Top tips for Marketing: Mediators and other neutral professionals

In this short article, we explore how mediators and other neutral professionals can increase their visibility and encourage clients to engage with you.

Whilst there are some common themes about marketing and most advice centres on online promotion, there’s more to consider if you want to go from good to great.

1. Understand your services and how you add value – mediators and other neutrals need to be clear about the range of services offered and how these fit with your ideal clients. Mediation and conflict resolution generally are known as distress purchases i.e. will only be sought when there is conflict to resolve. It is always better to have a range of services that support both distress purchases and longer term relationship building. Adding value to your clients may include advice and guidance, consultancy support, resolution, training or other services as appropriate.
2. Get your key messages right (and make it easy to find you) – clients do not need the vanilla approach of ‘what is mediation’ style content. Enhance your position by knowing exactly what your prospective clients need to know and addressing those questions. Take them on a journey and tell them what to expect when engaging with you. When they have found the information, make it super easy for them to pick up the phone or send you an email.
3. Write a stand-out professional bio – your professional bio is a style of your curriculum vitae. It is not your employment history. The purpose of a professional bio is to set out your experience and qualities to encourage your prospective client to select you as their professional. Your professional bio should be supplemented with references and testimonials, website, social media, and other points of contact to allow the reader to search and read more about you. Keep your bio to 1-2 pages and in the third person (Jane is…Kevin is…etc.).
4. Know your market and prospective clients – it is important to research and fully understand who your prospective clients are and who you need to talk to. We always suggest that you think about who your ideal clients are (client avatars – providing an example of the types or organisations you want to work with). Consider who will likely engage with you and where they find information, and who they network with etc.
5. Have a clear sales funnel – sales and marketing go hand-in-hand. There’s never one without the other! Your marketing efforts should align with your sales aims. A sales funnel is the process of narrowing down your targets (larger pool) to your clients (smaller pool). All sales funnels should be clearly set out and should include existing and new client interactions and communications. Top tip – start with what you want to end up with and work backwards!
6. Be online and visible – online visibility is important and should not be underestimated. However, getting top spot on the first page of Google and Bing is tricky without advertising…there are other ways to improve your own visibility which include being on Google Maps and Bing Places; being listed on key online directories; and consistent social media and content sharing. Leading social media sites are visible in search results so ensure that you are listed on LinkedIn and Facebook and any others that fit your overall strategy. Review your profile on all sites to ensure that these are all consistent and set out your services and official title.
7. Be actively networking in-person – networking is your life-blood as a business owner. However, make sure that you are attending the right events and have a networking plan. If you are attending events and are not coming away with new contacts, leads and potential work or referrals, you should take time to pause and reflect on your approach. Is the event attended by your ideal clients? If not, perhaps seek out alternative networking groups. If the right people attend but you are not making progress, it’s time to review your networking strategy. Are you connecting properly and are you following up? Do you schedule 1-2-1s and are you asking for mutual introductions?
8. Think about your clients’ needs – Don’t fall into the trap of selling you and how brilliant you are. Even if you are incredibly amazing, it’s important to think about what problems you are solving for potential clients. They need to know how you will help and what they can expect from your services. Your client prospecting journey is very important to get right and ensure that you hook potential clients in to calling you.
9. Plan your themes and content – marketing includes writing and sharing content. We have placed this lower down the list because you need to get the above points right first! When you arrive at your content planning and creation stage, it is important to think about your clients, your services, the sales funnel, and where your potential client is on their buying journey (whether they are ready to buy (hot lead), exploring options (warm lead), or just browsing (cool lead)). Your content should consider each audience type and be focused on providing information and added value (quick tips and takeaways) to ensure that it is useful now, and a reference point to interact with you in the future.
10. Measure your results and review progress – your marketing plan should include some benchmarks and methods for measuring your success. Marketing benchmarks can include number of leads, number of 1-2-1s, converted clients, income generated, engagement levels with content, website traffic etc. Make sure that you know what you are tracking and set review points to monitor progress and review as necessary. You will find that you’ll need to adjust your plan until you find a good working model for your business.

If you need help with marketing or promoting your business, or assistance with strategy, content or design, please talk to our team on 03300 431 757 or head to our Business Development Services page: https://disputeresolutionagency.com/business-development-services