In his book, Creating Demand, Richard Ott compares the long-term effect of marketing to slowly filling a water bucket. Each additional drop -- from a display ad, an article, a mail piece, word of mouth -- adds to the volume of water in the bucket, until one more drop causes the bucket to tip over, and sales gush forth.

Nearly every week something happens in my business that confirms his observation. This week a lawyer who graduated from the same college as I and had once chatted with me at a business meeting called. "I'm moving and want to do a mailing to my client list," she said. "I saw in the alumni notes that you write. Can you help me with my letter and rewrite my brochure?"

Last month a woman launching a humanitarian project heard me on the radio and called me an hour later at 9 a.m. sharp. "I heard about you through NEWBO [New England Women Business Owners, to which I belong] and I liked your piece on the radio. I need some publicity help. Is that something you can do?"

In both cases, the content triggering the call -- the alumni note, the radio essay -- had nothing to do with my providing business services. To use Ott's metaphor, the bucket had previously been filling with information about what I did as a consultant. The additional drop that filled the bucket therefore only needed to remind these callers that I existed and might be the person to solve their current problem.

Here are some ways you can take advantage of this marketing dynamic:

* Get your name out in as many forums and places as possible. Getting written up in the paper, speaking at civic groups, volunteering for visible positions, writing letters to the editor, sending newsy updates to the newsletters of every organization you belong to all help your name spring to mind when appropriate. Just remember that this has a cumulative effect. You can't do any of this just once and then conclude the method doesn't work.

* Try to meet people face to face who belong to groups consisting of natural clients or customers for you. Schmoozing with your peers -- other mortgage brokers, consultants going after Year 2000 contracts like you -- doesn't pay off except perhaps in learning new skills. If you perform services that involve personal contact, a business card that contains your photo may help people remember and recognize you next time.

* Develop mail campaigns and repeat them enough to make a dent in people's consciousness. Some experts say people need to hear from you seven times before they feel comfortable reaching for the phone or their checkbook. Those who disagree say it takes even more than seven times, so build repeat mailings into your budget from the beginning.

Use these strategies and your bucket will eventually tip over not with water but with leads, contracts, sales and exciting new opportunities.

Boston-based marketing and publicity consultant Marcia Yudkin is a syndicated columnist through ParadigmTSA, a public radio commentator and the author of nine books, including Six Steps to Free Publicity and Persuading on Paper: The Complete Guide to Writing Copy that Pulls in Business. She also delivers eye-opening, content-rich seminars on publicity and marketing to business and professional groups nationwide.

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