I can’t tell you how many times I say to clients and workshop participants, “It’s not about you, it’s about your clients.” And I stand by that. The subtle, tricky part about connecting with your marketplace is that you still have to be yourself. So it is about you, but not in the way you might think.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by marketing. First, there's so much to learn: What works? What's a waste of my time? Where should I invest my energy and money?

Then you have to prioritize: Where should I start? What's the ONE THING that, if I don't do anything else for a while, is my best first step?

Want to know what the highest-impact, lowest-cost tool is in your
marketing toolkit?  First, here are ten reasons to start using this
tool right away...

Advertisement. Promotion. Public Relations. Do you know the
difference? Do you know when to deploy which one? Did you realize
that there's a huge difference between them to begin with?

If advertisement, promotions and public relations swim together in
your head under the category of "marketing," don't worry, you're not
alone. Many people confuse them and don't understand the difference.
It seems like once a week someone will say to me, "we really need to
do some advertising to get clients...can you help us?"

Here's the deal: advertising is not marketing! To figure out which strategy to use when, read on...

Ever wonder if networking, referral groups, and conferences are a waste of your time? Think about it how many hours you invest in deciding where to network, registering, getting there, working the room, and then following up? How much real business do you generate from your networking efforts? How do you know where to invest and where to cut your losses?

If you're not thinking critically about how (or if!) to network, I guarantee that you're wasting a lot of time and money. Bonnie Lowe recently interviewed me for her upcoming e-book: Networkaholics Revealed! True Confessions of People Who Networked Their Way To Success (And How You Can Do the Same). Here's what we discussed...

Who says scientists can't market? Here are 10 easy marketing ideas that a group of folks at the National Institute of Standards and Technology came up with today during our monthly Marketing Action Group. Do them NOW to jump-start your marketing efforts!

 I just spent the last week in two very different, but parallel universes. After helping researchers in a federal government agency work on getting their science understood and used in the marketplace, I tapped the wisdom of a conference full of online marketing gurus.  

The common thread? These experiences reinforced several lessons that will help you succeed in attracting the right kinds of clients. Here are ideas and resources to help you take action:

When you think about how to attract more clients for your professional services, are you playing checkers or chess? Understanding the difference and how to play the right game, makes the different between attracting more clients than you ever thought possible and struggling to stay in business.

Marketing your professional services is a lot like dating: you have to earn the right to be intimate.In both endeavors, you can’t skip or rush through levels ofintimacy for the relationship to work. Whether it’s a new flame or anew client, you have to build trust that leads to deeper levels ofcommitment.

Think about it: people that you want for clients start out as strangers. They don’t know about you and your firm. Soyou can’t expect them to jump into a long-term relationship with youbefore they move from stranger, to acquaintance, to friend, to lover,and then to loyal partner.

Don't you think that good work should speak for itself...that if you're good enough at what you do, you shouldn't have to hustle up business?

Even really accomplished professionals have to face the harsh reality that great work can't protect them from the "M Word" (marketing). Whether you've taken an entrepreneurial route, or work inside a large organization, marketing is a life skill that's essential for survival. If you want to do what you love, read this article to learn what it takes to get it funded!

I love my dentist! When is the last time you could say that about yours?

True, dentists do tend to get a bad rap (remember Steve Martin’s sadistic character in the movie, Little Shop of Horrors?). But even real-life visits to the dentist aren’t high on the list of relaxing things to do.

So what does my dentist have to do with marketing? Everything. And the reasons why my dentist has more private pay clients than they can handle and is a referral-receiving machine, are marketing lessons we can all take to the bank.

When you take the sum of its parts, marketing works. Any one thing done in isolation to market your professional services won’t work.

To avoid wasting your resources and to make the most of your individual marketing efforts, make sure you have these five key parts working together.

What do the following things have in common: brushingyour teeth, regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, paying yourbills on time, cleaning your gutters, spending quality time with yourspouse and kids…?

They’re all forms of regular “self-care” that, if you neglect them fora period of time or take the wrong approach, there will be costlynegative consequences.

The same goes for marketing.

Take these steps for a pro-active approach to marketing that keeps new prospects in your pipeline and current clients ready for more...

