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Marketing, Social Selling

The 3 Simple Steps to Stand Out Online + Get More Clients

When you’re growing your service-based business, bringing in leads consistently is important. In fact, you’re probably as concerned about how to get more clients as you are about things like client retention and overall revenue. (Good for you!)

Marketing is the machine that keeps all of this running. It’s the thing that gets you in front of the right people. It helps you stand out in a noisy, crowded online space. And it’s what generates leads that keeps clients coming into your business consistently.

There are a lot of sexy buzzwords floating around the internet nowadays—sell in the DM’s, funnels, sales in your sleep, attraction marketing. But the reality is that there are really just three simple steps to standing out online and signing more clients in your service-based business.

Table of Contents

Step #1: Clarify and Align Your Offer

When you’re growing your service-based business, the first step is to figure out who is your ideal client. You’ve likely heard that advice before! Unfortunately, most of the superficial advice stops there.

So instead, I want you to take it a step further.

Focus on how your ideal client thinks, what they believe, what they value. Think about what words they use when they describe their struggles and dreams. Think about how this person would think and even talk to you if you were sitting down for a cup o’coffee at your local coffee chop.

And if you don’t know for sure, reach out to a few people in your network who you think seem like good clients. Ask them!

I always recommend this over something like a post in a Facebook group where you may not be able to really target the type of people who will respond.

Unless the group is very targeted about what kind of members are inside it.

Once you know your ideal client well, make sure they actually need your signature offer or service.

Ask yourself:

  • Does this offer solve a problem?
  • Is this something they know they need? If not, how can I help them see the need?
  • Does working with me bring them closer to their ultimate goal?
  • Does this offer solve the problem in the amount of time they will expect results?

Wondering if this is the one thing you need to be focusing on to stand out online and get more clients? Take the free quiz now!

Step #2: Create Content That Sells

Now, you’ve got your ideal client defined and your offer tailored to that person. It’s time to create content just for them. The benefit of creating really defined content is that it speaks to the soul of your unicorn clients!

Your content should serve as the foundation for building trust with your audience. It positions you as a trusted expert, and it even sells for you. To create that foundation, create content that solves problems, teaches, tells stories, and shares how working with you will be life changing in some way.

With every piece of content you write, make sure to include a call to action. This guides your audience to the next step you want them to take. And you’re the expert here! On this very blog post, you’ll see two of my calls to action.

One is the option to take a free quiz. It’s designed to help you focus on one powerful thing to stand out and get more clients.

The other is an invitation to a free Masterclass. It really dives deeper on the framework I teach to help you scale to $10k months in your service-based business.

For readers like you, I want to help guide you toward the next step on your path. So adding calls to action is like holding your hand as you take that step. It’s my way of helping you learn how to market your business better and ultimately grow it faster.

Quick tip: if you’re spending time and energy (and even investing) in creating a lot of really amazing content, reserve about 5-10% of your ad budget for promoting that content. Let it help you take an audience from cold to warm and really amp up your brand awareness!

Wondering if this is the one thing you need to be focusing on to stand out online and get more clients? Take the free quiz now!

Step #3: Show Up and Get More Clients

I like to think of marketing like building a house. If content is your foundation, how you show up and connect with people is the walls. And the conversations you’re having are the decorations.

How you show up and connect with people is going to largely depend on what kind of people they are. If you’re working with high level business owners or corporate clients, LinkedIn is probably going to be your jam. If you’re serving newer entrepreneurs or product-based businesses, I’ve seen that really blowing up on TikTok.

Ask yourself where your people are hanging out and how they look for solutions to their problems. Do they seek out blog posts to read? Do they listen to podcasts? Are they crowd sourcing solutions in Facebook groups?

Again, this is another aspect of marketing (and you’ll find many) whose success is directly tied to how well you know your ideal client.

As for how to connect with people, I find treating them like human people is the best first step! It’s almost scary simple.

Start conversations and ask questions and invest in them… in the same way that you would want someone to approach and speak with you. Find things you have in common. Offer value without strings. Keep up with what’s going on in their world.

This is where a CRM or lead tracking board on Trello or Clickup (my preference) is so valuable. You don’t have to keep all that information in your head!

When the time is right, ask to get on a sales call with someone. By that time, you’ll have more than earned the right to share a bit of value and talk about how you may be able to help them solve their problems and achieve their goals.

Wondering if this is the one thing you need to be focusing on to stand out online and get more clients? Take the free quiz now!

Tiffany Barry