This month, we’re talking about business development in PursuitMag and at PI Education.
Marketing, networking, and business development are tough topics for many professional investigators. Most of us want to be out there doing the work we love: following subjects and leads in the field or at the courthouse, knocking on doors, talking to people. Digging up facts and evidence in support of a case.
But the reality is this: Until attorneys and clients get to know and trust us, we won’t get hired to do the investigations work at all.
Still, the marketing work can often feel like a distraction from the “real” work. Which is why the big questions, for a lot of professionals, are these:
How do I focus my marketing efforts?
How do I know what will actually bring new clients?
Are blogging/LinkedIn/Google ads/podcasting a waste of time and money?
Nobody wants to spend resources on a marketing campaign that adds nothing to the bottom line.
Enter our contributors, with expertise to share: First, check out Scott Fulmer’s great introduction to targeted Internet marketing: Google and Microsoft Advertising for Private Investigators. Then read Ruben Roel’s pillar article on marketing: Marketing Is a Waste of Money — If You Make These 5 Mistakes. You’ll learn what works and what doesn’t, why branding shouldn’t be your focus, and what a “pillar article” is … and why you might want to write one for your blog.
Later this week, we’ll post a link to a podcast and print Q&A with my friend Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, about best practices for marketing a niche service business. I learned a lot from what Jason had to say, and I think you will, too. In a word: It’s about trust.
We certainly hope you trust us, the folks at PursuitMag and PI Education, to offer you great information you can use in your life and work. We’ll close with this brief message from me, the executive editor, as I strive to look extra trustworthy in a beautiful blue tie. —HH