How to get clients for local internet advertising business???

So I've got a new business started up and ready to start rolling, a local internet advertising biz. Essentially aimed at helping small to medium sized businesses succeed with their online efforts including seo, ppc, social media, lead gen.

I'm ready to start rocking it, but wait........I just need clients. I've been doing a little bit of cold calling/prospecting myself but haven't been all that successful. I also would like to spend a greater amount of my time focused on creating solutions for the companies that I already do have on board.

There are a lot of companies that operate local internet advertising businesses. My question is, how do they get their clients? Do they hire a sales team to cold call? Post ads in local media? Send physical mail?

Any help/advice would be extremely helpful!!

Thanks!!!

 

On the SEO front, one suggestion would be to approach local companies who are spending on Adwords and who don't seem to have optimised their site. This is a good way of finding local companies who are spending money and who you could help to reduce costs.

Rather than simply cold calling, it makes sense to narrow down the number of businesses that you'll approach. Concentrate on their needs and the advantages that you can offer to them.