No Budget? No Problem. 3 Bold Ways to Attract Clients Now!
When I first started my marketing agency, I had zero clients, obviously.
I had just left the corporate marketing world, where I’d been working with big budgets, big brands, and big audiences. Suddenly, it was just me. No team. No assets. Just a laptop, a dream, and a bunch of ideas… that somehow weren’t sticking.
So I did what a lot of new business owners do: I tried everything.
Reels. Newsletters. Facebook groups. Flyers. Networking events. Daily content. Weekly blogs. Cold emails. Podcast outreach. Oh, and don’t forget managing a website, CRM, and all the client work I wished I had.
12-hour workdays? That was my “brand.” Until I burned out.
1. Show your face on video
If you’re anything like my clients, you’re rolling your eyes and maybe groaning slightly at this first strategy. I don’t really get push back from client but I do with this! But I wear them down because they start to see the response and the results.
Short-form content is still the fastest path to visibility and you don’t need to be an influencer or use fancy editing. People love seeing people.
I started posting videos where I just talked about common marketing struggles. Real talk. Sometimes a little sweaty from a walk. Sometimes sipping coffee at my desk. But it connected. My community started growing. I wasn’t hiding behind graphics anymore. I also started to see a pattern in the kind of client I was attracting and this helped me hone in on my Ideal Client really, really well.
People don’t buy services, they buy you. Show them who they’re buying from.
Try this:
Share a 30-second tip that your past clients always love
Record a mini-rant about something in your industry
Do a “this or that” post on your services
Answer any of those questions people always ask you (read this 5-minute blog for more about this, CLICK HERE)
Done is better than perfect. And messy builds trust.
2. Micro-collabs = maximum exposure
One of my earliest wins? I teamed up with a fellow small business owner to do a joint Instagram Live. She invited her audience. I invited mine. We both walked away with a few new followers and a few warm leads.
Later, I reached out to a few more that I met through networking: “Hey, I’ll shout you out to my audience if you do the same.” They said yes. And their post about me led to actual client calls.
You don’t need 10,000 followers, you need to borrow attention from the right places.
Try this:
DM an account, local creator, or entrepreneur with whom you both have a shared audience with
Partner on a Reel, giveaway, or shared post
Interview someone in your network live (and tag the heck out of them - add them as a collaborator on IG)
3. Turn clients into your content
This third strategy is something I now use with my clients, and the results are already exciting.
It’s simple: reward people for sharing your work.
We started by simply asking participants to share their experience in a group program we were running. To keep it easy, we encouraged them to post in an existing Facebook group that had been created years earlier, no new platforms, no pressure. And guess what? It worked. Sales got a noticeable boost because, let’s be honest, we all want to hear what others think before we buy.
This was a small test, but it was so effective that we’re planning to expand it. You can take it a step further by offering an incentive, maybe a discount or a free resource, for anyone who shares a testimonial. And if someone creates a Reel or video review? That could be worth an even bigger reward.
It’s word-of-mouth, leveled up.
Try this:
DM a thank-you gift to someone who posts about you
Offer 10% off for tagging you in a testimonial
Feature your clients in a “Client Spotlight” post and ask them to reshare
When I quit trying to do everything and focused on a few bold moves, my business started to grow, and I finally got my evenings back.
These three strategies are budget-friendly, highly personal, and full of momentum. I used the first two to land my early clients, and now I coach others (and myself) through #3 with growing success.
Want to know what else I tried that worked? 😉
Come ask me directly during our next Ready. Set. Marketing. group coaching call. I hold nothing back, and we build smart strategies together, step by step. Get a marketing plan and live help, every month, for $67.
Join anytime, cancel anytime: sproutcreativela.com/grow-with-guidance
This blog was written by Kristina Kury, Founder & CEO of Sprout Creative
They work with small business owners and entrepreneurs who are busy running their businesses, overwhelmed with marketing, and whose growth has plateaued to turn their marketing into a more manageable, automated marketing machine.
Follow @SproutCreativeLA on Facebook and Instagram.
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