Tag: networking

    Guerilla Marketing to Grow Your Business

    It’s about growing your own home business by using some offline tactics to do your marketing that are traditional but have been working for ever. So for those of you who have never tried to grow your home business, there are three point six billion people online. So remember to get your Web site up there like I mentioned on Thursday so that you connect with those people.

    If you want at first start connecting with your local community. Believe it or not,  yes, Yellow Pages is a great way to start. Get your advertising info into Yellow Pages and that does cost money but that will last you a lifetime in order of “word of mouth.” Once people start to get to know that you’re in the Yellow Pages in the directory, they can look you up easily and get your phone number and your address also maybe depending on the Yellow Pages. And of course, it is put up in the Yellow Pages on the Internet. And once they have your web site, you have a Web site up and an address. You can put that Web site and your phone number and e-mail and your mobile phone on business cards. On your Web site, have a contact form to “contact us” form as they say on your Web site that they could fill in and contact you for more information about your business.

    You can actually pay for the domain and pay for the hosting for a web site and it is certainly less than a hundred dollars You could easily learn WordPress. I know you don’t want to but obviously you could and that would be also free. Once you have that, you could put up a few blog posts and you have a Web site or you could hire someone to do that or get a free Web site as long as they allow you to attach a email auto-responder that will make a list of the people who contact you. Once they get onto your e-mail address list then you are in business with possible customers because that’s a very simple way for you to start your business growing is by getting on the Internet.

    But anyway, for those of you who are local businesses, you have to do some marketing for your business. There are still direct mailers out there depending on your community they could be reasonable. Send out a press release saying that you’re in town and available or you could do some ads in your local paper.

    You could also network out there in your community. There’s a lot of business networking groups. I’m not sure if they’re free to join in your community. The Chamber of Commerce in our community you pay a yearly fee but you have a lot of free networking by being in the chamber. Go out and volunteer in your community at a local food bank or any local business entrepreneurial type group. Go to a Meetup networking event. Meetups are free and create your own Meetup where you provide information and people can come and learn about your business or service depending on what you actually do and you could actually be there and meet up with others who are in business. Those are just a few of the ways that you have to be able to get out into the community so people get to know about you as you have to network.

    You have to market your business. So obviously you could also do a press release send it to your local newspapers saying that you’re in business. They’re always interested in profiling new businesses this community. Those are some of the traditional ways that Jay Levinson of the Guerilla Marketing book series has for you and let me just get his Web site because of course everybody has a Web site now and you can go and get some more guerilla marketing hacks for your local business that you don’t have to cost too much money to spend to get them.

    Gmarketing.com or his book “Guerrilla Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levinson.

    But anyway , so guerrilla marketing is a great way to save money in order to grow your business when you’re offline. Obviously there is some cost to be an offline business in people finding you in your local community. Tell all your family and friends that’s an inexpensive way. Hand out cards to your family and friends note cards to anyone you know. So for our offline business it’s now of course you can get online and get more business from the Internet. That’s why you need a web site. So as I mentioned get your Web site up there. Then you’re going to have to go and participate in social media.It doesn’t cost money to get on to social media and just chat and add your social media pages.  So that’s another hack is to get your Web site up and then get connected on some of the social media that might be of interest to you.

    So we’ll be talking about some of them that we’ve talked about in season one like Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest  and  Twitter .  Then you can see that it is possible even if you have a shipping company to be successful on his Instagram or even of course company like Ikea it can be very successful on Facebook. So hopefully you’ve got a few ideas today and I’ll give you some more when I get Guerrilla marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson out!

    Categories: Networking, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: , , , , ,

    Networking with Members

    When you join a membership group, the whole point is to network with members, and the whole point of doing that is to build relationships. People like to buy from people that they trust, and the way to build trust is to network with people enough that they can get a good idea of what type of person you are. Even if you’re an introvert, you can network with members successfully.

    * It’s All about Them – Just like your “about me” page is really written with your audience in mind, and all about them, so is networking with members. It’s about them, not you. This can actually take a lot of pressure off your nerves when attending membership meetings.

    * Don’t Sell Anything – Networking meetings are about building relationships, not about selling. Yes, your ultimate goal is to get more clients and referrals. But to do that, focus on just making connections and getting to know people.

