Advertising is based on this challenge. Blast your message to a wide audience so they know you exist, then ask them to do business with you, hoping a small percentage respond.

It can work to a certain extent because it's based on pure volume. But it's expensive and highly inefficient.

Why? Because, generally, that isn't the way relationships work.

Business is like most other relationships, it takes time. You can't leap immediately from "unknown" to "client". You have to progress through three important stages: Know, like, trust.

Step one: You take them from "They don't know you" to "Now they know you."

This is generally the easiest part of the process and there are any number of ways you can advertise or market your business so that potential clients can become aware of you and get to "know" you.

My preferred approach is to invite potential clients to "opt-in" to something free so that you are able to have an ongoing conversation with them.

This could be a small e-book, a whitepaper or a webinar. Something inexpensive to produce, easy to distribute and that speaks to one of the main issues facing your target market. It shouldn't be about you, it should be about their needs, hopes or desires.

Ask them to receive this information in return for their name and address. No point in them seeing your marketing but you not knowing them.

Once they opt-in and leave their name and email address in exchange for your free content or offering, you can proceed on to step two.

Step two: You take them from "They know you" to "Now they like you."

How do you do that?

By educating and motivating them with your valuable content. Newsletters, email drips and Facebook Groups are good ways to share your best information.

This is the place where you start building a relationship with them. It's where you introduce them to your world, your approach, your solutions and to everything you've got set up to help them when they are ready.

But don't try to sell yet. You'll undermine any goodwill and potential trust if you try to sell too soon.

By patiently and generously giving value to potential clients you will bring them eventually to step three.

Step three: You take them from "They like you" to "Now they trust you."

The more you educate and motivate them, the more they like you. And the more they like you, the more they realise you really have the answers they're looking for. And then they start trusting you.

So now, and only now, they are ready to do business with you.

Here's where you can invite them to take the first step towards a commercial relationship with you. Ideally you can match your offering to their true needs, rather than pushing a service that isn't a good fit for them.

Best of all, the resistance will be much lower because they have taken the time to know, like and trust you.

Craig Wilson is managing director of digital agency Sticky