My top 4 ways of getting offline clients in 2011

Interesting (and not surprising): growth from your existing clients is just as important for the local IM'er as it is for the very businesses you are helping!

Interesting. I tried Ukbusinessforum with one of their monthly ads in the sidebar offering a free google places guide. Cost= £180(ish) Downloads of free ebook from squeeze page = 0!

Did you use these ads or are you talking about interacting in the forums?

- Adwords to Squeeze page for a free site review - Can you say more about the stats for this as I am interested in doing this but just thought it would be too expensive. ie. what keyword cpc was and conversion rates. Thanks Paul

Good list. It's easy to forget that Word of mouth can be generated and prompted by asking for referrals. If you suggest that your client come up with a list of names, sometimes they can immediately, but if you ask them to think it over, you can usually get a good list and then if you ask them if they don't mind mentioning it to them next time they seem them, it becomes word of mouth.

thanks for this wonderful information. I am having trouble and difficulties on finding clients to promote my service, but thanks for enlightening me such post. Keep it up.

Here's my top spots from this year - #1 was surprising for me:

1. Direct marketing - this includes email marketing (1), cold calling (1), talked to them at a chamber event (1), direct messaging on twitter (1), and talking directly to the client while he was at my house cutting down a tree (1, lol).

2. Word of mouth. This is interesting because I had WAY more potential clients than I had sign up for services. Either I really suck at meetings or...I really suck at meetings. This will be an improvement point for me in 2012.

3. Current client upsells. Again, not doing a great job at keeping in touch with my current client base and prospective client base for that matter.

4. The WSO I bought that said I'd be "Raking in $4,000 per week doing NOTHING and KILLING IT OFFLINE"

#4 is interesting because I actually didn't have any clients that allowed me to do that. I think my lesson there is that no wso will solve my problems and I think while they may sometimes offer valuable tools or advice, they should never be taken at face value, which is something I knew but didn't always listen to myself in that regard.

I didn't use advertising in UKBF I just offered quality information in the threads and started chatting and helping people who clearly had no idea of the tinter web

Adwords was only a mini test when I had a few clear weeks and wanted to try something new but overall for every pound I spent I got around £10 back (of the top of my head)

If I was going to focus my efforts on one source asides from word of mouth as that presumes you already have clients would be to just get the hell out there and meet people.

After staring at computers all day all night you forget how nice it is to just wonder in to new establishments, business events and exhibitions and actually interact with people.

I recently just met a great contact from local business meeting and will be working alongside him hopefully for the majority of next year on video productions for clients.

2012 Is going to be a total game changer this end and will be solely focussing my client facing work for video production and Mobile marketing

These are good methods and I have used a few myself. I haven't tried the forum method yet definitely something I will look into.

For me #1 cold calling, #2 referrals from current clients, #3 email, #4 upsell. Cold calling wins by a long shot. Hope next year there is more upselling and referrals. Those are the easiest!

Want to share any cold calling tips with the rest of the gang rbecklund?

One of the best ways I've found to get clients is engage people in conversation. Stop by your local watering hole (upscale-you want to be talking to people who are decision makers) and don't be afraid to talk to people. Ask about them first and be genuinely interested in what they have to say and what they do for a living. Inevitably, they will ask you what you do for a living and that's when you give a short description of you SEO, web design, social media, etc, company. If they're interested, the will ask "hey can you help me?" Make sure you ALWAYS have business cards on hand and make sure you get theirs. Follow up the next business day-strike while you are still fresh in their mind. Even if they don't need your services, give them a card and tell them to pass it on to someone who does. If you do this consistently, it will reap huge rewards. It has for me.

Word of mouth will always be important in the field of marketing even at this present and modern time.

Word of mouth marketing. This is slowly becoming a lost art. It should be learned and improved on. Communication is key to any personal or business relationship. I personally don't like being couped up behind a computer. Get out and enjoy life with your fellow humans .lol On the other hand, if you had to connect with others long distance-wise, well, there's no other choice but to be e-mailing, phoning and video-conferencing. Video is becoming the wave and this will also be evolving nicely. Word of mouth will always be free though!