Today I am going to write about the power of the network.
There was a time where I did not understand networking. I thought it was all very self serving -- the devotion to who you know. I was a "what you know" purist. Then I started a business. And I had an epiphany about why they call it a business COMMUNITY. Networking made it possible for me to build my business. It was a my primary marketing tool for the first few months I was in business, and it has remained one of the essential ingredients for my well being ever since. And I'm here to tell ya, it can help you too.
What is networking? Well, I define networking as the gentle art of connecting with others for the long-term betterment of all involved. It can be as simple as getting in touch with someone you used to know after a long time of being out of touch, or as complicated as getting together with a colleague and brainstorming about ways to collaborate on a project, share knowledge, connect resources or otherwise help each other out.
I use the word gentle, because networking is not strident and demanding. It is not a "push" strategy -- it is a "give" strategy. Effective networking is about being open -- open minded, open handed...open your heart and listen...ask questions and find out how you can help your contacts. Open your rolodex and generously connect people. "Givers Gain" -- the slogan of BNI international -- is a great mantra to keep in mind while you are networking.
It is also about being open about what you need. People like to be around successful people, thus the people in your network want you to be successful. So spend a little time thinking about how you can help them, help you. What are you looking for in your professional life? Who would you like to meet? (NOTE: These are not existential questions, they are near term achievable asks. Don't ask to be introduced to your next boss or your soul mate and don't ask for promotions, jobs, clients, business -- ask for connections, recommendations, warm introductions...and expect to do much of your own heavy lifting in the sales department.)
So you've let some time go by and have let your network lapse -- how do you get started?
Let's face it, you already have a network, regardless of whether you've invested time in staying connected to it. College friends, folks you once worked with, neighbors, volunteering buddies....
Step One : connect with the folks you already know.
For every friendship you've let lapse, there is someone on the other end that has been just as careless. So don't let being out of touch keep you from getting back in touch.
I like Linked In for this, especially if you are building a business network. Linked In is a great way to track and stay in touch, and a great way to cross-pollinate and refer your network members to one another. (If you want something more social, try Facebook.) To get started with either of these tools you simply log in and create a profile, including schools, companies you worked for, organizations you've volunteered with, groups you belong to, etc. Once you have entered your profile, search by organization name and individual name to find your long lost friends. Linked In makes it fast and easy to send those old colleagues a quick note -- to get back in contact. [URL: www.linkedin.com/]
Step Two : grow your network.
Groups are great. Get out and meet some new people -- learn some new things. Go to meetings of organizations that intrigue you. Set a goal of going to 1-2-3-4/month (depending on your objectives) and meeting at least 3 new people at each of these meetings. Come straight home and drop these new contacts a line before moss has time to grow on the business card -- remember, you met because you have common interests, even if that interest is growing a business, looking for a new job, or working to improve the environment. Set up a time to chat on the phone or have coffee and learn a little more about your new friend. How can you help them? Who do you know that they might like to meet?
This is where a lot of the magic starts to happen. Because people will mirror back the treatment they receive! So if you want to receive, give first. Networking is the quintessential example of "you reap what you sow".
Step Three : keep it growing.
The secret to keeping your network thriving is to stay in contact. This is why good networkers invest the time to get to know the people in their network personally. This will make it easier to stay in touch by forwarding information that you think they might find useful, or just dropping the occasional email to find out how things are going -- is there anything you can do to help?
A real-life example : I have been back in Chicago for about 7 weeks now, and I have focused much of my time on reconnecting with my network. Through the process of letting people know that I am back in town, I have also been connected with a number of business opportunities that I would not have even known about if I hadn't been checking in with people and getting back on their radar, finding out where they are at, what they are doing, if there is any way I can help them...and when asked (and I am nearly always asked) how they can keep their eyes open for opportunities for me...
Ok -- I've said enough. Go take the first steps and get yourself connected.....
Friday, February 27, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Why Marketing? Why Now?
First, a brief confession. I am a "granola girl". I have been an active member of the Sierra Club for a couple of decades now. I lobby on behalf of the environment. I camp in the great outdoors. And I hang out with a significant number of like-minded individuals who think I have horns and a tail and that I've hidden my pitchfork because I work in "marketing". They just don't understand what marketing is for.
