The Five Ways to Land the Exact Clients You Want – With a Budget of Exactly Zero Dollars

Go ahead and admit it. You’ve been fantasizing about the possibility forever. Dumping your corporate gig. Taking that gigantic leap of faith. And finally launching the startup or solopreneurship of your dreams.

But yet you just can’t seem to pull the trigger. There’s that annoying “day job” thing that keeps getting in the way. Not to mention the terrifying risk of being out on your own. But your biggest fear is that you lack the type of bankroll you’ll need to attract the type of clients you want.

Well, if the lack of cash is your main concern, my friend, then I’m here to tell you that you can actually launch your business – and begin connecting with the prospects you want TODAY – without coughing up so much as a single penny.

In fact, you can do so in a way that’s more effective than just dumping money into a bunch of ads. What’s more, you don’t have to quit your day job to get started. And best of all, you can even transform these outreach efforts into cold, hard cash money revenue sources you can count on for years!

So How Can You Do All That?

By using a promotional tactic known as “content marketing.”  Although it’s not new, it’s becoming more and more effective by the day. Why? Simple. Because advertising doesn’t work anymore.

At least, it doesn’t work as well as it used to. And the reason is clear. There’s just too damned much of it. The average consumer is exposed to 10,000 brand impressions every day. Note, I said “exposed to.” Not “sees.” Because no one “sees” ads anymore.

But content marketing is not an overt advertisement. It presents highly relevant information that a specific audience actually wants to consume – without throwing in any hard sell of products or services.

Now you might think content marketing can only produce results for massive companies. But it can actually work for any size firm – even if it’s only one person – or any size audience – even if it’s only a few hundred.

So How You Can Reach Your Audience Without Spending Even One Penny?

There are many ways to do this. But IMHO, here are the five best:

1. Writing for publications that cater to your niche. Not only will this burnish your street cred as an expert in your field – it’ll enable you to use the publication’s platform to speak to a huge audience that’s just chockfull of potential prospects for your offerings.

There are multiple publications that target your tribe. Many of whom are dying for content. Which means they might consider yours. It may well be the single-best way to reach the clients you want today.

Out-of-Pocket Cost: Zero

New Lead Potential: Total thought leader status. In front of thousands of dream clients. You do the math.

Revenue Potential: You’ll likely contribute for free at first. But eventually publications might offer to pay you for your genius.

2. Speaking engagements – Presenting at an event will put you on-stage, in a position of authority – in front of a roomful of living, breathing, and fully attentive prospects.

Prospects that you could meet afterwards, giving you the opportunity to create powerful personal connections. Greatly increasing the chances that they’ll remember you – and purchase your services – in the future.

Out-of-Pocket Cost: Zero.

New Lead Potential: Speaking at event instantly confers upon you the vaunted mantle of subject matter guru. And the power of a personal connection can help separate you from your competition.

Revenue Potential: You may initially present for free. But get good enough, and you could command $1,000-$5,000 per session. Speaking engagements FTW!

3. Blogging – Blogs are a great way to share your brilliance, build long-term relationships, and drive traffic to your site. They’re fun, easy to produce, and in some cases, pretty damned lucrative.

Out-of-Pocket Cost: Zero.

New Lead Potential: A great blog can help you turn casual surfers into raving fans who will return for your wit and wisdom – and your offerings.

Revenue Potential: Everything from CPC ads, to affiliate links, to being paid to use your power as an influencer.

4. Creating a white paper, infographic or PowerPoint. The ideal content will resonate with your audience and demonstrate your mad skills – without some gauche pitch to buy your crap.

And once you’ve created that sweet piece, there are dozens of ways to you can promote it – for FREE. This includes LinkedIn, Medium, Slide Share, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or via your own web site or email list.   

Out-of-Pocket Cost: Zero

New Lead Potential: Providing great value to a prospect – without trying to sell them something – is a proven way to establish your worth. Often compelling prospects to contact you of their own volition.

Revenue Potential: TBH, you likely won’t charge for your content. But you could ask prospects to provide their email address – which will help you expand your database. And giving it away for free can provide other benefits, as well. Like increasing your exposure, demonstrating your knowledge, and giving your leads ideas as to how you might work together.

Plus, you can always repurpose that awesome content – and maybe even make some money – by turning it into…

5. An eBook you can sell online. It costs nothing to download Amazon’s conversion software, create your masterpiece – and then offer via their Kindle store. You could write an entirely new book – or compile your most popular content pieces into a single manuscript.

Out-of-Pocket Cost: Like I said, zero

New Lead Potential: Hey, you wrote a book. That makes you an author. Which also makes you an expert – especially on the book you just wrote. And who do prospects tend to hire? That would be experts. So, yeah.

Revenue Potential: Technically unlimited. An eBook may well be the single-most scalable product on Earth. Write it once, put it up for sale – and watch it produce revenue forever.

The Cumulative Effect

The beauty of content marketing is that its ultimate effect can be exponential. One article could lead to a speaking engagement, book sales – or an in-person introduction to your dream client.

So don’t let a lack of cash stand between you and your dreams. Leverage the magic of content marketing – and launch that business you’ve always wanted to start today – for FREE!

Bryan Lyng

Contributor: Bryan Lyng is an award-winning writer and unapologetic evangelist for the global startup revolution. Founder of the digital marketing communications agency, Lyng & Associates (www.lyngandassociates.com, Bryan has been lucky to help more than 130 startup clients kick some proverbial ass throughout their respective industries.
Oh – and he also serves as a guest lecturer for the University of Southern
California’s Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies – and is the author of the “The Kick in the Ass You Need – The Book That’ll Finally Convince You to Launch the Startup of Your Dreams” (http://the-kick-in-the-ass-you-need.com/)-the fun and funny – but still deadly serious – book that’ll inspire you to get off of your duff so you can create the life you deserve.