Last month we looked at the first step in how to naturally profit from your expertise: packaging your knowledge into articles and talks. Done right, you’ll exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require.

This month, we’ll look at how to get in front of the right audiences to put your attention-getting articles and talks to work in promoting you and your firm.

Are you looking for a natural way to market your professional services? What if you could exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require?

Now what if you could be the person in a crowed room with whom everyone wants to talk about your services? And no, they don’t want to sell you something…they want to buy what you’ve got.

Too good to be true? Not if you know how to leverage the knowledge you get paid for every day as a professional service provider. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, sharing what you know is the #1 fastest way to attract more clients.

Hands-down, the two best ways to do this are by writing articles and giving talks.

In this month’s e-newsletter, I’ll give you detailed guidelines for packaging your knowledge that really work. Next month, we’ll cover where to look for knowledge-sharing opportunities and how to make them happen.

As a professional service provider, you’re paid for what you know. People come to your firm for the expertise you offer, first and foremost. Did you realize that this is also your secret marketing weapon?

By sharing what you know, you actually attract people to you and build their confidence in you as the right solution for their problem. Read this article to find out how to leverage your most powerful marketing weapon: your professional knowledge!

Quick...when you think about marketing professional services, what words come immediately to mind...? The "m-word" (marketing) conjures up all kinds of inaccurate perceptions and anxiety in many people who's living depends on doing a good job at this mysterious process. Find out what marketing is and is not, in this issue of our monthly e-newsletter, .

Regardless of your law firm’s focus – criminal, civil, corporate, family, business, etc. – the greatest challenge most small to mid-size firms face is the lack of a strategic and disciplined approach to business development.

Whether you’re frustrated with past marketing efforts that have been expensive, time-consuming, and haven’t paid off…or you think you can’t afford to take a sophisticated, results-driven approach to business development like the big firms do, guess again!

Like it or not, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a key piece of your firm's marketing strategy (and ignoring it is a strategic choice, too!). How you approach CRM makes all the difference in the world to your clients. Read this Dailey & O'Brien Classic article, originally published by CRMGuru.com, to find out how your firm can use CRM as a strategic marketing engine, not just another technolgy tool.

Want to accelerate the pace of buy-in for your next major initiative or implementation? Factor in Employee Relationship Management to engage people in the change early on, circumvent resistance, and speed up implementation. This Dailey & O'Brien, Inc. Classic article, originally published by eCustomerService.com, tells you how.

Does it ever feel like your Marketing or IT department speaks a different language when you're partnering on major inititives? Whether it's a CRM roll-out inside your organization, or implementing a major contract for a client, interplanetary clashes frequently happen. Find out how to prevent or resolve them in this Dailey & O'Brien, Inc. Classic article.

Looking to accelerate your financial service firm's ability to cross-sell products and services? Find out what you need to know and do in this Dailey & O'Brien, Inc. Classic article, originally published by CRMGuru.com.

Are you in the middle of or about to undertake a major roll-out for a new organization-wide initiative? Are you getting the support and resources you really need to make it a success? Are you sensing "public compliance, but private defiance" of the major changes required? Then you need to "up-sell" change! Learn how, in this Dailey & O'Brien, Inc. Classic article, originally published by BankersOnline.com.

The old adage, "build it and they will come" doesn’t hold up when put into practice regarding a website for your small business. Here are just a few ways to effectively drive relevant traffic to your website, why they work, and how to get started now.

As an educated professional, your success is based on what you know, your education, your intelligence, and your creativity. But what are you doing to grow your practice beyond asking for referrals? Like most professionals, you may not really know what to do because the answer involves marketing – a subject area not covered in most professional education. Find out what you're missing!

Face it…you know you’ve got to do something to keep a steady stream of clients coming to your professional service firm. But when it comes to the m-word (marketing), you’d rather not. Take a closer look at some crucial marketing principles and practices that will generate big results for your firm.

Before a dancer is ready for the spotlight, she has to master the basics including alignment, strength, flexibility, balance, choreography, and artistry. The same is true for successful marketing. When you send a brochure, run an ad, promote a website, give a talk, or just tell someone what you do, you’re on stage. But if you’ve not mastered these basics, you won't engage your audience and you risk serious injury!