Unfortunately, neither do some of my small business clients.
Take the client that I met up with socially last week, who told me she "still had" the marketing plan we worked on together 5 years ago.
Or the client that said that investing time and money in planning was a waste of his company's money. (when asked if he ever actually implemented the last plan he had, he confessed somewhat sheepishly that it had sat in a draw once it was completed.)
Or the former client I spoke with last week who said that they were not going to do any marketing right now -- they were going to just lie low and weather the storm.
Each of these clients are smart people, but at some level they do not understand what marketing is for.
Marketing -- quite simply -- is the sum total of all activities that help you understand who your market is (and who it isn't), what they need (and what they don't), what you need to do to address those needs, and that helps you let your market know that you can help them with what they need.
Marketing helps business owners work smarter, not harder. And in a down economy it is essential to business survival.
In flush times, some entrepreneurs can afford to flail about a bit and experiment. Afterall, most folks have some money to spend, and every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut. But in lean times it is more important for the business to train its sights on the best prospects -- those with money, and whose needs are undiminished by the economic downturn -- and to take some decisive steps to ensure that those prospects know you and pick you above all others.
The act of slicing your addressable market into high potentials and low potentials is called market segmentation. Market segmentation has the added benefit of helping you craft unique solutions that fit different groups within your larger market. Maybe it's a good-better-best product and pricing scheme, or maybe you have a product with different features for different market segments.
Once you have segmented your market, you will want to separate the wheat from the chaff -- you will want to winnow out the segments that are no way, no how going to buy anything from you...and you are going to stop investing time and money selling to them. Period. Save your breath. Throw your energy into attracting the attention of those high potential prospects who need you right now. That is called targeting.
Then craft a story that will force those prospects up off the couch and into your shop. So to speak. The art of creating a compelling story is called Positioning in the marketing world.
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning are just some of the marketing techniques that good marketers employ to make their sales efforts more effective. Because they understand that when the economy dips, every step they take must be surgical in its intent.
Ok, I probably have some of you convinced that marketing is a smart thing to do afterall, but the granola eaters are still thinking I am GREAT SATAN for dirtying my hands. These folks equate all marketing with Exxon, and link my daily efforts with clubbing baby seals.
But let me ask you something...
-- do you have a pension plan? The companies the plan has invested in...do you want them to grow? Or is such growth evil? How do you plan to eat when you are 85 years old if your investments perish?
-- do you have a favorite store? Trader Joe's or Patagonia or Hemp Village? Do you think these stores understand you and your needs, wants, desires? Do they reach out and tell you about it? Or keep their fabulousness to themselves? If they reach out to you -- guess what? they are marketing! And if not, I have bad news for you, because fairly soon, you are going to have to find yourself a new store.
Unfortunately, neither do some of my small business clients.
Take the client that I met up with socially last week, who told me she "still had" the marketing plan we worked on together 5 years ago.
Or the client that said that investing time and money in planning was a waste of his company's money. (when asked if he ever actually implemented the last plan he had, he confessed somewhat sheepishly that it had sat in a draw once it was completed.)
Or the former client I spoke with last week who said that they were not going to do any marketing right now -- they were going to just lie low and weather the storm.
Each of these clients are smart people, but at some level they do not understand what marketing is for.
Marketing -- quite simply -- is the sum total of all activities that help you understand who your market is (and who it isn't), what they need (and what they don't), what you need to do to address those needs, and that helps you let your market know that you can help them with what they need.
Marketing helps business owners work smarter, not harder. And in a down economy it is essential to business survival.
In flush times, some entrepreneurs can afford to flail about a bit and experiment. Afterall, most folks have some money to spend, and every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds a nut. But in lean times it is more important for the business to train its sights on the best prospects -- those with money, and whose needs are undiminished by the economic downturn -- and to take some decisive steps to ensure that those prospects know you and pick you above all others.
