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Hi,
This issue we are answering a reader’s question about networking and marketing done online versus offline, and specifically how much to do, what the returns are, and suggestions for getting to know your contacts better.
If you have a question that you’d like us to answer in The Marketing Edge please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to answer you in an upcoming issue.
Are you a blogging or organising or outsourcing expert? We are looking for articles to reproduce in The Marketing Edge to satisfy reader requests, so if this is you, please get in touch! See details and editorial guidelines below.
A public service announcement for those who may be interested:
When Vanessa and I lived in the USA we got addicted to flavoured coffee – mmmm, especially Eight O'Clock Hazelnut. Flavoured coffees are virtually unheard of in the UK – usually the best option is to add syrup (which is only an option if you like sweet coffee). Then we discovered Jacc’s Coffee which does all manner of flavours and delivers FREE within the UK. Yay! We have taste-tested a wide variety of their coffees and have not been disappointed yet. Now if only we could find flavoured creamers...
Happy reading!
Until next time,
PS: Our next Marketing Edge issue will be published on 3rd June – keep an eye on your inbox!!
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Read some participant reviews below. |
Philip Rosenthal sent Vanessa an email asking:
'How much effort should a consultant put into their online presence versus offline face to face networking?
It may be different for different consultants, but how do you decide how much time to put in or what mix of time to put into different areas? I am concerned that online marketing is a potentially endless sink of time and am not sure what the returns will be compared with traditional marketing.
Also, I have been on [a particular online networking facility] for less than a month and have about 30 connections - some of whom are people I don't really know but are members of professional societies of which I am also a member and live in the same city as me - I hope to get to know them better this way. Any suggestions?'
Hello Philip,
Great question, and one which I’m sure many other Marketing Edge readers are wondering about. You raise three separate points, which I’ll address one by one:
Online vs offline networking
How much time you decide to spend in one area versus the other depends entirely on where your prospects are and you may have to do some research of your own to find out where that is. As a business owner with many commitments you simply cannot afford to waste your time, money and effort in activities that have minimal impact.
Are your prospects researching and making buying decisions from behind their PCs? If so, are they building relationships with potential suppliers through social networking, or are they using search engines to find information on specific services? (Two distinctly different approaches!) Or are they making those decisions on the golf course? Do they read specific trade journals or attend business to business shows and exhibitions? Find that out, then find a way to regularly get in front of them.
The returns compared with traditional marketing
Any marketing you do – whether online or otherwise must fit in with an overall strategy. They cannot be adhoc events or activities that get done on a whim and without proper forethought and planning. Remember too, that not all methods work for everyone. You have to test it and measure it. If it works, do more of the same. If it doesn’t work, or doesn’t work well enough, change tactics.
For example: Just because you’ve always had an advert in the Yellow Pages doesn’t mean you should just keep on renewing it. Do you know how much business you actually get because of that advert?
The same principle applies to your weekly networking breakfast; your brochures; your website; etc. Don’t blindly keep doing something just because you think you should, or because you think that 'doing something is better than doing nothing.'
Getting to know your contacts better
Well done for creating an online profile and getting active in making connections! (For some top tips on creating and maintaining your profile, see my article Revamp Your Online Presence in Four Easy Steps.) It is important that your connections have substance and that you can add value to each others' networks.
What is the point of hundreds of connections that are just there to boost your numbers, but you know nothing about each other and never interact? It would be just as ludicrous to collect hundreds of business cards at face-to-face events and stuff them into an overflowing business card folder that never gets opened again, other than to add more cards!
Your approach to connecting with fellow members of professional societies you belong to and people who live in the same town as you is a good place to start. May I suggest you take the initiative in arranging a meet-up to build those connections into REAL relationships. Perhaps something like meeting for a drink after work – invite all thirty connections and see who turns up. Not only will you benefit from getting to know them better, but they will benefit from meeting each other too. (By the way: This suggestion works equally well if applied to that over-stuffed business card holder too!)
Thank you for your question,
Other readers with questions are invited to submit them here and we’ll do our best to answer them in an upcoming issue.
What They Said About the Performance-Tuned Networking Seminar...
 'Vanessa and David have helped me to rationalise how I present my services and to focus down on the customers I want to reach. This is forming the basis of my advertising, brochures and web pages. Vanessa and David have a simple no-nonsense approach and are able to present their subject in a very clear way. I’d heartily recommend them.'
– Chris Bryan, CJB Corporate Coaching
 'I found the Marketing seminar conducted by Vanessa and David to be excellent. In fact I think it is the best Marketing seminar I have attended, and I do attend a fair few seminars/courses. What struck me most was that they follow their own advice: they actually DO what they recommend to other companies.'
– Diksha Chakravarti, FixMe
Call for Guest Authors!
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ISSN 1756-350X
Volume 2 Issue 10
20 May 2009
www.zee2a.com
You have received this newsletter because you signed up for it or registered for one of our programmes.
In This Issue
David and Vanessa,
Your Zee2A Mentors
David and Vanessa work with Executives in the Professional Services Industry that are frustrated and dissatisfied with their current marketing activities, profitability, and business growth.
Through personal one-on-one mentoring they teach them how to become Marketing Masters, by among other things helping them create sustainable and repeatable marketing strategies that actually work!
Click to learn more about our mentoring programmes
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Food for Thought:
"The way of the world is meeting people through other people. "
- Robert Kerrigan
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