Signing on a new client for your services is usually one of the most exciting experiences of inbound marketing. The most rewarding of the experience is the feeling of contributing to the success of another business. While the feeling and experience is all exciting and fun, it is not always the case with most inbound marketing clients.
How do you know if the new client you’re about to sign on is not going to end up making you feel unappreciated or end up feeling you’ve not contributed anything to the success of their business? In this blog post, I will be sharing with you what to look out for to know if signing that new client is the right decision.
#1. Is Educated About Inbound Marketing
This is the first sign to check out for when taking on new clients. There is nothing as awful as working with clients that do not have the slightest hint of what it is your business is there to do for them.
While “fly by night” marketers see this as an advantage, if you’re in it for the long haul you would actually know that an educated client is a prosperous one.
Inbound marketing is all about educating prospects, qualifying and making sure they know what every penny being spent is spent on. To ensure you have a well educated client before signing them on, you should have a blog section on your website that is constantly updated with tips and how to’s. This will help you enlighten those you’re going to be working with in the future and ensure both parties are spending less time on unimportant things.
#2. Willing to Trust You to Try Out New Things
Marketers need to be creative and to explore your creativity, you need some level of trust from your clients. If you’re bringing on a new client you certainly must have a lot of ideas you think will be effective in achieving the goals your client dreams of. But this can only be possible if a client is willing to let you have total control. Of course, the client can be involved and approvals are essential but non of that should come in the way of execution.
The issue of trust does not, however, only lie with the client. As an inbound marketer, you should demonstrate beforehand that you can be trusted to take charge of your clients marketing needs.
#3. Is Interested in Progress not Stats and Numbers
You’d think that all clients are interested in progress, right? But that’s not totally the case with most clients. Some clients are really keen on knowing how much of this and how much of that you’re able to do that they underplay the importance of why they initially hired you in the first place, which is to general sales.
While a lazy marketer will indulge such clientele, the danger in it is that your relationship with this version of client will not last long and at the end everyone will point fingers at each other.
A desirable client should understand that success is measured not by figures but how much you’re able to help their business save in marketing costs and how much profit you’re able to drive for the business.
#4. Has Reasonable Expectations
A desirable client does not have the budget of an ant while expecting the results of an elephant. If your client’s expectations are out of proportion to their budget, you may want to clear things up and make them understand what’s achievable.
If your clients competitors are seeing enviable results and your clients are not seeing good results from their investment, your services will be under-appreciated and your chances of convincing the client that you can produce better results are very slim.
#5. Understands What the Market Wants
Coming over to inbound marketing means using quality content to meet a target audience at a point where they are in need of you. For you to effectively make this form of marketing work for your client, your client needs to understand what the market wants. With a slight understanding of what the market wants, it will be easy to carry your client along in every decision you make that involves creating new form of content or taking advantage of trendy tactics.
#6. Open to New Ideas
It’s important to take inbound marketing as a dynamic form of marketing. Unlike the traditional form of marketing, inbound marketing is constantly evolving and marketers that are not able to catch on very quickly risk being left behind. You need to carry your clients along in this perspective and ensure that your clients are always open to new ideas and strategies as they evolve.
#7. Always on the Hunt to Improvements
There is nothing as fulfilling as working with clients that think the bar can always be raised. This not only gives you the opportunity to take on every task as a fresh challenge, but it will also help keep you on top of your game.
Marketers may not know if a particular client has this sort of drive in them before sign in them on, but as you work with them you will get to discover if a client is constantly looking for improvements. Its a trait that most client tend to carry in them, but embracing the way each client shows it is the job of the marketer.
What other traits do you look out for to know when a client is right for you? Share your ideas with me in the comment section.
If you’re looking for an inbound marketing agency to help you take your business to the next level, you should get in touch with us.