    * Make a Good Impression – Don’t show up at meetings in your jammies even if you work from home in them. Instead, dress in a professional way depending on the type of membership you joined. If the typical dress at the meeting is a business suit then you need to wear one. If it’s more dressed down, that’s great; but always present a clean, professional appearance that will please your ideal customer.

    * Have Business Cards Ready – It might seem old-fashioned, but the business card is still available and a popular way to share information when networking. You need to have cards with you at all times because you never know when you’ll meet someone who needs the information you have. Don’t fling your card at people, but when an opening comes up – such as they ask, or you ask for theirs – then you can trade cards.

    * Practice Your Elevator Speech – Some people claim the elevator speech is too old-fashioned and “canned.” However, if you don’t practice talking about what it is that you do, framed in the language of benefit to your audience, you will be lost and so will your audience.

    * Be Ready to Answer Questions – Not only should you know your niche well, but you should know how your audience likes to hear about your niche. In this way, when they ask questions you can always frame the answers in terms of benefits for them. Remember, you don’t “do data entry” – you save time for your customer by doing those tasks that they don’t want to do.

    * Make Out of Meeting Dates – This means that you want to continue building the relationship outside of the meetings. This is a great way to take the networking to the next level. Arrange luncheons to learn more about the person and their business, and move forward. You are going to want to refer others too, so getting to know them is imperative.

    * Go to Meetings Regularly – Once you join, it’s important to be an active member. Joining and getting on a list isn’t going to help. Participating, showing up, and being an active member will do wonders for you.

    It’s important to remember that networking with members is all about building relationships. It’s not just about going to a meeting, sitting there while everyone else talks, and “doing your time” then going home. You need to get out of your comfort zone and truly network. But, simply by making it more about them than you, you’ll be able to do it well.

    Categories: Grow a Home Business, Networking Tags: Tags:

    Nine Ways to Participate in an Online Community

    One of the ways to make an online community work is to practice a high level of participation. When you get involved in your online community, it will really pay off in a big way by making you closer to the other members. You and the members can become awesome resources to each other throughout your business’s growth.

    1. Introduce Yourself – When you become part of an online community, start out on the right foot by introducing yourself according to the rules of the group. Most online communities have rules that prohibit sharing of URLs or advertising, but most allow you to introduce yourself to get started in the group.

    2. Ask Questions – Once you’ve been properly introduced, start asking questions to get the discussions going in the group. This is a good way to get to know each other as well as to get to know your audience. When people answer your question, be sure to comment back and thank them and add to the discussion.

    3. Answer Questions – When other people ask questions that you have an answer to, be sure that you answer the questions honestly and openly, without any intent to sell them anything. Give of yourself freely and you will end up with a large return on investment.

    4. Comment on Stories – When other people introduce themselves or tell a story, be sure to comment on them. If the community often posts informative articles, be sure to comment on those too and to point them out to others in the group for reading.

    5. Create a Good Signature Line – Most groups allow you to have some type of signature line that has a link back to your website. Be sure to provide a specialized link just for that group that offers specials for group members.

    6. Fill Out Your Profile Completely – Additionally, most online communities have a profile area. Be sure to upload a nice headshot, and to fill out the entire profile. That way when someone wants to learn more about you they can easily do so.

    7. Invite New People – When you know that the group would be a good fit for someone you meet elsewhere, share the group with them. Bringing in new people to the community keeps the community alive and fresh.

    8. Be a Resource to Others – Never be afraid to be an open book resource within your area of expertise. If you want to be known as an expert, show that expertise within your answers to others.

    9. Start a Subgroup – Once you’ve become well known and people start coming to you more, see if you can start a subgroup inside the group. Ask for permission before doing that, but it might be of help to the group owner if you don’t own the group.

    If you make it your goal to do everything on this list over a period of time, you’ll notice something amazing happening. You’ll notice that you’ve built real relationships with the people in the group, and that they are referring you to potential clients and you are potentially referring some of them to clients too. It’s a two-way street when you are part of a community. The fact that it is online doesn’t mean it’s not real.

    Categories: Grow a Home Business, Networking Tags: Tags:

    Make Marketing Friends to Boost Your Confidence

    Networking is one of the most important things you can do to boost your business – and your self confidence to move on to greater successes. But meeting people can be a challenge to some – even though meeting others online provides some level of anonymity.