The act of slicing your addressable market into high potentials and low potentials is called market segmentation. Market segmentation has the added benefit of helping you craft unique solutions that fit different groups within your larger market. Maybe it's a good-better-best product and pricing scheme, or maybe you have a product with different features for different market segments.
Once you have segmented your market, you will want to separate the wheat from the chaff -- you will want to winnow out the segments that are no way, no how going to buy anything from you...and you are going to stop investing time and money selling to them. Period. Save your breath. Throw your energy into attracting the attention of those high potential prospects who need you right now. That is called targeting.
Then craft a story that will force those prospects up off the couch and into your shop. So to speak. The art of creating a compelling story is called Positioning in the marketing world.
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning are just some of the marketing techniques that good marketers employ to make their sales efforts more effective. Because they understand that when the economy dips, every step they take must be surgical in its intent.
Ok, I probably have some of you convinced that marketing is a smart thing to do afterall, but the granola eaters are still thinking I am GREAT SATAN for dirtying my hands. These folks equate all marketing with Exxon, and link my daily efforts with clubbing baby seals.
But let me ask you something...
-- do you have a pension plan? The companies the plan has invested in...do you want them to grow? Or is such growth evil? How do you plan to eat when you are 85 years old if your investments perish?
-- do you have a favorite store? Trader Joe's or Patagonia or Hemp Village? Do you think these stores understand you and your needs, wants, desires? Do they reach out and tell you about it? Or keep their fabulousness to themselves? If they reach out to you -- guess what? they are marketing! And if not, I have bad news for you, because fairly soon, you are going to have to find yourself a new store.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Welcome to Practical Marketing
Doing marketing for entrepreneurs has been the most fulfilling work I have ever undertaken. (Okay, and sometimes the most frustrating, but that's a story for another day.)
It is tremendously gratifying to be able to use your knowledge and skills to help someone else grow their business...and even more gratifying when doing so helps you grow your own.
Sometimes in my day to day dealings with small business owners I come across situations where I wish I could be of more help -- when a business cannot afford to hire a consultant to help with marketing, or when a client is heading down a path that I know will cause them undue expense, work or "heat loss". At such times, I wish I could download my experience into my client's head...
Which brings me to the reason for this blog.
In the posts ahead, I will attempt to cover some marketing basics that clients and non-clients alike can benefit from reading -- to give them a fresh perspective on some marketing basics, or a timely reminder to keep them focused on doing the marketing work that must be done.
In Practical Marketing, I will cover topics such as:
-- Marketing is more than an ad, a website, a brochure, a pretty logo
-- Key elements of a good marketing plan
-- The importance of marketing planning -- and sticking with the plan!
-- How to measure your return on your marketing investment
-- What you should know about new media and internet marketing
-- Defensive Marketing for a down economy -- if ever there was a critical time to market!
...and a whole lot more.
My intention is to create a place where small business owners can return on a regular basis to get that shot in the arm that keeps them focused on their big picture -- growing their business through smart marketing!
It is tremendously gratifying to be able to use your knowledge and skills to help someone else grow their business...and even more gratifying when doing so helps you grow your own.
Sometimes in my day to day dealings with small business owners I come across situations where I wish I could be of more help -- when a business cannot afford to hire a consultant to help with marketing, or when a client is heading down a path that I know will cause them undue expense, work or "heat loss". At such times, I wish I could download my experience into my client's head...
Which brings me to the reason for this blog.
In the posts ahead, I will attempt to cover some marketing basics that clients and non-clients alike can benefit from reading -- to give them a fresh perspective on some marketing basics, or a timely reminder to keep them focused on doing the marketing work that must be done.
In Practical Marketing, I will cover topics such as:
-- Marketing is more than an ad, a website, a brochure, a pretty logo
-- Key elements of a good marketing plan
-- The importance of marketing planning -- and sticking with the plan!
-- How to measure your return on your marketing investment
-- What you should know about new media and internet marketing
-- Defensive Marketing for a down economy -- if ever there was a critical time to market!
...and a whole lot more.
My intention is to create a place where small business owners can return on a regular basis to get that shot in the arm that keeps them focused on their big picture -- growing their business through smart marketing!
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