If I was not writing software for a living I am not sure what I would be doing, but it would not be sales. Having spent some time with friends shopping at car dealerships recently I shudder to think that in the process of promoting my own business I might somehow be associated with the underhanded hard-sell stigma often stereotypically associated with car sales. And though stereotypical it may be, the "what can I do to get you to buy a car you neither need nor can afford" pitch is indeed prevalent on a new car lot.  With this hopefully avoidable possiblility in mind I set out to market my buisiness in the same way I set out to tackle a complex programming challenge: break it down to  manageable pieces then address each in turn.

    To start I decided to break up our marketing strategy into two primary vectors, online and locally. The focus is on nearly free or free marketing and sales opportunities. Paid for advertising can be worthwhile but until I exhaust the more cost effective methods I am holding back on anything I have to directly shell out money for. Of course time is "money" when you run your own business so promotions need to be easy to put together and execute. Lets look at online marketing opportunities first.

    For a freelance programmer the world is your oyster, but oh what a crowded mollusk it can be. Establishing a customer base among the teeming world wide competition is no small feat. Building an online presence takes time to achieve, so patience is important. While you wait for your page rank to skyrocket and clients to lay down at your feet, here are some hopefully useful bits of advice for the budding freelance programming entrepreneur. 

• Online job sites and freelance programming communities abound. Joining is often free and while some take a cut of the final job payment, they are useful resources to explore. Establishing yourself within one of these communities is more difficult however, and the meager amount of leads they produce until you do makes a few months worth of effort seem like an exercise in futility.  Many times project bids are littered with cookie cutter salesman like responses with amounts so low I cringe to think about what the code being produced looks like. I can't help but think of some of these outfits as the equivalent of a programming flea market. "Lets see, I will take a Myspace clone and this hunting knife and these used shoes please." Setting up accounts with these services is worthwhile however, and if you can guide potential customers from the bargain basement to your site you then have a chance to possibly generate a solid lead.
• For Pete's sake maintain your website. Update it frequently. If you have read any of my other surely monotonous and droning blog articles you might have gleaned that I am a constant revisionist. Your website is your primary method to tell the online world about what you do, so don't settle for less than exactly what you want it to be. Be honest and professional and forthcoming in your site content and make it easy for visitors to contact you in a way that is comfortable to them (email, built in form, phone numbers, etc).
• Blog. There are hundreds of blog catalogs you can register with, and even a pitiful trickle of referrals to your blog is something that could turn a casual visitor into a potential client. By adding a blog to your site you can add a personal side to your online presence, so visitors can explore both your professional details but also get to know you as a living breathing person. Personally I enjoy it, and the fact that I am deeply passionate about the sound of my own voice not withstanding, it gives me a forum to express a more casual and honest picture of myself and what I do that the professional site pages can't convey.
• Maintain close relations with existing customers. Even a small link in the footer of a clients site can generate some traffic and possible leads. Getting testimonials and word of mouth referrals from existing clients is quite possibly the most effective way to find new work so shoot that company you worked for last year an email and inquire politely if they have anything in the pipeline.
• SEO mojo. Clean up your own site SEO and submit it to major search engines for indexing. If you have well placed relevant content they will find you anyway but speeding up the process is easy and free.

 

    Local opportunities are dependant on whats available within a realistic travel distance of your home base. Promotional material is easy to produce with reasonably small overhead, such as flyers, business cards, brochures or posters. I live in a unique social environment commonly referred to as a "college town". The structure of these "college town" villages is often similar, and they usually have a strip of locally owned trendy or regional shops that cater to the university community. This is a great place to beat the street with some more traditional brick and mortar type sales techniques as well as spread around some of the aforementioned promotional stuff. Locally owned businesses in general like to work with other locally owned businesses so use this to your advantage when confronting potential clients. As a programmer, venturing into the wilds of retail with a tie and a handful of homemade business cards is daunting to say the least. With our anti-car-salesman approach in mind, here are some things you can do to find leads in your local market

• Research first. We identified 200 businesses in our quaint downtown shopping area that could be potential customers in a matter of hours. We looked each up online and made simple notes about which were promising (no site, out of date site made in frontpage circa 1999, etc).
• Dress it up. I am sure that my business formal attire may have cost me some points with the skateboarding shop and the manager of the record store, but an organized and formal appearance sends an immediate message that you are a professional.
• Look for and respect no soliciting signs.
  
• Be honest. Don't browse for a while in a retail store before springing a sales pitch. It becomes at that moment obvious why you are there, and your attempt to pretend to be a customer is the first step on a slippery slope to the dark side. Not to say that genuinely complimenting a merchant is not recommended, but do it after you succinctly explain the purpose of your visit.
• Recognize your audience and adapt to it without compromising your integrity. I can't stress this enough. Don't dust off the black and white checkered Vans you bought in 1984 on your way to make a pitch at the local surf shop (remember be honest!), but be aware of the person you are talking to and focus on clearly communicating your points in a way they can understand.
• Practice what you are going to say. Seems to border on slick-rick-toothpick-chewing-car-jocky, but efficient communication of your promotion is vital to securing a follow up. It's ok to be nervous and even to appear nervous, but clearly stating your purpose without 5 second long "ummmm...."'s every other word is important to a professional presentation.
• Find community bulletin boards to post cards/flyers to. Coffee shops, community buildings and laundry mats are good candidates.
• When cold calling on retail stores keep in mind that the moment you present a sales pitch you just turned the tables on the seller/sellee relationship, which on occasion can really frustrate a shop owner.  Keep your presentation short and respectful of this fact, and take your cues from the proprietor. If after your short pitch they are disinterested don't push it any further and thank them for their time and move on. If however they strike up a conversation with you don't dash out to the next prospect without fully addressing there questions.
• Strategically plan the final destination of any cold calling endeavor with a visit to your favorite local pub. I have found that a few pints and some good company work wonders at washing away the disdain that can creep into your heart when donning the salesman/marketing hat.

    The amount of promotional opportunities for your business is only limited by your imagination and willingness to subject yourself to possibly uncomfortable situations. Remember that when you believe in what you do selling your services is less like peddling snake oil and more like planting seeds of possibility. So with that, quite possibly the corniest simile that has ever found it's way from synapse to keystroke, I bid you good luck on your own marketing experiences!