    Fear starts rearing its ugly head, especially if you’re a newbie and trying to meet people on forums where everyone seems to know what they’re doing and exactly where they’re going and how to get there.

    Although networking may evoke self doubt for some, it can be the best move you could ever make to grow your business. You don’t have to join online conversations and forums pretending that you’re already successful.

    In fact, most marketers are more than willing to help newbies succeed and go overboard to be sure you’re getting the information you need and the help you ask for. They’ll proudly share ideas and past successes and failures with you and will likely support you in your ventures.

    It’s good to know people going through the same thing you are. They can provide support whenever you feel alone as an entrepreneur – helping you work through self doubt issues and get back in the groove with your productivity.

    Participate in events and meet-ups that you’ve researched and are sure that they’re relevant to what you’re trying to accomplish. You don’t want to waste your time participating in an event that brings you no new or relevant information.

    Before the event, think of some conversation starters to get information flowing. Know as much as you can about the product or services to avoid tedious questions. Also, think of ways you can end a conversation if you get into a boring or irrelevant one.

    Links and business cards are great ways to network, too. If you’re attending a meet-up session or going to a seminar, be prepared to pass on a lot of cards and ask for others. You may end up with some future clients or JV partners to add to your list.

    To network successfully, you should be genuinely engaged with the other person and focus on making the conversation interesting and bringing out others in a positive manner.

    Mainly, think about what you’re going to say or conversations you’d like to engage in prior to the event and try to inspire others as well as be inspired. It’s good to get out of your comfort zone once in awhile to experience new ideas.

    You may be surprised to find out how much you already know about your industry compared to others you meet either on or offline. Networking is a business strategy that many marketers underplay, but can be an invaluable part of your future business successes.

    Categories: Networking Tags: Tags: ,

    Putting Your Best Foot Forward

    When you join a membership such as an “inner circle,” “mastermind group” or a local business club, it’s important to learn how to put your best foot forward. Not only do first impressions matter, so do repeat impressions. You know how a person has to see an advertisement seven times before they choose to purchase? Well, it’s not much different when it comes to building relationships and getting to know people via memberships.

    * Be Prepared – Don’t go to meetings disorganized, dropping paperwork, letting your phone ring, and that type of thing. You need to be fully present at every meeting instead of worried about what’s going on outside of it.

    * Don’t Sell Anything – The worst thing you can do at any membership meetings, or any social gathering at all, is to try to treat it as a sales meeting. You shouldn’t sell anyone anything at these events. Instead, just be yourself, and get to know people and let them get to know you.

    * Dress Appropriately – Each membership has a different personality so you’ll have to base how you dress on the membership. But, you want to show your personality too. Don’t show up in your PJs and looking dirty, but do be yourself and dress right for the membership.

    * Offer Your Hand First – The person who walks up to someone and introduces him or herself is the power person in the group. You need to go up to people, introduce yourself, and offer to shake hands. Look them in the eye, and tell them your name clearly, and ask theirs. Then listen.

    * Get Professional Business Cards Made – Always have cards with you when you leave your office or home. It’s very important because it’s the best way to meet with others after the event. You’ll never remember everyone, so using the card they give you and jotting down on the back something to help you remember them is a great thing to do. It’s something they might do too.

    * Get to Know People – Your entire job at any event is to get to know people. The more you get to know people and they get to know you, the more likely they are to recommend you to others, as well as hire you if they need what you offer.

    * Ask a Lot of Questions – Remember to always put the other person first, and learn as much as you can about them. The more people get to tell you about themselves, the better impression they get of you.

    * Show Up – It’s important to show up to the meetings, events, and luncheons when the membership you choose to join has them. Don’t just sign up and never show up. Showing up is the best thing you can do for your business.

    Whether you have a home business or a bricks and mortar business, it’s important to always practice putting your best foot forward. What that constitutes is different for each type of business and business owner, depending on their audience and niche.

    Categories: organizations, work with others Tags: Tags:

    Building Long-Lasting Business Relationships

    The best way to build long-lasting business relationships is to participate in the group or communities that the members participate in. You need to know how to get into any group, fit in, and get to know your customers and clients in a whole new way. It’s no longer good enough to just sell them something and then move on. Now you need to cultivate relationships that ensure that the relationship lasts longer.

