When people tell me they need more clients, the first thing I hear is, “I need to do more marketing.”
Launch the newsletter.
Start your podcast.
Make SEO work for you.
But in my opinion? Those approaches are a long game.
If you need clients right now, we need to take a different approach.
Marketing approaches fall into a spectrum of immediacy and power (a concept articulated by Blair Enns in his new book The Four Conversations). Outreach offers fast results but requires consistent, proactive effort. Broadcast marketing can scale your message but takes time to gain traction. And discovery - the holy grail where clients find you - has the greatest power but takes years to build.
Outreach: Immediate Results Through Relationships
If you need clients now, outreach is your best friend. Forget the idea that “real marketing” has to mean social media or email funnels. Outreach is direct, personal, and gets results faster than any other method.
This might look like:
- Sending a quick email or text to someone in your network
- Reaching out to a potential client with a personalized message
- Following up (with an individual email, not a broadcast) with someone who attended your last workshop
- Organizing a dinner or coffee meeting at a conference
One of my favorite examples? I was traveling in Europe and made time to meet up with clients in each city I visited. Those connections deepened our relationships, and a few even spotlighted me to their networks afterward. (And also led to me hiring one of the clients I visited - just saying, when you host people and make connections… sales might follow a few months later).
Outreach isn’t about cold DMs or high-pressure sales tactics. It’s about building real relationships. You’re not just “networking”; you’re planting seeds. Some will sprout quickly, and others might take years to grow, but you’re building an ecosystem.
We also don't have to go from "people who have inquired to work with you" and zoom across the spectrum to "cold pitching strangers". Instead, send a “room temperature” email to people who might not have talked to you but might recognize your name or know you have connections or mutual interests in common. (h/t Lex Roman). Simply strike up a conversation and be curious about THEM first. This is a great podcast this week on the topic.
Importantly, in at least some of your outreaches, make an ask - and make it specific. Do the heavy lifting for the person you’re reaching out to and make it easier to say yes or for them to respond. Ask for a specific introduction to someone in particular. Ask for feedback on a specific offer or idea. In some cases, ask if they’d like to know more about what you’re doing (aka soft intro to sales). Ask if they have 15 minutes next week instead of "let me know if I can be helpful at some undefined time in the future."
The best part? Outreach is flexible. If you’re in a slow season, ramp it up - five connection calls a week can completely change your pipeline. If you’re booked and busy, turn it down to maintenance mode. (And recognize that if 20-30% of the people respond to outreach, you’re still doing it right. What’s the state of YOUR email inbox and LinkedIn DMs? I’m lucky if I respond to emails within a week these days).
Broadcast: Scale Your Visibility
Broadcast marketing is what most people think of as “real” marketing. It includes:
- Posting on social media
- Sending newsletters
- Hosting workshops or webinars
- Guesting on podcasts or building your YouTube
Broadcast methods are designed to scale your reach. You create one piece of content, and it can be consumed by thousands of people. A single email can be read by 100 or 1,000 subscribers with no extra effort from you.
But there’s a catch: you need an audience first. Even the best Instagram post or podcast won’t work if potential clients aren’t already paying attention, and the platforms aren’t helping with that much anymore. That’s why outreach and borrowing other people’s audiences (guesting on podcasts, guest teaching, collaborations, newsletter or lead magnet swaps) are critical when you don’t have an audience of your own yet.
Of course, using borrowed channels requires relationships, which means outreach is still the foundation. People won’t offer their platforms to share your expertise if they don’t know or trust you, both your work and how you teach and talk about it.
The challenge with broadcast marketing? It’s a heavier flywheel that also needs to keep being pushed. It takes time to build momentum, and you’ll need to keep producing content consistently. Social media posts disappear from the feed, newsletters get buried in the inbox. Which is when resilient marketing and discovery come in to play.
Discovery: The Long Game of Authority
Discovery marketing has the most power but the slowest ramp-up. It’s where clients find you without you lifting a finger at that moment - through SEO, referrals, reviews, or evergreen content like books.
Examples of discovery include:
- A client finding your SEO-optimized blog post
- A friend referring your services after they had a good experience
- A potential buyer hearing you speak then bingeing your YouTube videos
- A buyer reading your book, then your second and third
Of course, many fingers were lifted previously, because this only works when you’ve built a body of work that demonstrates your authority. A signature keynote speech, collection of glowing reviews, a strong referral network, and valuable long-form content can do much of the heavy lifting of establishing your reputation and expertise. Discovery is where content becomes a true asset, working for you even when you’re not actively promoting it.
But building these assets takes time, often years: months for a blog post to rank on Google, years to establish a strong referral network, and dozens of client wins to earn glowing reviews. So you can’t rely on discovery alone, especially in the early stages of your business or when you need clients, like yesterday.
Immediacy vs. Power: What Does Your Business Need?
What does your business need right now?
Outreach is fast and direct, perfect for faster results. Broadcast scales your visibility but takes time to build traction. Discovery cements your authority and works behind the scenes, but it’s a long-term game.
- If you need clients this month, focus on outreach
- If you’re ready to amplify your reach, lean into broadcast
- If you have the time and resources, start building discovery assets. (And we’re talking about this in Wednesday’s dialogue, linked below!)
Marketing isn’t about doing everything at once. It’s about doing the right thing at the right time.
(and PS - don’t sleep on outreach!)