The Market for Consulting Services
One of the most important things that consultants do is market their services. Chapter 12 will extensively cover the many ways you can market your business or consumer consulting service. For now, let's look at marketing in general and help you see that marketing is both vital and fun.
The purpose of marketing is simply to bring products and clients together. To do this, you will first determine who your client is. For example, the client of a printing consultant is any business that uses printing services: larger businesses that produce documents, literature, forms, or packaging materials. If the specialization is packaging, clients are manufacturers who must package their product for the consumer.
By first defining your client you can then define your market. If you plan to advise people on selecting appropriate pets from an animal shelter, you will define two markets:
People who consider the animal shelter as a source of pets but don't know how to make the best selection.
People who have not previously considered an animal shelter as a source of good pets.