    * Give Freely – Before ever asking anyone you meet for a favor, always do things for them first. Freely give of yourself to people and they will remember you. If you’ve done a good job letting them know what you offer, they’ll come to you when they’re ready.

    * Stay Professional – It’s especially important to remember that social media is part of the way you communicate professionally today. You need to keep the things you share business-like, avoiding personal oversharing or inappropriate sharing.

    * Practice Your Elevator Speech – Some people object to calling it that, but it’s just a way to say that you should be prepared with a short way of introducing yourself, your business, and what you do for people. Be sure to frame it with the benefits for the client instead of making it all about you.

    * Be Honest and Ethical – It can be a dog-eat-dog world out there, and you’ll have to compete with a lot of unethical people. But, keep your own morals and don’t cross those legal and ethical boundaries just to get business.

    * Do What You Say You Will Do – Don’t volunteer to do things you don’t have time to do. If someone asks you to do something and you simply can’t do it due to a time crunch or something, say so. But, when you say you will do it, do it, and do it to the best of your ability.

    * Don’t Monopolize Anyone’s Time – We’ve all met the person who talks too much, or the person who doesn’t talk at all, or the person who sticks by one person at an event. Don’t be that person. Instead, learn to converse intelligently and appropriately with a variety of people.

    * Be Welcoming – When someone new wants to join the group, be welcoming and open to them. Sometimes groups can become cliquish, and it can cause serious problems with the group. Not allowing new people in and making them feel like they belong can make a group stagnant.

    * Listen a Lot – You’ve heard the saying, “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason”? Well, it’s true. Use this as your guide to listen twice as much as you talk. Sometimes talking too much is a sign of nervousness; if you can focus more on what people are saying than what you want to say, you can also calm your nervousness.

    Building long-lasting relationships takes time in business and in your personal life. Both have many of the same characteristics for success. Be yourself, be honest, listen, and be helpful. But, don’t overshare or act in an unprofessional manner. If you want business relationships to be fruitful, they have to trust you, so be trustworthy.

    Categories: organizations Tags: Tags:

    Creating a Memorable Portfolio for Your B2B Event

    Going to B2B events is a great opportunity to generate leads for your business. There are many types of events, such as seminars, workshops, webinars, teleseminars, conferences, tradeshows and even executive briefings. For many of these types of events, you’ll need to take a portfolio with you so that you can impress the other attendees.

    You can add these things to both a physical and an online portfolio. Put the URL of the portfolio on your business card, plus make a few copies of your portfolio to hand out to prospects who come to your event table.

    * Examples of Content – Any demonstration that you can write well is an important addition to your portfolio. Adding a few examples of your best work will help the attendees see what you can do.

    * Your Book – If you’ve published a book, you should bring plenty of signed copies of the book to give away and to sell if allowed.

    * Show Unique Work Examples – Any project you’ve worked on that demonstrates outside of the box thinking, plus how you solved problems, is a good project to include in your portfolio.

    * Include Your Education – If you have relevant education, courses, or certifications, include a copy of the certificates in your portfolio. This shows a commitment to your work.

    * Define What You Do – Ensure that anything you put in your portfolio demonstrates exactly what you do for your target audience who will be at the B2B event. Leave out anything that is not directly relevant.

    * Prove What You Can Do – Find relevant samples that prove the best of what you can do for your audience. If you design websites, show the best websites, especially websites that are relevant to the audience at the B2B event.

    * Awards – If you’ve received any awards, put copies of those into your portfolio. This shows that your work has been recognized by others and makes people trust you more.

    * Press Mentions – If there are good press mentions including published press releases that you can include, do so. These show that you not only know what you’re doing but other people think you do, too.

    * Include a Resume or CV – Many freelancers balk at including a resume or a CV, but the fact is people want to know your history. This will help develop trust.

    * Testimonials – If you have some great testimonials, include them in your portfolio because word of mouth is powerful. Even if the person doesn’t know the testimonial giver directly, it can make a huge difference if they can at least verify the person.

    Including these things in your portfolio is a good start to helping you make any B2B event productive for you. The idea is to sell yourself to the right audience so before you start, choose who your sub-audience is from those who will attend the B2B event.

