You Should Not Be “Getting Your Name Out There”
I survey my clients and readers a lot and I ask a lot of questions because I want to know what you need and what you want. One response that comes up time and time again when I ask them what they are struggling with most is part of a bigger problem that even you may be dealing with. What is that response?
“I just need to get my name out there”.
On the surface this makes sense, no one can hire you if they don’t know you exist. The problem comes when you look at how to do this. Getting your name out there targets no one in particular and is incredibly ineffective. It’s the same thing as the “spray and pray” technique where you blast your marketing to anyone with a pulse and a bank account. Not only is this ineffective, it wastes your time and your money.
Your business is not a commodity. Not everyone on Earth needs or wants to work with you and that’s just fine. Your business is specific in what you offer and who you offer it to. The reason this sort of marketing doesn’t work is that you’re using the most broad spray and pray technique to market a business that by definition, doesn’t apply to everyone. When you do this you spend your time marketing to people who will never work with you. That’s inefficient and it’s disheartening. It’s exhausting to put all that work into marketing only to hear crickets.
Even if you do reach people who may be perfect ideal clients for you, they’re getting a general message that isn’t exciting or compelling. They’re hearing “I’m a wedding photographer in San Diego”. Whoop dee doo! That’s what they’re hearing from a lot of other photographers in San Diego. Instead, you want them to hear “I’m the go-to wedding photographer in San Diego for couples who want to have fun with their wedding and infuse it with their personalities”. Both of those statements are true but one is far more compelling and exciting than the other. One of them makes their ears perk up and think, “Hey she works with couples just like us”. After all, no one wants a generalist. We will always pay a premium for a specialist.
You can’t create the “she totally gets us” feeling when you’re focused on just getting your name out there. Your name and the fact that you exist isn’t what matters. What matters in marketing is what you do, for who and why they should care. In order to make them care you have to show them that you understand them and they you are clearly the right choice for them.
If I’m looking for the wedding photographer in San Diego that works with couples who want to have fun with their wedding and infuse it with their personality, the general promotion of the wedding photographer “getting their name out there” isn’t even going to show up onto my radar.
When you promote yourself in a general way you come across as vanilla and just one of the many people who do what you do. When you promote yourself in a targeted way that speaks specifically to what your ideal client cares about they look at you compared to your competitors it’s apples to oranges. If you don’t differentiate yourself in your marketing they have no choice but to make their decision based on price.
I totally understand why people try to “get their name out there”. It seems like the most logical thing to do. After all, if people don’t know about you and your business, they can’t hire you. But I promise you there is a better way that won’t waste your precious time, energy and money.
Instead of marching down the digital streets of the internet shouting your general message through a megaphone at anyone and everyone, build a strategy that targets your specific ideal client. Spend time where they do. Talk to them about the things they care about in your marketing. (Hint: They don’t care about hiring you. They care about what it does for them.)
If you don’t know how your ideal client is yet, that’s okay! There are a few ways to figure this out and I’ve got a handy worksheet to help you with this.
1. Think about your favorite clients, the ones you wish you could clone and work with over and over again. Who are they? How would you describe them to another person? Pay attention to the words you use to describe who they are, their personality and their likes and dislikes.
2. Talk to your favorite clients! Reach out to your previous clients that you loved and tell them you want to work with more people just like them so you’d love to ask them some questions. Go ahead and ask them some of the questions from this worksheet.and note their exact word for word responses. Use their exact words in your marketing and you’ll attract more people like them.
Businesses usually describe things in ways that people wouldn’t and this is a great way to get to the point and make your business sound human. For instance, I’m sure that the people who work at Spanx know all about the technology of the fabric that smooths your curves but that’s not what a normal person wants to know. What would your friend say to you if they were recommending Spanx? They would probably say something like “They make my ass look amazing.” and that is what they care about when purchasing this product. Talk about what they care about in your marketing and you’ll book more weddings.
3. Download this worksheetand fill it out. If you don’t know what the answers are to some of the questions either ask your clients about them or take some educated guesses. Your ideal client is going to shift and change over time so don’t worry about getting a perfect view of this person right now. You will learn about them as you work with them but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Click here to download the ideal client worksheet and get started today! Once you do that come on over to The Evolve Your Wedding Business Community (a totally free community for awesome wedding professionals like you) and let us know what you learned or what you need help with!
So now you know that getting your name out there isn’t as effective as having a strategy, but what does a an effective strategy that brings in clients look like? Well I’m glad you asked because in my next post I’m going to show you how one wedding professional has implemented a strategy in his business and what he has learned in the process.
