13 Slow Burn Ways To Build A Profitable, Joyful & Sustainable Business

Over the last few weeks I’ve been discussing the importance of matching the promotional strategies you adopt with the specific results or outcomes you’d like to get over the short and long-term.

In my blog post What’s Best – Quick Sales or Slow Burn? I shared six factors to consider when deciding which marketing strategy to adopt. You see most people don’t think about this and waste their time and money doing limited random promotional activities that don’t yield the results they’d like. Rather than getting clear on their desired outcomes first and then deciding which marketing strategies are most likely deliver.

In my blog 12 Quick Fire Strategies to Get Out There & Sign Up Clients Now I went on to share twelve things you can do (or learn to do) fairly quickly and cheaply to bring clients. My favourites include offering irresistible freebies, reaching out to five potential clients, business partners a day for a month and public speaking. While there is an upfront cost to social media advertising, this can also give an excellend return on investment once you know how to do it well.

Today I’m sharing 13 Slow Burn Ways for building a profitable, joyful and sustainable business.

Because if you want your business to be sustainable over the long-term, where you are spending less time marketing and selling, these will help you do this e.g. by targeting groups of your ideal clients rather than individual ideal clients; building relationships and automating processes. So you’ve got more time to do what you really love! They are also really important to continue to nurture relationships with people you meet in the course of business or through the quick fire strategies I mentioned in my last blog.

Build your own tribe, community or network* – decide how to connect and build relationships with your audience e.g. monthly meetings, community calls, Google Hangouts, a social media group or local Meet Up Group.

Networking* – join a local or on-line business network that you enjoy. Attend their events regularly and build relationships with other members. Attend other networking events too where groups of your ideal clients go.

Email marketing* – build and service an email list of your ideal clients by providing valuable regular content e.g. by offering freebies or useful tips/resources etc.

Set up engaging auto-responders email sequences (pre written automated email messages) that go out to those who sign up to your freebie (lead magnet) which position you as an expert, address what new contacts what and need to hear, and ultimately invite them to buy from you at some point.

Support a charity through your business* – make fundraising and supporting a social cause one of your main marketing strategies. You’ll be amazed how this will help you grow your network and attract more clients/business contacts – because you’ll be more memorable, people will want to support you in your efforts and do business with you.

Run free or fundraising webinars – promote these and capture contact details of those signing up that you can then send your regular emails to.

Blogging – regularly write your own blog and find places to be a guest blogger (remembering to also send your posts to those on your email list).

Reward clients/business partners for referring business to you – offering them a discount/free products/ services or affiliate commission for each person they refer.

Give clients vouchers they can give to their friends or redeem themselves once they’ve referred so many people.

Advertise/promote your freebies on an ongoing basis – once you’ve a sales funnel in place that converts leads into low cost products/services so what you spend on advertising becomes an investment rather than a cost.

Be social media savvy* – use Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ etc. to build relationships with your ideal clients and potential business partners by sharing valuable content ( including using advertising to drive traffic to your ‘freebies’) and entering into discussions through your Fanpages & Groups and in groups you below to.

Set up an automated sequence of regular social media posts using software such as Hootesuite.

Start your own Google Hangout or Podcast Show and market this effectively.

These are just a few of many ideas,what’s important is you identify all those that could work really well for you and then focus on the ones you enjoy that get the best results.

Have fun!

I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts – please do share your comments below.

Alisoun Mackenzie is The Compassionate Business Mentor, Author, and Speaker who inspires business owners and social entrepreneurs to turn their passions into profits and make a difference in the world.

She is also the author of two Amazon Best Selling books Heartatude, The 9 Principles of Heart-Centered Success and Give to Profit: How to Grow Your Business by Supporting Charities Social Causes.

Alisoun is also the founder of The Heartabiz Hub a business network and training academy and has written the following free ebooks:

The 9 Secrets to Signing Up Clients Without Selling (click here)
101 Ways To Attract Great Clients, With Heart, Integrity & Social Impact (click here)
52 Ways to Raise Funds for Charities and Social Causes Through Your Business (click here)