CNSV sponsored a white paper on “Marketing Your Engineering Consulting Services On Craigslist” that was published on January 13, 2015.  It was authored by Carl Angotti of Angotti Product Development and Walt Maclay of Voler Systems.

The authors have personally used and refined the methods described in the paper for more five years for lead generation as a part of their overall marketing and networking efforts. They have seen Craigslist leads become projects that ranged in size from several hundred dollars to over $100,000. Obviously an ad can only a spark inquiries and projects of any size require a focused sales effort and a formal proposal.

The following individuals also provided editorial review and comment:

• Chris Apple (Apple Enterprises)
• John Gale (Taligo LLC)
• Douglas Martin (Doug Martin Technology, Inc.)
• Kim Parnell Ph.D. P.E. (Parnell Engineering)
• Ed Schultheis, PE (Schultek Eng. & Tech., Inc.)
• Lee Stein (Stein Writes, Inc.)
• Kip Brown (CMBJR Consulting, Inc.)

Graphic design and layout were provided by Arden Waters.

The 33 page white paper describes in detail how to use Craigslist to promote an engineering consulting practice. It builds on the best practices by a number of consultants, some of which have been presented at earlier CNSV meetings and webinars:

• Seminar/Webinar: How Successful Consultants Market Their Services Oct-15-2010
• Seminar: Marketing Your Consulting Services On craigslist with Carl Angotti Jun-13-2009

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Marketing Vs. Sales
• Marketing Overview
• Marketing Plan Start
• Pull Marketing
  • On-Line Ad Basics
• Craigslist
  • Craigslist as an Ad Platform
  • Characteristics of Craigslist Ad
• Market Research
• Generating Your Resume Like Ad
• Your Business Website
• Post Your Resume Like Ad On-Line
• An Ongoing Marketing Process
  • Check your On-Line Listing
  • Dealing with Spam
• An Ongoing Sales Process
  • What Success Looks Like
• Appendices
  • Appendix 1 – Example of Keywords Captured
  • Appendix 2 – Example of the Output of a Word Frequency Counter
  • Appendix 3 – Example of a Completed, Compressed Set of Keywords
  • Appendix 4 – Example Template for a Complete Craigslist Ad
  • Appendix 5 – Example of a real Craigslist Ad
• Glossary
• Bibliography

Download White Paper

You can download “Marketing Your Engineering Consulting Services On Craigslist” at no charge.

Other CNSV white papers are available from https://californiaconsultants.org/white-papers/