"Marketing in Cyberspace"

The Consultant's Forum held a dynamic meeting on Thursday, January 28, 1999.
Using a brainstorming/discussion mode, we explored the components of a good
marketing strategy and how we can use Cyberspace to positively effect that
strategy.

[Main Topic]
==============
How does a consultant make the transition from "hanging the shingle" to
actually working for clients? Marketing! The consultant must "market"
his/her skills and services to interested companies. To effectively and
efficiently market his/her services, the consultant should have developed a
Marketing Strategy. For the consultant who uses Agencies to obtain clients,
the marketing strategy is directed toward Agencies and Brokers. A good
strategy should be a written document, with its components developed using
SMART principles. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable,
Reachable and Time Sensitive.

The main components of a Marketing Strategy are:
--The primary Goal(s): The goal provides the reason for the Marketing
Strategy, and defines what is to be achieved. A career vision should be
guiding the goal. A marketing strategy can have more than one goal.
--Objectives: Objectives are similar to goals, but are really only a subset
of them. These are milestones which, if completed, will lead to fulfilling
the goal.
--Actions: Actions are the specific tasks needed to accomplish an objective.

Generally, a Goal has a few Objectives, with each Objective having many
Actions associated with it. James gave out handouts which allowed us to
organize the Strategy outline during our brainstorming sessions.

We began the brainstorming by listing as many possible goals we could think
of quickly, for example:
 --Having 1500 Billable hours for this year
 --Having 12 projects in 12 months
 --getting 1 telecommuting position
 --Getting 3 more really "good" clients

The goals were discussed and refined, to meet the SMART criteria. Then we
selected one Goal -getting 12 projects in 12 months- to brainstorm
Objectives for it. Some of the Objectives we came up with were:
 --Getting the message of our skills and services out to as many companies
as possible
 --Gathering profiles of prospects
 --Finding a way to reach those companies which can't or don't reach us
 --Identify 5 new potential clients per week
 --Create a database of "suspects" within a 50 mile radius.

We discussed and refined the objectives to meet SMART criteria. Now the fun
part began. We selected several objectives, and began the brainstorming
process to list as many Actions as we could for each Objective,
concentrating on using Cyberspace (email, web pages, etc). A quick summary
for two of the Objectives follows.

Objective 1: Gathering profiles of prospects
 Actions include:
   --acquiring and reviewing the CorpTech directory.(www.corptech.com)
   --gather lists of directories with profiles of prospects
   --Define the major characteristics of a "good client" and search the web
for similar companies

Objective 2: Getting the message Out
 Actions include:
   --Being active on Newsgroups. This includes responding to inquiries,
posting comments, articles,etc.
   --Have a web site which is maintained
   --Pretend you are a prospect. How would you search the web to find you.
   --Get listed on Manufacturer's list for consultants
   --Be listed on Associaiton lists
   --List email address and website URL on business cards, brochures, other
print media, and any email sent out

The meeting ended here, although discussion continued. This turned out to be
a topic which really got the creative juices flowing. Almost everyone got a
new idea that could be used while creating or updating their Marketing
Strategies. Please look to the email list and the website for an
announcement for the next meeting.