    Categories: organizations, presentations, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    How to Become Popular When New to a Group

    Joining a new group can be daunting because people have become used to the other members. There may even be cliques. But, there are tricks to becoming popular in a new group. Some will take a while but some will start working right now.

    * Create Excellent Profiles – Your profile online should be cohesive throughout all networks. It’s no different than if you are meeting people in person; you want to present the same person to everyone, right?

    * Introduce Yourself – Provide an introduction that is not a sales letter. Just say who you are, what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. Practice your elevator speech for both in-person events and online.

    * Watch and Learn – When you first join any new group, after you’ve introduced yourself you want to watch and learn. You need to know how the group works and what the group values are before you jump in too fast.

    * Build a Portfolio – If the new community is image oriented, build a good portfolio of images so that people who friend you, follow you, or like you can learn more about you. Even if the network isn’t image oriented, you can build in links to your profile that showcases what you do.

    * Reach Out to Friends – If you have existing friends that would like the group, invite them to the group if you’re allowed to do that. It’s important to bring in more people, so that you can become more popular faster. The more people you already know in the group, the better.

    * Engage with People – Don’t just be silent. Share, like, follow, and converse with people in the group in a friendly manner. Answer questions, offer free advice, recommend others. Follow the rules of the group, written and unwritten.

    * Meet Up In Person – Meet people in person who are close to and are part of the group. The more people you can meet in person, the more the other people will trust you because they’ll know you’re the real deal.

    * Be Active – You want to make sure that you are active enough in any group that people remember you and look forward to seeing you. But, not so active that you seem like you’re crazy or not busy enough in your business.

    If you take some time to get to know the group, and slowly get involved without being pushy, you will become popular in the group within a few weeks. You just have to give it the time it needs, the participation necessary, and the right effort. Plus, be yourself, be genuine, be honest, and transparent, and people will love you and want to be part of your circle.

    Categories: organizations, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Nine Ways to Participate in an Online Community

    One of the ways to make an online community work is to practice a high level of participation. When you get involved in your online community, it will really pay off in a big way by making you closer to the other members. You and the members can become awesome resources to each other throughout your business’s growth.

    1. Introduce Yourself – When you become part of an online community, start out on the right foot by introducing yourself according to the rules of the group. Most online communities have rules that prohibit sharing of URLs or advertising, but most allow you to introduce yourself to get started in the group.

    2. Ask Questions – Once you’ve been properly introduced, start asking questions to get the discussions going in the group. This is a good way to get to know each other as well as to get to know your audience. When people answer your question, be sure to comment back and thank them and add to the discussion.

    3. Answer Questions – When other people ask questions that you have an answer to, be sure that you answer the questions honestly and openly, without any intent to sell them anything. Give of yourself freely and you will end up with a large return on investment.

    4. Comment on Stories – When other people introduce themselves or tell a story, be sure to comment on them. If the community often posts informative articles, be sure to comment on those too and to point them out to others in the group for reading.

    5. Create a Good Signature Line – Most groups allow you to have some type of signature line that has a link back to your website. Be sure to provide a specialized link just for that group that offers specials for group members.

    6. Fill Out Your Profile Completely – Additionally, most online communities have a profile area. Be sure to upload a nice headshot, and to fill out the entire profile. That way when someone wants to learn more about you they can easily do so.

    7. Invite New People – When you know that the group would be a good fit for someone you meet elsewhere, share the group with them. Bringing in new people to the community keeps the community alive and fresh.

    8. Be a Resource to Others – Never be afraid to be an open book resource within your area of expertise. If you want to be known as an expert, show that expertise within your answers to others.

    9. Start a Subgroup – Once you’ve become well known and people start coming to you more, see if you can start a subgroup inside the group. Ask for permission before doing that, but it might be of help to the group owner if you don’t own the group.

    If you make it your goal to do everything on this list over a period of time, you’ll notice something amazing happening. You’ll notice that you’ve built real relationships with the people in the group, and that they are referring you to potential clients and you are potentially referring some of them to clients too. It’s a two-way street when you are part of a community. The fact that it is online doesn’t mean it’s not real.

    Categories: organizations Tags: Tags: