Looking For Advice From Experienced Offline Marketers

My first deal came from someone I know, so I would recommend to start there. I was getting my yearly taxes done from my accountant and since he moved locations I Googled him and I noticed he didn't have a Places page and his website stinks, so I had a hard time finding him. When we were doing my taxes I simply asked him "who takes care of your marketing online" and he said "I have a website"...wow...I simply explained Google Places to him and told him I would e-mail him a report of how his business stacks up against the competition.

I went home and Googled "account city", "cpa city", etc etc...took a bunch of screenshots and e-mailed him and quoted him $100 for doing his Google Places. I now am working out a deal to do his website and mobile website.

Do you know why?

I OVER delivered and got him ranked for a bunch of keywords and made a few vids for him so he know I come through. Now I can focus on big money transactions.

Hope this helps!

The first thing we did when starting out was to do a press release and open house where we invited the media and local businesses to show them what we did.

Its been all uphill from then.

Quentin

Personally, I would say stick to the basics, without sounding like you're patronising your client. They don't care about SEO - they are about money. How can you make more money for them? Try and come up with quantifiable figures about what a first page google ranking or a google places spot would mean for them. Show them what their competition are doing. If they understand the value, closing a deal shouldn't be too tricky.

I would focus on businesses like Chiropractors, Bars/Restaurants, Franchise Business owners to name a few. Then offer a combination of Search, SEO and Social Media.
Would find these people at business mixers, networking groups like Business Networking and Business Referrals by LeTip International, Inc. and BNI International - Business Networking and Referrals as well as Chamber of Commerce meetings.
What ever services you offer, you should be using for your own Marketing Company, if you can't do it for yourself, how can you do it for your clients?

I used craigslist, and I made a post on the forum before explaining it, her is it, hope it helps:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ling-free.html

I completely concur with TJ above regarding starting with someone you know. Even if you don't actually "pitch" that person, you can at least run your ideas past that person. The feedback you get will, hopefully, be valuable.

I have an idea that blends a couple of different ideas that have been posted on here that will be marketed to realtors. I have a lunch scheduled this week with a realtor friend of mine just to get suggestions from her (and maybe some word-of-mouth referral business.) I will perform my service for her free of charge and let her gauge the results.

Research the hottest leads to see if there is any information on their company in the industry magazines, on the Internet or in the local or national newspapers. Information about upcoming projects for prospective customers can reveal a great deal about how hot a prospect really is.

I think that the first thing you have to do is decide WHAT you're offering.

Next, if you're marketing locally, you should establish local contacts -- local clubs and organizations. Find out something about what businesses in your areas feel are their main needs. What are the problems they're trying to address? Who are they trying to reach? What is your strategy for answering their needs?

I would add cold calling in person to my mix, to introduce myself of course but more importantly to learn about the business and be genuinely interested in them and the community at large. Not try to sell them on anything but offer a freebie tip and let them know I'm available to help when needed. What to offer...that will be evident from visiting and talking with them, then doing a little online research after the fact. It gives you a reason to follow up.

Going to network meetings has worked real well for me to get new leads from businesses who know they need my services.

Networking...effectively...works. This means relationship building, NOT just pitching your services. If you build a valuable local network, it will pay you major dividends for years to come.

Mac the Knife

many answers you have above are great and work well! i especially like the comments about biz owners, chiro's, people with money, etc

my answers are based on what i did to achieve 7 figures in two years from zero 3 different times. if your "why" for going after this venture is not huge, that is the first item you want to address. it also makes business less daunting. i worked on average 14-15 hours a day seven days a week except when i travelled which was every few months offshore or to vegas for seminars. it was then i took a few extra days to chill and eat well. use both "warm and cold" markets to start. your product or service will identify your approach. if you are with a nutrition company, you are looking for people with health needs and you will fill that need with your products. tech services, almost everyone now, you get the idea. if you are going to "cast a wide net", doing business in person does not duplicate real well. there are 1.7 billion people on line, over 5 billion people have phones. email may not get through and may be an intro only to call them. no matter what industry we are all in, we are all in the people business-you run out of people, you are out of business.

there is a saying that you cannot say the wrong things to the right person. we have all heard a blind squirrel can find an acorn too. you must be the right person. one of the "deaths" of ones business is they commit the first mistake i call "sponsoring down". go after people only making $100K a year or more. (of course help everyone regardless of income, but as a starting forth, this is ideal to work with income quality persons) i see a manager of a restaurant talk to the waiter about a biz, the waiter talks to the busboy, the busboy goes after the dishwasher, and then the DW can now only talk to those on welfare. doesn't work.
this one thing is what made me money. valuing myself and my time. when you treat your time like it is worth $300 an hour, it shows up. do you watch TV? if so, you are not even close to valuing your time. a half hour show is like taking $150 out of your pocket and shredding it. you will sit and listen to people also. people want to work with a busy successful focused person. you also don't "sell" people, you "sort".

imagine calling someone and giving them 60 seconds to convince you why YOU should work with them? not exactly selling now is it? that is "posture". if you are so sold on your venture, then you will want to have the feeling you are carrying a goose that lays golden eggs. how hard are you going to try to convince someone to give them that goose? not very and in a about 4 seconds you are on to the next person to see if they are smart enough to grasp the wealth you hold in your goose.

if you play with dollars, you make dollars. if you have a low-ticket item, are you able to leverage your sales volume with a network? this is a challenge for most as when they make a sale, they do not produce enough revenue to acquire more leads or pay bills. MLM is a ideal dream come true model done well, a nightmare if not done well.

suspects reveal themselves quickly when you train your ear to listen, that may be much more important than learning "what to say when". takeaway is a great tool to use to find out if you have a prospect or a suspect.

You can ask for the sale right up front. "Tuscan", i wouldl love to value both your time and mine immediately. if i can show you a solid business, low start up costs, high in demand product or service that produces good profits for those who go to work and follow a proven system in the next 5-10 minutes, can you tell me if you are serious about starting a new business today?

next. it is always best to get a quick no, than a slow one. there are ONLY two types of people and activity in any business. revenue producing, and non-revenue producing. i met a mentor after 17 years in network marketing. he told me a shortcut to making my first million. his advice? make 10,000 quick phone calls. i did too. so while i am not a big-shot at all, i was a little shot that kept shooting. i dialed off the numbers/symbols off the phone completely. paying the price for the price to be paid. leaders lead. hope this helps you sir. Dr. Mike

I have only started with offline marketing as basically I am sick of all the new internet marketing affiliate secret methods and tactics, there is a new tactic that comes out nearly every day most of them are great for short term money but I thought that it was time to focus more on the long term and build a business from scratch.

In the UK there is a program called Go For It that helps people startup a business, they teach Market Research, Analysis, Taxes and Contracts etc which is a 8 day course for startups, its great.

I am still learning and putting into practice alot of the things that I have read here on the Warrior Forum and elsewhere.

How I got started...

Make a short list of people that you know have their own business or are an influence within a business and contact them and offer to do a freebie in order to build up a portfolio so that you can show your services to other businesses.

Try not to do everything at once.

I would recommend learning as you go.

The mistake that I made with affiliate marketing was to try and have everything perfect first so all I did was read and read and read and never really got started, this is what I am trying to avoid this time around.

Sign-up to be a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and start attending their meetings. Bonus points: give a presentation on "local business and the impact of the internet"