Marketing Wizard eZine: Collaborative Power of Business Networking
In This Issue:
Marketing Resources: The Magnetic Power of Stay-in-Touch Marketing
Feature Article: Collaborate Power of Business Networking
Kevin Recommends: Marketing Tools and Resources
Tap the power of business networking to build and grow your business like crazy! Read this edition of the Marketing Wizard eZine to see what I mean.
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Marketing Resources: The Magnetic Client Attracting Power of Stay-in-Touch Marketing Teleclass
Stay-in-Touch Marketing may be the most important marketing strategy you'll ever use! Yes, it is that important and you should take it that seriously.
Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion fame is known to say, "Be well, do good work, and keep in touch." It's great wisdom and sounds simple enough right? But, it's amazing how many businesses drop the ball on the keep in touch part.
If you don't stay in touch, you'll likely become invisible. And when you're invisible, no one is thinking of you - including clients, prospective clients, and associates who could either bring you new business, return to do more business, or refer business your way.
On this important TeleClass, we'll discuss:
Why you need a stay-in-touch marketing system
Content ideas for your stay-in-touch marketing system?
Time-tested formats for stay-in-touch marketing
Getting your stay-in-touch marketing system set up
The TeleClass is scheduled for Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 12:00 Noon Central Time.
You must
sign up
to participate in the teleclass. I look forward to talking to you on October 25th!
Feature Article: Collaborative Power of Business Marketing - by Kevin Dervin
Are you networking to build and grow your business?
With practice, anyone can master the art of business networking. But are you ready to leverage the collaborative power of networking to take your business to a whole new level?
If you're like most small business people, then you rely heavily on networking as one of your primary marketing strategies.
In fact, I'd have to say networking is the number one marketing tactic used within the world of small business. It's certainly one of the most cost effective and productive marketing tools when utilized appropriately.
Here is why business networking is so effective and important. People still prefer to do business with those they know, like and trust. And one of the best ways to get known in your target market is to network with clients and prospects as well as potential referral sources and centers of influence.
It's really a matter of visibility, familiarity and trust. When people see you regularly, they get to know you and gain a better sense of what you do. They're more willing to invest in getting to know more about how you work and the value you provide. And, you likewise get to know more about them, what they do, and how they work.
Strive for the Win-Win Relationship
At its best, networking is about creating many mutually beneficial relationships. There are a couple of types of networking - active, purposeful networking and casual networking. In either case, as the know, like and trust begins to build a platform for discussing and sharing business opportunities or just simply ideas is formed.
The more you network, the more opportunities you have to establish know, like and trust. The more you establish know, like and trust the more mutually beneficial relationships you create. And the more mutually beneficial relationships you create the more personal and business growth potential you add to your life.
Every time you connect with someone, you have the opportunity to begin a relationship and start or add to a network. How you choose to build and nurture that relationship can have a tremendous impact on you and your business.
So business networking can and should be a key marketing strategy for your business.
But as a marketing coach, I'm very focused on the how-to's of marketing and things like networking. What I've noticed is that for most small business people, their networking effectiveness is far from what it could be.
First of all, so many small businesses don't bring enough energy to their networking or their marketing in general. Everything is energy. The energy you bring to networking will determine in large part the results you get out of networking. I'm constantly amazed at the lack of energy from the participants in many of the networking events I attend.
Secondly, many small business people are not conscious of what networking can do for their business. They spend too much talking and focused on their own agenda without taking the time to connect with other people. They forget the value of establishing rapport and go straight for the sale at the first encounter.
The Collaborative Power of Business Networking
Are you truly leveraging the collaborative power of business networking? There is an amazing phenomenon unfolding in the world of small business. The question is, "Are you taking part and seizing the opportunities?"
Traditionally, most small business owners have networked to find new prospects and referral sources who can lead them to new prospects. But if you're limiting your focus to just that, you may not be realizing all the business networking has to offer.
Collaboration is the key. To achieve higher levels of small business success, many people have begun investing time and energy in building a stronger community network. It goes way beyond networking to get your name out there and look for new prospects.
The way you handle your potential networking relationships right from the start can determine the levels of success you achieve. When you go into the relationship are you only thinking of you and what's in it for you or are you willing to be open to the potential for collaboration?
Small businesses are investing heavily in building true relationships and exploring lots of different ways to collaborate. In some cases, that might mean collaborating with those previously thought of and treated as competitors. Are you willing to explore the possibilities that together you might have even more value that you could offer to clients?
The collaborative power of business networking goes further than small businesses getting together to help each other grow through referral networking. They're coming together to build a community network because they understand that the sum of the parts provides for greater growth possibilities than any individual business.
It goes beyond traditional networking connections. Small businesses who are willing to explore relationships beyond traditional networking circles (e.g., the CPA, financial advisor, and estate planning attorney getting together) are coming up with amazing value propositions.
Where might the possibilities exist for your business? Here's a hint. Think of the problems and challenges you're business is not currently prepared to handle. That is where relationships that previously didn't seem to make sense are coming together because there are so many unique ways to collaborate and provide higher levels of value.
Small businesses willing to collaborate with other small business owners, including competitors, see greater possibilities. They're willing to seek out even greater outcomes and results for each other and their clients.
Through this collaborative power of business networking, you become less protective of your own client list. You're more focused on helping your clients and business contacts make connections that could benefit each other.
How does this change your thinking or approach to business networking? Are you starting to see some possibilities? Begin reaching out to your networks of contacts and tell them you want to get together to explore new ideas no else is thinking of yet.
You may open a whole new world of possiblities for you and your business!
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Want to use this article on your web site or in your ezine? You have my permission as long as you include the following author attribution:
Kevin Dervin is the owner of Proven Small Business Marketing Solutions. If you find this article useful, you’d probably enjoy Kevin’s FREE monthly eZine called Marketing Wizard. To subscribe, just go to: http://www.proven-small-business-marketing-solutions.com
and follow one of the links to the Freebies page.
Kevin Recommends: Marketing Tools and Resources
Action Plan Toolkit.
A program for anyone who is looking for support to put your marketing into action. Includes five powerful Modules for focusing, brainstorming, planning and scheduling your marketing.
Aweber.
Capture your web site visitors' information so you can stay in touch with them. Provides for unlimited auto-responders to systematically follow-up with contacts. If you're managing an email newsletter subscriber list, look at
Aweber.
In my opinion, they are simply the best on the web. Get a fr~ee 30-day test drive.
Sonic Memo
Make your web site come alive. If you want to add exponentially to the effectiveness of your web copy, add your own voice. Want to know how I put the streaming audio on the Growth Marketing Power Group web page or other pages of my site?
Sonic Memo
is the incredibly powerful, but easy to use program that I used.
Blog Lightning.
By-the-way, if you're going to create a blog you should consider getting a step-by-step guided tour from John Jantsch. John is one of the early bloggers out there and a true expert on the marketing power of this tool.
Web Site Toolkit.
If you don't have a web site or your current site is not producing for you, get some help. The
Web Site Toolkit
from Robert Middleton is a comprehensive program that gives you everything you need to create a web site that works for your business.
***Note***These links to products & services are being provided for a resource. They are products & services that I use and recommend for the value they provide. It's your responsibility to check them out to see if they make sense for you.
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Proven Small Business Marketing Solutions
