Warning: Rant ahead.
Today, I received several chirpy, happy, perky emails from either connections or LinkedIn's email. They all said essentially the same thing:
“Hello, friend. What's making you happy or successful today?”
I hate these emails. Just hate them. They feel fake to me and worse, they bring out the grumpy in me.
And I just realized why.
These emails are all about the other person “warming” me up to spend my time and money on them. But they don't say anything about the value these people would provide me.
That's exactly the opposite of how a consultant needs to initiate a warm connection. (Or anyone who wants to influence anyone else.)
Instead of asking me these chirpy, happy, perky questions that waste my time and piss me off, the other person could offer their value. But I suspect these people don't have value to offer.
Instead of these chirpy, perky emails, imagine these alternatives:
- A different kind of email: I've written a short post about being more successful at work (or whatever the topic is). See this, (and insert the link,) and let me know if you'd like to discuss this more. (A form of active marketing.)
- No email at all, but write the same content on your blog and then post the blog link on all the various social media. (Content marketing.)
- Offer substantial content, one piece at a time, on your blog and an email newsletter. (Consistent content marketing.)
Each of these options offers more value and doesn't waste the reader's time. However, consistent content marketing works the best.
How Each Kind of Marketing Works
Active marketing makes the marketer feel better. However, active marketing with chirpy-perky emails does not create a relationship between the potential buyer and the marketer. (Do not message your LinkedIn contacts as a way to create a newsletter. Instead, consider the kind of newsletter you want, and then invite people to it. (Preferably from your blog or your site where you have a ton of content.)
Social media is fine for active marketing or discovery. But think back to your experience: how many relationships did you create on social media? In my experience, people don't buy from people they don't trust. Trust is the basis of the relationship.
Intermittent content marketing, where you post once a week or so, is useful for building content. Not as useful as posting more frequently, but still useful. Over months, you will build enough content that potential buyers start to find you. Content marketing is a long-term effort, so it's not as useful as those immediate emails.
However, consistent content marketing allows me to “sell” without feeling smarmy. Certainly not fake-chirpy or fake-perky.
With consistent content marketing, the consultant invests their time in writing and speaking about specific topics. That time pays off, especially if the consultant decides to offer workshops, write books, or otherwise create longer-form content.
Focus on Client Relationships for Effective Marketing
When consultants—regardless of what they offer—focus on the relationship, they will get better clients and make more money.
And they don't have to resort to these fake happy/chirpy/perky messages.
Focus on the value you offer. And value your potential client's time. Then, if you contact me in order to sell to me, I won't be grumpy about it.
This is one of an intermittent series of consulting tips.
(Interested in the consulting workshop later this year? See the Successful Independent Consulting Workshop page for the details and to subscribe to a notification list.)