You have the skills and the mindset to start your marketing business and your next step is getting your first clients.

Almost every small business marketing consultant had a friend, colleague or someone in the immediate circle as their first customer. So, the easiest way to get your cash flow is by selling your services to an existing network of family and friends.

But but before too long you will have to push your business to a wider audience if you want to secure a steady recurring income from consulting.

Marketing is not a one-time activity that you can forget about once your business starts making money. Even if you enjoy ample profits with the recurring fees of your existing clients, there are no guarantees how long they will continue to need your services. Part of your time should be reserved for client hunting using a variety of techniques such as the following:

Develop a prospect database

Starting with what you already have, gather all your contacts into one file and build your database using linkages.

If you're using an email service provider like Yahoo mail, check for features that automatically pulls email addresses from your social networks and puts them into your email contact list.

This saves you the time and effort of having to encode names and email addresses and you are assured that the contact information you have are all current.

Automate email collection

By now you should have at least one website for advertising your services. Use your site to collect email addresses automatically from visitors by adding an opt-in form that requests for their contact information.

List building experts recommend making an offer that your visitors can't refuse like giving away free items for which they will have to first provide their email address.

Another way would be to provide useful content in your website and add a subscription option inviting your visitors to sign up for email notifications of future articles.

Participate in forum discussions

People who may need your services are usually found in related forums where they pose questions and get the opinion of others. Position yourself in these forums and make sure that you make relevant comments whenever you can.

Marketing in these online communities is subtle by attaching a signature file to all your comments. Your signature file should contain your business name, a brief description of what you do, your URL and email address. Marketing for a small business marketing consultant involves a variety of methods and should not be confined to just one or two techniques.

The fastest way to learn how to do it is to approach experts who can teach you effective strategies that you can implement immediately.