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A few months ago I ran into a coach in a state of total panic. She had started her business four years ago and her main marketing activity (her ONLY marketing activity, in fact) has been advertising the business on a particular web site. The web site was popular and was bringing her about 90% of her clients. Now the web site was closing and the coach was panicking because she had no other reliable source that will bring her customers.
I asked her whether she has kept in touch with her past customers on a regular basis and she told me "no". I asked whether she had a marketing plan or was at least marketing her business on a regular basis and again I got a "no" and a "no" in response.
I have seen this happen many times. Many coaches have just one or two of these "lifelines" that bring them clients. Even worse, they have absolutely no control over these "lifelines". If something happens to these, they go out of business or they can't bring clients to the coach anymore, and the coach is left scrambling trying to fill the sudden void.
Coaches erroneously think that their marketing plan consists of finding a single source that will drive customers to them. They think that this is their Plan A Of Marketing; their main Marketing Plan.
In reality, their Main Marketing Plan should concentrate on things that they have control over, such as creating an effective web site and building a large mailing list. Using other web sites to bring in clients is certainly a valid marketing technique. However, seeing how fluid those web sites can be and how you have no control over someone else's web site, you should only use those web sites as secondary sources of clients.
You have complete control over your web site, so take advantage of it and create a web site that is a magnet for your potential clients.
People want to know what's in it for them. Use your web site to communicate the benefits your potential clients will receive by working with you. Make sure that both your main page and your service and product pages concentrate on outlining the benefits for clients.
Not many of your first time web site visitors will buy from you immediately, but if they leave your web site without getting in touch with you, you will lose them forever.
Make an effort to stay in touch with them by offering them a gift in exchange for subscribing to your newsletter. That way you will be able to keep in touch with them and build a relationship long after they have left your web site.
People like to buy from people they know, like and trust. Once you get your web site to subscribe to your newsletter, start building a relationship with them by publishing an interesting newsletter on a regular basis. Let your subscribers get to know you and learn more about your business and your offerings.
Create an effective Marketing Plan A, a plan that does not depend on anyone else or any other web sites. Doing this will help you ensure that you can have customers on a regular basis, even if some other web sites go out of business.
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