Howdy, everyone! Welcome to another exciting episode of The Creative Marketing Zone Podcast! My name is Eric, your host, and chief creative officer of The Creative Marketing Zone, and today I am super thrilled to bring on Kimberly Rice, President and Chief Strategist of KLA Marketing Associates to discuss timeless marketing principles that will help you build a prosperous business in 2019 and beyond!

Nationally recognized as one of the top leaders in law firm business development strategy, Kimberly collaborates with lawyers and firms of all sizes to guide them in building, growing and sustaining a prosperous business and educate them on how to exceed client expectations and increase revenue.

Kimberly is the author of the recently published "Rainmaker Roadmap: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Prosperous Business" (available on Amazon) and is a frequent speaker on a wide array of professional service business growth topics.

And in response to clients' requests, Kimberly founded Women in Law Rainmaker Forum to co-create positive change with women lawyers seeking to jump-start their business development efforts and create the career of their dreams through group learning, peer mentoring and masterminding business challenges.

I am excited to have Kimberly on the show today because she will share with us timeless marketing principles any business can use to prosper for many years to come! These principles even apply for businesses with a lot of red tape in which Kimberly specializes in for well over a decade now at KLA Marketing Associates.

Now usually, I steer clear of certain verticals such as legal, accounting, and insurance because of how tricky it can be to effectively market these businesses. I mean it's not like I can promote an accountant as being "creative" without getting in trouble, right? That may be a bad example or my bad attempt of trying to make a joke.

But nonetheless, Kimberly will break down how she goes about marketing for her clients effectively that have a lot of red tape. She will share some of the proven strategies and tactics that work, examples along with results, and so much more.

These are tips not just for professional service firms, but also for any business out there seeking to grow. And what I love most about the conversation I had with Kimberly is that these tips are reminders that we need to go back to the basics with our marketing, especially when it comes to building solid relationships, reputation enhancement, and contact management as Kimberly will go over on today's awesome episode!

Now, if this is your first time tuning in, then welcome – I am super thrilled you are here! Here on The Creative Marketing Zone Podcast is when I feature a marketing guru sharing his or her ninja secrets, hacks, timeless principles, etc. to help you get into The Creative Marketing Zone for your business. I have been doing this podcast for well over a year and a half and it has been a blessing in disguise for me as I get to interview business owners and marketers sharing their tips that work, which I can apply and share with you each and every week – how cool is that?

And if you are a repeat listening friend of The Creative Marketing Zone Podcast then welcome back! As always, I am super elated you have chosen me to be in your ear each week wherever you are.

This show just keeps getting better and better, and I couldn't have been able to do so without your support! And as a regular listener of the show, you'd know that I was releasing episodes twice per week – Tuesday's and Friday's. Friday's were the solo episodes in which I would share something new I have learned that works or doesn't work.

Well, I had to put a stop to the Friday episodes for now, but for good reason!

I found that I was spending a ton of time focused on getting these episodes out per week and not enough time in other areas of my business to grow, which is a learning curve many of us go through I imagine.

So, I have a made a strategic decision to go back to releasing episodes once per week on Tuesday's. This will give me more time to produce better quality interviews and episodes, promote the heck out of these shows, and focus more on revenue-generating activities for the business as this community continues to grow.

Tons of exciting things in store for 2019 with The Creative Marketing Zone and this podcast which you will hear more about when the timing is right.

But if you haven't already done so, then be sure to smash that subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening player to stay tuned of fresh content released each week. And if you are totally up for it, definitely leave me a review on iTunes! As you know, reviews mean a ton as it helps attract more awesome folks like yourself eager to creatively grow their empires!

And if you do leave me a review then let me know either on social media via Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. All of my info is synced up on the show notes page to this episode right here. You can also email me directly at [email protected] and I just may feature your review on a future episode in which I will do so now as this review comes in from Stephanie Machina at iLoveMusicMoreThanYou in which she states:

Eric is a fantastic business partner. I reached out to him after a recommendation from another business connection since he has a niche that is not only growing, but a few steps ahead of mine. He offered really solid input and action steps, and was willing to teach from his own mistakes and successes.

