All entrepreneurs, since the first baker and candlestick maker, have faced the same challenge–how to get the word out to people who might want to do business with them. We all know that no matter how good your product or service is, no one can utilize it if they do not know it exists. Unless you have a huge advertising budget, you are probably wondering what you can do to effectively draw clients to you. The answer is simple: All you have to do is sit down and write.
Follow these strategies to get your ideas down on paper and watch your profits go up.
Pay Attention to Your Clients
Even if you know writing can serve you and your business, you might not be sure what to write about. By listening to the questions that your clients ask over and over, you can identify the issues that everybody wants to know about. Keep a list; and when you are ready to write, review it for ideas.
Start with Quick Tips
If you do not think you are much of a writer, you may want to start by writing a helpful list of something that you know about but your clients might not. I call these quick tip sheets. You might title your sheet “25 quick tips to organize your office” or “7 ways to reduce your stress.” Underneath your title you simply write out your ideas.
Articles
To turn a quick tip sheet into an article, all you need to do is write an explanation or an example underneath each quick tip. Add an opening paragraph that states what problem your article solves, add a paragraph at the bottom that tells the reader to apply what they have read–and you have a completed article.
Use Articles Over and Over
Once you write an article or a quick tip sheet, you want to use it over and over. Send it out to other publications that might be interested in it. Send it to members of the media, current clients and potential clients with a cover letter that says, “In case you missed my article in XYZ publication, here is a copy for you.”
Articles give valuable information to your potential clients and can do more for your business than advertising, publicity or direct mail. An article lives as long as it continues to be accurate and as long as people continue to read it. Get writing, and watch your revenue soar.