| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
When Business Cards Arent Enough: Unusual, Unexpected, and Uncommon Networking Tips
There comes a time in every small businessperson's life when common networking practices like handing out business cards, attending various meetings and schmoozing with potential clients only goes so far. Eventually, the same old techniques get overused to the point that they become insufficient. But how many times have you gained new business, created a great relationship or watched your website hits skyrocket because you did something unusual? Or uncommon? Perhaps even unexpected? Maybe you were on the right track. The following is a list of atypical networking techniques that will help boost business. WARNING: They will stretch your courage. They will test your expertise. And they will challenge your creativity. But when business cards aren't enough, alternative ways to develop and maintain mutually valuable relationships are your ticket to networking success. What's Your Story? Here's the key: write it out. Practice saying it aloud. Make it funny. And tell it to everybody. Not only does this create a memorable presence, but the more you share it with people, the more they will share Your Story with other people. Why? Because people don't remember things, they remember stories. And after a while, the word about Your Story will spread. Mix the Medium and Wow People 1) The exact moment I finish reading the email, I obtain the person's phone number (if I don't already have it.) If there's no email signature, I look at their email address or go to their website. If all I know is their company, I call Directory Assistance or look them up on City Search. Basically, I do anything I can to get their phone number within the next two minutes. 2) Then I call them right back. 3) I then say, "Hi, this is Scott Ginsberg. I was in the office when your email came through and I thought I'd call you back!" I say with a big smile on my face. PEOPLE LOVE THIS. I have never done this without completely blowing the caller away. They respond with such excited phrases as "Wow, that was fast!" or "I'm impressed you called back already!" In fact, I recently received an email from a friend of mine who just changed jobs. He was writing to say hello and wish me a Happy New Year. And since I hadn't heard from Jake in quite a while, I Mixed the Medium and called him right back. Five minutes later he booked me to do one of my speaking programs for his new organization! Network en Masse Small businesspeople are successful because they're experts on something. So whether you're in sales, printing, tech consulting or retail, find a way to transform your expertise into an informative, concise and entertaining speech that will help other people like yourself boost business. Contact the meeting coordinator of your local Chamber, Rotary Club, Networking Group or Trade Association. They always need speakers. Offer the group a free 15-20 minute program. Include valuable tips, stories, illustrations and examples from your own business experiences that are of interest to the members. By speaking, you position yourself as an expert, validate your credibility and increase your company's visibility. Write as an Expert Here's how to get started with this tip: Go to Google, type in your topic of expertise and the word "article." For example, if you work in phone book advertising, type in "phone book advertising article." (Be sure to use the quotation marks.) Hundreds of hits will come up. Read through a few dozen of them. This will give you an idea of what hot topics other people in your industry are writing articles about. Then, find out which online databases, ezines, newsletters or websites syndicated the articles you just read. By localizing these sources, you can contact the editors and inquire about article submission guidelines. (And if you get the opportunity to publish articles online, you can easily email the article link to other people who would benefit from reading your work.) Don't Fear the Big Shots So it came to pass on October 8th, 2004, that I emailed Seth Godin. I told him how much I enjoyed his speech at the convention and that his work was a big influence on my own books and speeches. I also told him to check out my website, www.hellomynameisscott.com, for it was an example of the kind of idea he so passionately supported. What did I have to lose, right? To my surprise about a half hour later, he wrote me back. "Thanks for the kind words, Scott! I blogged your site. Good luck." Little did I realize that Seth Godin publishes one of the top ten most frequently read blogs in the world. As a result, I received over 70,000 hits on my website in one day! This resulted in some great new contacts, several exciting business opportunities and the birth of my own blog, which is now a critical part of my business! Which brings me to my last networking tip. Blog For Bucks For more information go to www.blogger.com; or do a search for any of the various blog providers. The commonality of these unusual, uncommon and unexpected networking techniques is this: you must do what nobody else is willing to do. Sure, handing out business cards and attending meetings are all good techniques. But everyone does that. So are you willing to practice telling Your Story? Would you call people right back when they're expecting you to email them tomorrow? Do you have the courage to give a great speech, write a helpful article or start a blog that shares your expertise? And are you willing to get in contact with a Big Shot? I hope so - because eventually, business cards just aren't enough! © 2005 All Rights Reserved. Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "The World's Foremost Expert on Nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions athttp://www.hellomynameisscott.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Mortgage Marketing - Viral-Email, Referral Marketing Strategy This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing reach. For this to work right you need a website that promotes your business. Marketing 101: The Power of Marketing When you hear the word "marketing" what comes to mind? More business or wasted money? If your experience with marketing or advertising has been less than positive your cynicism may be well founded. Yet, have you ever noticed a competitor with a mediocre product and a healthy business? The difference is often marketing. 15 Ways to Promote eLearning Programs Pre-note: In this article, teleclass is an example used toillustrate one type of eLearning market. The tips work thesame for other eLearning programs, including, but notlimited to, teleseminars and ecourses. Rules of Thumb for Marketing to Your Past Customers Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly.It's a fact that your customers are your best leads. 5 High-Impact Marketing Tips Here are 5 high-impact marketing tips you can use to boost your sales quickly. All are simple to implement and they involve little or no new expense. Boost Your Business With Testimonials When used correctly, testimonials can boost your response dramatically. They help build the prospect's perception of believability, stability, honesty, and value in your product or service. A Business In One Sentence Marketing expert and author, Geoffrey Moore, has a usefulfill-in-the-blank method for creating a theme andpositioning statement for your business. I prefer to usehis same system for creating clarity for myself in what I'mselling, creating an elevator or introduction speech, andalso material for my website, brochures and business card. Deciphering Marketing Lingo: Whats the Difference between a USP, Single Message and a Tagline? Maybe you've heard these different marketing terms, maybe you haven't. Either way, let me help to clarify the difference between them, because you should have all three if you want to market successfully. Marketing - The One Marketeer I'm regularly asked to speak to people, that have eitherjust started a business or have been going for some time. Somany of these people are absolutely brilliant at working "intheir business" but not so good at working "on theirbusiness" In other words; they're good at making the productor providing the service but they're not so good at findingnew customers and generating more sales. Why Do You Need to be in the SERPS? Why does your business need to be in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS)?Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing both have the same goal, which is to help visitors find your website. Ten years ago there was probably nobody searching online for your product or service. Self-Promotion on a Zero Budget Recently, I've received a few e-mails from people asking me for advice on how to get started in the writing biz. When I stop to think about it, maybe I've been lucky to accomplish this much writing in a short time. How to Win a Price War Any economics student can tell you that price is a matter of supply and demand. The market will bear a certain price point and settle into equilibrium. Profitable Marketing Programs Part 2: Figuring Break Even Point In Part 1 -- http://www.websitemarketingplan. Marketing The Real You I often wonder how the practice began of pretending to be someone else in order to market your business. You know what I'm talking about -- it's the marketing face, the selling voice, that you often put on in order to attend a networking event or make a sales call. Top Five 2004 Required Marketing Tips Needed to Succeed When marketing your practice, as well as designing yourbrochure, web site, business card, flier, advertisement, orother marketing effort, we recommend investing the time andeffort needed to effectively address all these tips. Notone of them can be omitted. Spring Cleaning: How To Do It In Your Business To Make More Room For Success With the arrival of Spring, I decided to get outside and into my garden.I had neglected to do some basic maintenance during the previous months and wondered if my plants suffered any permanent damage as a result. How to Give Your Biz a Boost with a Summer Marketing Makeover Are you on track for hitting all your business goals for the year? A quick check-up of your promotional efforts can reveal "week spots" and help identify what needs tweaking to give your business a healthy boost in the next few months. Here are five key areas to focus on with your mid-year marketing makeover. Two of the Biggest Hurdles As I was preparing for a presentation recently, I was trying to figure out why small businesses have trouble marketing themselves consistently. If we know we need to be marketing, why don't we just do it? Is it for a lack of planning or that we're just not sure what to do or where to start?Yes, maybe. Attract More Clients by Raising Your Profile One of the most common issues I'm asked about is how to raise the profile of a business to attract more clients.This is an important issue no matter how small or large your business may be. Help! What Happened? Let's be honest, when you're writing sales material for a product, there are a frightening number of things that can go wrong, aren't there?Remember Murphy's Law: what can go wrong will, and at the worst possible moment. Well, we're going to try to gain some control over events and the best way to gain control is to know what makes things tick .
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
