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Best way to market services?

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mrburnzie:
Hi!

I have been doing pcb and firmware design as a service for a while now. I have around 10 clients under my belt, but I’m ready to up my game and move into larger projects.

What are the best marketing strategies that you have seen that work to reach potential clients?

LinkedIn is my biggest guess to getting traction. Opinions on LI?

Thanks

Electro Fan:
LI is useful.  That plus your web site plus developing your marketing and sales plan (and an overall business plan) plus referrals and references from happy clients could lead to more business.

T3sl4co1l:
LI is mostly recruiters hunting for employees, but it can help.

I've had surprisingly little direct through my website.  Whether that's due to its relative obscurity, my fault for misunderstanding what kind of content I should have on it (always open to suggestions!), or just flat out luck on where it's positioned relative to other keywords in search engines, I don't know.  (I have a feeling it's a bit of everything; evidently my Thevenin calculator is one of the best on the 'net, but nothing else garners more than baseline attention.)

This forum has been one of the better ones for me, oddly enough; I... certainly post enough here, but that alone isn't it.  Even my signature doesn't seem to be it, oddly.  But it never hurts to ask.  This being an English language forum with mostly US readership, I guess I don't know how well the same may help you -- but it's free, and doesn't hurt to ask. :)

Tim

AndyC_772:
I've found the same. I get regular contacts via LinkedIn from recruiters who seem completely unable to grasp the fact that I'm looking for new customers, not an employer who will expect me to close down my business and work for them exclusively.

I used to politely respond, explaining this fact. I never once received the courtesy of a reply, so now I don't even bother.

My web site (which includes a number of testimonials and example projects from happy customers) hasn't been particularly effective either - though it does lend a touch of credibility. As a business, you do really need to have one.

(As an aside, my company's slogan is "reliable electronics"... google that particular phrase and I'm right near the first page of results, which you might think would mean I get useful site traffic from people looking for a designer of high quality stuff that won't break. It doesn't.)

Electro Fan:
A web site by itself won't "find" or "attract" potential customers.  Effectively implemented SEO (generally built into fields on the web site) can help with attracting and the process of being found.  Once a potential customer becomes aware of your business from whatever initial stimulus (SEO, word of mouth, etc.), then the web site can potentially keep your business in the running or possibly get your business ruled out.  Probably best to look at the web site as an ante to get in the game and remain competitively in the game.  It's possible a business could win some customers without a web site but it would seem harder to win business without a web site in this day and age.  The other thing a web site does is that it helps people see not only what your company offers, and why it might be good at what it does, but it can also help potential customers who are in the shopping stage get a sense for what the company doesn't offer - which can keep people from contacting you about things your business doesn't do or doesn't want to do. 

LI on the other hand is how people find about you as an individual, manager, owner - which can lead them to your business, or sometimes it works the other way around (potential customers find your business first and then look you up second).  LI can definitely attract recruiters in addition to potential customers but like the web site, LI can help establish credibility for relevant capabilities.

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