His podcast is fantastic! He teaches his listeners to work smarter by bringing on some of the brightest in their own fields. Grateful to have the opportunity to chat with him, strategize, and continuously learn from his fresh outlook.

Stephanie, thank you so much! First off, I love your handle on iTunes – iLoveMusicMoreThanYou – and yes I had a wonderful time connecting with you to learn more about you, your business, and all the amazing things in store for your future. I know I shared a ton of great resources on our call and I am super glad I could be of service to you.

And speaking of service guys, this is actually a perfect quick segue before jumping into today's awesome interview with Kimberly!

I just launched my Creative Marketing Blueprint/Roadmap for service-based businesses seeking to grow in 2019 and beyond! You will hear me talk more about this in the coming weeks, but this is the first time I am mentioning it on this show.

I realize a lot of you tuning in to The Creative Marketing Zone Podcast are fellow digital marketers, solopreneurs, business coaches and consultants who are DIYers like myself. So you needing to hire me for your marketing needs probably doesn't make sense.

However, what may make sense is to have some greater clarity, focus, or just some fresh creative insights on how you can grow your business in 2019 and beyond.

If this sounds like you then I encourage you to jump on a free 30-minute creative marketing strategy call with me.

Simply visit this page to schedule your free 30-minute creative marketing strategy session to get the ball rolling -> https://www.thecreativemarketingzone.com/creative-marketing-strategy-session/

No sales gimmicks on these calls. I just look forward to taking a genuine interest in learning more about you and your business, much like as you heard from Stephanie's awesome review earlier, and provide some good actionable recommendations for you. And if it makes sense to learn more about having me put together a detailed roadmap or blueprint together for you as your guide in 2019 then we can certainly explore or discuss this option as well – but only if it makes sense.

Alright, guys, we have an awesome interview to release, don't we? Let's get to it and welcome Kimberly to the show!

Key Takeaways

• I loved hearing Kimberly's storied journey on how she got to where she is today! What's funny is before our actual interview was being recorded she was sharing some awesome stories with me, which I was thinking to myself, "Man, I wish was recording this!" But nonetheless, it was great to hear her talk about her experience and how marketing has evolved since the 90s and is much more measurable today! 
• Kimberly stressed this throughout the interview, which is something she preaches all the time as well, and that is "there is no one marketing tactic that will carry the load of building a prosperous business." You can have the best website out there, but if you are not putting in the work – e.g. content marketing, SEO, etc. – then your website won't solve your marketing woes or generate the results you are looking for. As I like to often say, marketing is no Field of Dreams – you can't just build it and expect they (your customers) will come.
• The 3 pillars to a prosperous business. Kimberly talked extensively on these, which are relationship building, reputation enhancement, and contact management. All of your marketing activities should fall into one of these three as she explained on the show, and she breaks these down in her awesome book which I have synced up in the show notes page for you to check out right here.
• Who are your likely referral sources? Building relationships with these folks are key to the growth of your business.
• The importance of targeted networking and what you must do to be successful when doing targeted networking, which is all about the giving to get principle.
• The importance of understanding the ripple effect of the law of attraction. Marketing is a long-term game if done, right. Trust the process, stay the course and focus on building those solid relationships one person at a time.
• What to focus on with your marketing if you are just starting out Day 1. This applies to not just professional service firms but to pretty much any business out there in which Kimberly stressed the importance of your unique value proposition, getting comfortable with your fee structure, developing capital support, and investing six months in professional development and strategic planning for your business.

 

How to Connect with Kimberly/Key Resources

Website: www.KLAMarketing.com - here you can find free downloads to her books, video blogs, and blog posts and more!

Rainmaker Roadmap: https://www.amazon.com/Rainmaker-Roadmap-Step-Step-Prosperous/dp/1942489374

Integrated Marketing Services/Strategic Marketing Wheel: https://www.klamarketing.com/integrated-marketing-services

Targeted Networking Checklist: https://www.klamarketing.com/blog/targeted-networking-checklist

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlyalfordrice/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rice_kimberly

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KLAMarketingAssociates/