7 Strategies to Get Clients Online

1) Have a clear offer and consistent message, and put it everywhere!

Online, it’s difficult for people to see your charisma or feel your enthusiasm. That makes it essential that you have a crystal clear message about the transformation that you deliver. You should include this message:

• On your website
• In the signature at the bottom of your emails
• When you post online (more about that later!)
• On your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter pages

Success Tip: If you want to clarify your brand message, check out my free PDF on the 5 Most Common Branding Mistakes that coaches and consultants make.

2) Write in an online forum.

When you have a clear target market identified, you can go where your ideal clients are gathered. (This is true online as well as offline.) What are the forums that your ideal clients are reading? How can you be helpful on that forum? Most forums don’t allow you to post ads for your services, but as a fellow member, you can offer helpful suggestions to your ideal clients.

Success Tip: Include an expert title with your post. If you have a signature that includes your expert title, like ‘Sally Jones, Relationship Expert’, some readers will message you and ask about what you do.

For more help finding clients online, check out episode 17 of my podcast and discover 3 important decisions you need to make to streamline your online client attraction.

3) Start a Facebook group.

If you have a particular expertise, why not start a Facebook group around it? You can attract your ideal clients and show them your expertise. Whether you get clients directly from the group or eventually run advertising to the group, you’ll have a group of eager, interested people that you can interact with 24/7.

Success Tip: Praising the posts and suggestions of others will make people feel welcome, and they will post more. You’ll build an engaged group! Please note that this is a time investment, because you should monitor and encourage connection between your group members.

4) Reach out – strategically – on LinkedIn.

Your ideal clients may or may not be on LinkedIn, but it’s a great connection platform. One of the ways to reach out on LinkedIn is to look for people who could be referral partners. Who knows and does business with your ideal clients, but isn’t your direct competitor? For example, if you are a skin care expert, find image consultants on LinkedIn. You may be able to form a referral partnership.

Reach out and suggest a ‘virtual coffee’, a 15- or 30-minute call or Skype meeting, to discuss how you can support each other.

Try this great opening script for suggesting a virtual coffee:

“Thank you for taking the time to connect with me! What I’d love to do is to have you share who your ideal client is, what your biggest business goal is in the upcoming year, and what you believe would be helpful to achieve that goal. That way I can see if there is anyone I can refer to you, or any other way that I can support you in your goals. Then I’ll share the same with you, and see if you know anyone that I can support. Does that work for you?”

Success Tip: Here’s the thing – make sure that you are offering just as much – or more – than you are asking for. You don’t want to be seen as a mooch. Instead, offer ways that you can help each other, focusing on shared connections and business goals.

5) Do a Facebook LIVE.

Facebook LIVE is hot right now! It’s easy to do, since it just takes an iPhone (although a small tripod that costs about $20 helps!). The advantages of Facebook LIVE are:

• Your audience sees you – and your enthusiasm – on video, so they connect with you better.
• You get practice being articulate on video.
• Facebook loves Facebook LIVE and tends to show your video to more people.
• The video is automatically saved for future viewers.

Success Tip: There is 3rd party software that allows you to schedule a Facebook LIVE in advance and run it from your computer rather than your iPhone. Some examples of these softwares are OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) and Wirecast.

6. Ask for referrals via email.

Asking for referrals scares most people because it feels like begging, right? Hear this – THAT’S NOT TRUE! You have valuable gifts to share. Think of it as providing a valuable service, because it is.

Here’s an example of how you could ask for referrals from friends, colleagues, and acquaintances:

“Hi, ____.
(Start with something personal – the last time you saw them, etc.)
I’m really excited to share with you that my business helping (target market) achieve (benefit) is making a difference in people’s lives!
I’ve created a new gift called (name of free article, ebook, free session, etc.) that is helping people who struggle with (main problem you help solve).
Who do you know who might benefit from this? Could you introduce us via email?
Thanks in advance for helping me to help more people.?

Success Tip: Include a line in your email that indicates that you’ll check back, like I know you’re busy, so if I don’t hear back from you I’ll check back in a couple of days. This way, if you don’t hear from them, you can check back and you’re not ‘bugging’ them. You’re doing it out of service, because you know that they’re busy.

7) Boost a post on Facebook.

Facebook ads are all the rage right now and I’m a big fan of them. But they can cost lots of money with few results unless you know exactly what you’re doing. (Talk to a coach about getting help with Facebook ads here.)

A simple way to step into Facebook advertising is to write a weekly blog that gives great content about your message, and then ‘boost’ it on Facebook so more people see it. It costs only a few dollars and it gets the most important thing out in the world – your message.

Success Tip: Use your boosted posts to see what concepts are attracting people’s interest. Then turn your most popular blog posts into ‘freebies’ or lead magnets.

As you start (or continue) your journey to get clients online, here’s a word of warning: Don’t get in over your head by trying all the strategies at once! Instead, choose one or two that you want to explore and start unearthing your potential there. The key to success – finding your holy grail – is to be consistent and give a focused effort before evaluating results.

Even the best adventurer starts with a map of where they want to go. If you want help getting more clients online, click here to schedule a free breakthrough session. My team and I will put you on the right track!