Do you feel like a well-kept secret? You are not alone. When we survey professionals, entrepreneurs and technology service companies about their No. 1 lead generation challenge, two out of three say that not enough potential clients are aware of their firm. Some think the solution is to produce a beautiful brochure (and for some, not-so-beautiful, but that’s another problem) and send it out to potential clients. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Brochures are a waste of money for consultants. How-to articles are a better investment. Enough articles and you have a book. If you have a book, you have plenty of articles.
Most brochures violate several of the rules of client seduction. Brochures assert how great you are, they don’t demonstrate your expertise. An article is quite the opposite. Trade journal articles provide credible lead generation messages. In fact, a recent research study showed that trade journals are perceived as more credible sources of information than even the traditional business press of The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business Week and the like. The best brochure you could ever produce is the how-to article you write that a prospective client tears out of the publication to save as reference.