9 Sales Promotion Ideas for Your Consulting Business

Consulting companies are always on the lookout for new clients. Of course, finding them can prove to be somewhat of a challenge if you’re not prepared. If you’re not already using word-of-mouth and referrals, you can outsource your sales outreach, along with a lot of other great promotional ideas to help you get your consulting business growing. 

Keep in mind that not all promotional ideas will work the same for all companies. That’s why we offer a whole list—you can peruse them and then decide whether you’re going to use them all or just certain ones as part of your promotional strategy. Although the Internet makes it easy to come up with tons of creative ideas, here are some winning promos and must-have strategies to keep in mind. 

1. Run a contest

You could hold a contest for new and/or existing clients. It’s simple enough to have people enter using their name and email, and then you can collect a lot more new leads by putting all this information in your database. You can run the contest or drawing for a specific period of time, and then at the end, reward the person who wins with a free consulting service or another special offer. 

Note that you don’t have to give away your own services here—you can give out gift cards and other perks too. As long as it’s something of value to your audience, it will work. 

2. Use email marketing

Email marketing is not dead. In fact, it’s more valuable than ever. If you use email properly, you can generate a lot of business. Even asking people to sign up for your email newsletter is simple enough and it gets you more leads than if you don’t ask. As a bonus, consider offering people incentive for signing up in the first place. You can discount services, offer freebies, or do anything else that gets people’s attention. Just make sure that when you are emailing, you aren’t wasting their time or making them regret their decision. 

3. Attend virtual and local business events

Local and virtual business events are a great way to promote your business. Of course, you aren’t just going to show up and show off. You really need a promotional strategy and some type of special offer that you can deliver to your audience at these events. After all, they’re looking for some type of special reward for meeting you at these events, so you should have something to offer. It doesn’t have to be a huge reward, as long as it makes them feel valued. 

4. Offer new client specials

This is a common way for any business to promote itself. When you are trying to attract a new audience or grow your business, it helps if you can offer people something for their time. Again, it doesn’t have to be anything major, as long as it gives your clients the feeling that they’re being appreciated for their business. 

5. Set up a referral rewards program

Referral rewards are one of our (and most people’s) favorite promotional tools. Word-of-mouth marketing is still one of the best resources that you have. Why not incentivize it? If you create a referral program, you can offer people rewards for sharing with their peers, friends, family, etc., when someone is looking for consulting services. Remember here, of course, to offer a reward to both of the parties involved. The new client should also get something out of this for it to be really effective. 

6. Optimize your SEO and social media

Not specifically a promotion, but more of a business must-have, SEO and social media need to be optimized for all the right things. You should take the time to create an online presence that is organically easy to find. This will give you the chance to be seen as a reputable source because you are showing up early in the search results and people are finding your business listings when they search for your type of consulting. After all, no matter how much promoting you do, if people can’t find you organically, it won’t matter. 

7. Incentivize social sharing 

It isn’t just about having social media profiles, either. You have to actively engage on these platforms and draw in your audience in the best way that you know how. When you add incentive to your promotions on social media, you’ll get a lot more business. You can have people share your posts, mention a certain platform for a discount, or reply to you via Facebook messenger to take advantage of a social special, etc. There’s really no limit to how you can promote on social media, including on LinkedIn if you’re in the business of professional or B2B consulting. 

8. Partner with peers, colleagues, etc. 

Business partnerships are a great resource for any business looking to grow. Not only does this help you with professional networking, but it can also help you attract new business. Set up referral programs with colleagues and others in the business world so that you can share clients, help each other grow, and more. You might even want to add a special offer for those who come to you through another professional company to sweeten the deal, but that’s not necessarily required. 

9. Partner with Smith.ai for assistance with promotions and more

When you’re going to have all these new leads coming in, you’re going to need to have the systems and people in place to field them all. That includes the assistance of a 24/7 answering service like the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai. We can be there to field calls around the clock and ensure that you never miss a single lead, while also assisting with lead intake, appointment scheduling, and so much more. 

If you’re shorthanded on resources in the first place, ask how our team can help with outbound sales and outreach campaigns to get your promotions going while you’re busy taking care of business. And of course, we’ll create a strategy to handle it all, helping streamline your promotions and improve your business in several ways. 

To learn more, schedule a consultation to discuss what the 24/7 virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can do for your consulting business promotions. You can also reach us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 727-6484.