Staff Memo: What is marketing, and why should you do it?

Summary: If you want work, and you want bigger bonuses, then market yourself!

I have spoken to many detailers endlessly, perhaps on the point of nagging:

Market your self!

Their eyes glaze over. Marketing ain’t sexy. It does not bring immediate rewards. But over time, it will – provided the content is good.

All Businesses Require Marketing

Where does the work come from?

• It does not come from Koshy.
• It comes from marketing.
• This could include doing a good job with existing clients so that they demand your services on future jobs.

We’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars marketing – through all forms. Via Google, LinkedIn and Facebook advertisements etc.

But this is a terrible form of marketing. It is too expensive, and the results are not transparent to new clients i.e. they do not know if we’re good or not.

How should you market?

What works much better is “content marketing”: if you do this: not only will you benefit, but the entire firm benefits when you do so.

What are the goals of marketing?

1. To promote your name.
2. To promote the firm’s name.
3. To win work from clients.

How can I do this? What is “content marketing”?

Market via blog posts or other means:

1. Teach: other detailers and fabricators about useful things you have learned or solved. The lessons must be USEFUL lessons or tips.
2. Show: how you saved clients money.
3. Explain: the problems you encountered and how you solved them.

You can do this via our blogging platform, or via our Youtube / Vimeo marketing channels.

When clients see your work, your models, your blog posts , and if they demand that you should run their project: YOU WILL WIN THAT JOB. If many clients are asking for your name, this means you bonuses will go up.

What do clients want?

• Clients are putting a lot of money on the line.
• Detailing is not very expensive compared to the overall cost of the project. But if the detailing is wrong, it will send the client broke / insolvent. It is critical to the client that the detailing is good.
• If you can prove to the client that you are a good detailer, BEFORE they give you a job, and try you out – then you will be more likely to win the job.

What does not constitute good marketing?

• Posting screenshots of a project that you’ve done with zero explanation: is not good marketing. Why? Because I can get a fresher who knows zero Tekla to post screen shots of a random model. And secondly, it does not prove that you know what you are talking about. Why should a client hire you after seeing a screen shot of a random Tekla model?

Sowing and Harvesting are Equally Important.

Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing. (Proverbs 20:4)

If you do not market yourself, then work may dry up. Then what will you do?

Marketing goes hand in hand with detailing. They are not separate functions.

Sample Template For Marketing

(A) Title

• Start with the Title – the title must hook people. Tell the truth, but make it compelling for them to click. In the post, you explain how they can do it. Here are some titles I thought of:
• e.g. As a detailer, here’s how I earned an extra x lakhs per month….
• e.g. As a detailer, here’s how I became world famous ….
• e.g. As a junior, here’s how I quickly got promoted…

(BTW I believe all three can be made into reality provided we share the business and continue to grow our business and consulting practices.)

Basically you tell your audience something, but you do not reveal all of it.

(B) Structure the Content

I would want to see the following headings in your posts – because it allows the client to easily understand and read quickly.

1. The Problem: The clashes were missing.
2. The Solution: We used UBs and welded them.
3. The Benefit: We saved the client $100k, or saved them a lot of rework, or saved them time.

(C) Posting on LinkedIn

• Do not post links.
• Create a separate linked in “Post”.
• Put the title in the linked in and then add a short description of the problem, but then lead people away from the LinkedIn platform and onto your platform.

Summary: Why should I care about marketing?

• So that your bonuses WILL RISE. More clients wanting you, means that you can increase your rates.
• It’s the simple law of supply and demand.