We all need new clients from time to time, even if we have fruitful long term relationships. Small businesses come and go, people go back to working full time and global events can results in huge changes to the business landscape.
Social Media
Many people recommend social media as a way to meet potential clients or customers. However this can be a total waste of time with multiple networks all with changing algorithms that exist to make shareholders and advertisers money rather than help us reach people. The documentary “The Social Dilemma” and excellent book “Stolen Focus” go into this in more detail. They both recommend we strongly limit our time on social media for our own mental health and productivity reasons.
A recent social network called Mastodon has entered the fray and does not have adverts or algorithms. It’s run using smaller, independent networks called ‘instances’ that can talk to each other, rather than some giant corporation with a surveillance capitalism business model. It’s an interesting alternative, but I’ve found from experimenting there that many people do not want to see commercial messages or even non-commercial posts from businesses on there.
So if we’re not spending our time posting multiple times a day on social media to gain clients, what can we do?
Paid Advertising
Aside from the cost of paid advertising like Youtube ads, Google Adwords or Facebook ads, many people are reporting that at least part of their budget is wasted to fraud – maybe even by the ad networks themselves.
A large percentage of the internet are now using ad blockers as they are sick of constantly being sold to. You may well need a professional to manage your ad accounts to make them effective, and all this stacks up to a very poor return on investment for many businesses.
Cost and success varies wildly by sector so by all means try it out. I’ve seen clients run their whole business off the back of Adwords. But be prepared for high costs with low return, and a lack of stability as networks can change things to suit them and bigger players can just outbid us small businesses until we give up.
In person connections – networking, word of mouth, referrals
Making connections with other agencies and freelancers can be way more productive in my experience. Around half of my work generally comes from these kinds of contacts and I’ve had fantastic, productive relationships with many companies over the years. I’ve met some through networking events, one excellent connection via a short coaching arrangement and some through word of mouth.
Especially since the rebrand to Intention web design, I want to work with positive, sustainable companies. It’s more important to me now who I work with, not just having new clients. Connecting with people in real life makes this easier as we can learn so much more about people when we talk to them face to face.
Spending your time and energy making these connections has been time well spent for me. In contrast, as far as I know social media has resulted in just one new client in 15 years despite being on at least four different social networks. I barely post any more and just retain the profiles to keep an eye on a few accounts that interest me.
Summary
When trying to meet new clients or customers, it’s easy to take to social media for a few weeks hoping to make connections, or put money into paid ads for a quick win. However these sites and networks primarily exist to make money for themselves and can change at the drop of a hat, so our success may be limited.
Meeting people in real life has worked best for me, and is more resistant to corporations turning the screw to make more money. Whether it’s networking events, word of mouth or asking existing clients for referrals, in person can be more successful.