Any business cannot survive without customers in the long run.

Often new business owners get beginners luck or get a referral or two, but to make sure the business survives there needs to be a continuous stream of new clients or repeat business from a set of clients.

Whether you are a new business owner or someone who has been in the game for a while, here is how you can find new clients.

• Announce that you are looking for new clients. Tell your network that you are taking new business and you’d appreciate it if they told you about new opportunities.
• Reach out to those you’ve worked with, old clients or colleagues. Also, reach out to those you met at conferences. They are your loose connections and can be helpful in getting you leads. Tell them about your new business, think and tell them of ways you can help them, and ask if they’ll be open to working with you.
• Make a list of 100 dream clients, and reach out to them, get them on a call, and pitch them. Make three segments in the list, A, B, and C. A, is the biggest and the toughest to get. B is tough to get but not as tough, and those in the A list. C is the low-hanging fruit. Work your way up by starting with all those in the C list and then reach out to those in the B list and in the end those in the A list. Don’t rush into selling to all of them. Build connections with those who know key people at those companies, and then get introduced.
• Market yourself where your ideal clients hang out. It can be Twitter, Linkedin, or any other platform. Don’t ignore YouTube, because those who are not active on social media, also search for information on YouTube and it is a great inbound channel that is working right now.
• Get bylines in trusted publications. Aim for the top 5 that your potential clients read. Start with one publication, add more to the mix one by one and then get a regular feature in any one of them. This will create repeated opportunities for being seen by your potential clients. When they see you often and find value in what you write, they’ll want to work with you. So either you can have an inbound request or when you reach out to them, they’ll be more open to talking to you.
• Get on podcasts. This adds another layer to the visibility machine. So by getting on podcasts, you can get discovered by those who don’t read the publications. Or you can even get seen again by those who have already seen you featured in their favorite publications. This will increase trust for you and your work and make winning new business easy.

This is not the definitive list of ways to find new clients, but these strategies can definitely get you started and help you find new clients.