From the first time I read about inbound marketing in HubSpot materials, I’ve been convinced of its intrinsic value. Why wouldn’t it makes sense to “attract” clients through blogs and social media and other content-laden sources?  The old way of doing things — advertising, direct marketing, cold calling, etc. — pales by comparison.

HubSpot’s 2011 State of Inbound Marketing report is based on a survey of 644 professionals. What they point out as being particularly interesting is how the study results have been consistent from year to year, going back to 2009. Which, yes, that’s not a long time. But it’s still substantial, considering how fast trends change these days.

Stop by http://hubspot.com for  timely webinars and other reports worth your while.

I find this five-step process fairly easy to navigate for just about every business category imaginable — except one.

Marketing myself.

Fortunately, one of my clients has agreed to take me on as his creative challenge.  And, so I begin the five steps:

1. ATTRACT  2. ENGAGE  3. EXPOSE  4. CONNECT  5. LEAD

Let’s blog through the first: the process of attracting potential clients by communicating a message that is personable, reflective, honest, succinct, and powerful.

“Plant a seed, grow a forest.” That’s where I will start my message about how I can help.

Understanding social media has led me to”tweak” my words a bit.

BSM (Before Social Media), I focused on helping clients grow trees. While impressive, that message definitely falls shy of what’s possible with the expanded toolkit of social media.

In any case, “seeds” remain an important part of how I describe my services.

Seeds have always mystified me. How did God ever manage to stuff  so much potential into such tiny, teeny pieces of the world? I guess it’s really simple: He’s God. (Or she’s God or they’re God — depending on which PC critic you listen to, which I usually don’t.)

Together, I help clients plant seeds — carefully crafted to describe all the key areas of potential.

We sift out and focus on areas that offer unique market advantage.

Accomplishing this can include “What If?” sessions. It’s important to talk within an environment that welcomes discussing a full range of possibilities (what you might otherwise call “thinking outside of the box,” if that phrase didn’t feel so darn overused).

Including what we now call “keywords” is another useful tactic — one of many that have been introduced by social media.

Who could ever have imagined that we would be able to identify the exact words that potential clients use to search for our services? It adds an exciting dynamic to the process and will frame the words I add to my message.

TO BE CONTINUED