Advertising Doesn’t Equal Marketing

I’ve touched on this numerous times in the past, but it’s worth repeating over and over: grasping marketing is critical to building the professional practice you really want. But marketing also is not what many think it is – advertising – as C.J. Hayden points out:

It’s a common mistake for professional service providers to make. You don’t have a background in sales and marketing, so when you try to figure out how to get clients for your business, you copy what you see. You look around at what other businesses are doing and you see ads everywhere, so you think you’d better have some, too. But what you’re seeing is not the whole story.

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Most successful professionals in fields like consulting, coaching, training, design, business and financial services, accounting, law, real estate, and healing professions report that they get more clients — and better clients — from activities at the opposite pole of the marketing iceberg from advertising. The focus of their marketing is on building relationships, following up personally with contacts, nurturing referral sources, and serving as a resource in their area of expertise.

Advertising Doesn’t Equal Marketing | Get Clients Now!