Focus on the Problem
I’m far from the only person to have dealt with this issue of trying to provide a service no one knows exists.
I was talking to another client recently who works in the health space and has a unique approach to solving a problem plaguing her clients.
When we mentioned SEO (search engine optimization), she said her clients aren’t searching for her services because they don’t know they exist. Instead, they’re more likely to search out a different set of services to address the same problem.
That doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile for her to pursue SEO. It just means she needs to think about it in a slightly different way.
In marketing (as in any aspect of life) there’s the direct approach and the roundabout approach. Most of us tend to go for the direct approach because it’s simplest. And when the direct approach works, it’s often the easiest and most effective approach to take.
But what if the direct approach to SEO doesn’t work?
Does that mean SEO doesn’t work?
Or does it mean you need to think about it differently?
Because here’s the truth about search: people are always searching for solutions to their problems.
Just because they’re not searching for your services, doesn’t mean they aren’t conducting searches that are related to your services.
Take the example of the client I got from cold calling. She might not have been searching for a content marketer, but she might have been searching for tips on how to position herself as a thought leader in her industry.
Or she might have searched for advice on how to create content she could send prospects in the course of the sales process. Searches like, “How to overcome common sales objections before getting on the phone” could absolutely result in a link to my website.
Let’s say I wrote a blog post on how to overcome sales objections before getting on the phone (I haven’t, so don’t look for it, but now I’m seriously considering it…)
Someone like that client might go to Google (or their chatbot of choice) and ask for suggestions on overcoming objections in the sales process.
And, yes, there’s plenty of material on how to overcome objections in a sales conversation.
But what about overcoming objections before the sales conversation?
That’s where content marketing really shines. And should someone find their way to a blog post that talks about how to do just that, they’ll be much more likely to take the call to action at the end of the blog post to schedule a conversation with the author to talk about other ways content marketing can make the sales process easier.
The same goes for the client I was recently talking to who doesn’t believe people are searching for her services.
There are two ways around that problem:
Steal Their Traffic
One solution is to create content with the goal of showing up in searches for the services people are searching for, even if they’re not the solution you provide.
Digital ads do this all the time, and you might have noticed it yourself if you’ve ever searched for a specific solution or product, only to be shown an ad or two for different products before scrolling down to find the link you were looking for all along.
That’s because companies intentionally create ads that target the keywords people use when looking for their competitors. They’re hoping to catch the ones that stray to their website without realizing they’ve clicked on an ad for a different company altogether.
The same tactic can be applied to organic SEO. By using keywords and search terms people are using to look for services that solve their problem, you can lead them to your website where your content can educate them on the benefits of the services you provide.
For example, you could write a post titled “Why XYZ Doesn’t Work (And What To Do Instead)”.
Assuming you have all your SEO ducks in a row, that post should show up in searches for the service, as well as searches like, “does XYZ really work?”
Need Help with Your Marketing Strategy?
Whether you’re trying to get the word out about a service no one knows exists or struggling to figure out how to talk about your services in a way that makes your target audience care, that’s part of how I help my clients.
I can help you figure out
- Who your ideal client is so you know who you’re talking to
- What they care about so you know what to dial in on
- Where they’re hanging out so you can get the message out to where they’re already spending time
- The language they use to talk about your services so you can use that same language to attract, engage, and convert them.
You can get more information on my marketing strategy services here.
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