Posts filed under 'Networking'
This past week has been a whirlwind for me! In fact, I was so busy, there was no time to post to Redhead Marketing Blog! So now I am playing catch up with my blog posts. So here’s my tip for today. Enjoy!
HOMETOWN GALS ~ The Perfect Icebreaker
Are you hosting and event? Are “new” faces a part of the guest list? If you want your guests to get to know one another better during your event; then try an great activity for finding out more about everyone using general interview questions. The object of this activity is to encourage guests to talk to one another and “guess” where they are FROM. This works best when your guests don’t know one another very well (if at all) and it is a fun way to connect and start the relationship-building process. The interesting thing is that many people will be from a certain geographic location and find it rewarding to discover others who are also from that same area. The “hometown” can be defined as the city, state, or even country of origin.
You will need a list of interview questions to be handed out to participants during the social (networking) part of your event. The only rule is that participants should ask a series of questions to uncover the “hometown” before either guessing the answer or asking the final question, “Where are you originally from?”
It is also a good idea to ask questions that may be more specific to your guests. Although it is really more fun to just “pop the question,” you may also consider sending this to your guests prior to the event, so they can be prepared. I also suggest you keep the number of questions to around 8 to 10 so that your guests will have time to meet a few people. To help you get started here is list of suggested questions:
1. What type of food is your hometown known for?
2. Do you have a state motto – if so, what is it?
3. What flower is associated with your hometown?
4. What is the weather like?
5. What is the geographic landscape (mountainous, desert, flat, surrounded by water, etc.)?
6. Is it a small town or large city?
7. Is there a certain type music that is preferred by the people from your hometown?
8. Are there any famous people/celebrities from your hometown? If so, who?
9. Do you say tomato or toe-maaaahhhh-toe?
10. What is your hometown best known for (attraction, activity, etc.)
As the hostess, you may also want to include “prizes” for the person who guesses the most hometowns. Once the activity is over, you can also ask how many people are from a certain area, and if anyone wishes to share a story allow time for sharing.
Variation: Instead of the using the topic “where are you from” you can change it to be “what was your previous career (job)” and create a list of questions that would help the audience to guess the answer.
October 24th, 2008
“Communities can extend the edge of the corporation in truly transformative ways — tapping into new talent, helping design products and services, providing customer support and, most importantly, building the brand with the customer.” Ed Moran
What if your website could be THE place where people connect online? Where they could meet one another, exchange ideas and leads, keep up with current trends, learn about new opportunities and develop relationships?
I’m not talking the traditional Social Networking Sites that are made exclusively for meeting, mingling and networking. Not another Facebook, Myspace or LinkedIn. Although that is not a bad idea ~ and a topic for another post.
I am talking about a website that sells something and offers their visitors a place to share ideas and discuss items of interest to them along the theme of what you are selling. Add a forum to your website to increase your prospects! Forums can generate traffic, provide valuable customer feedback and build loyalty to the brand. Forums can give your customers a voice, a place to express their opinions about the product.
But online forums are not for everyone. It all depends on what you sell and if the product has enough diversity to lend itself to forum topics that would interest enough customers/clients to make the effort worthwhile. Lawn and Garden sites, Network marketing companies, sports fans and sites that sell products for pets are likely highly successful because the visitors have a PASSION for the product or the topic. If you sell detergent or mailboxes or office supplies your site might not be the ideal site to create a community forum. In my opinion a blog might be a more ideal option, a place where you can share your expertise with your customers about how to use the products as well as place to offer advice on ancillary topics that would interest them. Also another topic for discussion.
So why have an online forum for your business site? According to Bobybuilding.com CEO Ryan DeLuca “It’s about becoming the place where people come to talk and learn and meet.”
Consulting companies like the David Allen Company have a growing number of followers and active participants to their forums. According to their site, they have 10,761 Members. And their forum activity looks robust. Why? I am sure it’s because the topics are things their visitors are interested in learning more about or sharing.
I also found GAMING sites with active forums. Sites like GameReplays.org have forums that allow their fans to discuss the Company of Heros game at http://www.gamereplays.org/community/-CoH-Section.html. According to their site they have 90,736 registered members.
And then there’s sites like Bodybuilding.com which espouses more than 1.1 million users!
The drawbacks to forums are many. And you should be aware of them as well. Spam is perhaps the biggest issue. People posting stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. I was on a forum the other day about how to turn an audio file into a podcast and one of the forum “members” posted the following: “I am searching for a partner to walk around the globe in support of our troups.” Well that may be a worthwhile post but had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. Of course everyone just ignored the poster. But I still find that sort of thing annoying and rude.
Other drawbacks include the cost of implementing a forum, the costs to monitor the forums, lack of participation, inappropriate participation and staying on topic (even for those who know and follow the rules this can sometimes be a challenge), marketing the forums so your target audience knows its available and also really expressing the benefits of participating so people want to be there. And let’s not forget the negative feedback that could occur from a dissatisfied customer. Too many of these can do more harm than good and be the downfall of a company. But then again, what’s wrong with that? If the company sells an inferior product then perhaps it shouldn’t be allowed to sell to unsuspecting buyers!
Building online forums is relatively inexpensive. If you’d like to try a do-it-yourself platform, try the Forum Co where you can set up a free forum at http://www.forumco.com/. vBulletin http://www.vbulletin.com/ is a professional, affordable community forum solution which according to their site has “Thousands of clients, including many industry leading blue chip companies, have chosen vBulletin – It’s the ideal choice for any size of community Or just ask your webmaster or webmistress to design it for you.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote a great article “Why Most Online Communities Fail. According to the article Ed Moran, a Deloitte consultant who just completed a study of more than 100 businesses with online communities said: “Not surprisingly, these sites failed to gain traction with customers. Thirty-five percent of the online communities studied have less than 100 members; less than 25% have more than 1,000 members … The article said one of the reasons for failure was that “Businesses are focusing on the value an online community can provide to themselves, not the community.” You can read the rest of the article here: http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/07/16/why-most-online-communities-fail/
Before you do consider adding a forum, think about your goals for the forum. What is the aim or purpose of the forum? What do you want your forum to look like? Who would you like to participate? How will you market the forum? And the big question: WHY? Why do you want a forum in the first place?
Forums are one of the original social networking platforms for building communities online. Once you have done your due dilligent, answered the questons above and studied your target audience for receptivity, you will be able to make a better decision about marketing your online business with a forum. Your forum can help you build word of mouth referrals for your small business, help you develop and perfect your brand, your business operations and your business offerings and more than that you will be able to help your targe market have, do or be better at something.
August 25th, 2008
Marketing when business is slow is a hot topic these days especially with the economy the way it is. I’ve noticed that some businesses will stop marketing or slow it down when business is slow because they are afraid to spend money. Here are coupld of ideas that will cost you more time than money and when business is slow, we tend to have more of the former than the latter.
Strategic Alliances & Partnerships ~ Find ways to participate in or resestablish joint venture partnerships. If you have worked with others in the past to market your business, now is a great time to reconnect and suggest collaborating. You could send a new mailing to one another’s lists or co-host an event. It is also a great time to strike up new alliances as other companies and individuals will likely be in the same boat and the idea of working with you will be more appealing.
Showcase Your Expertise ~ Public Speaking has the potential to get more business quickly, because you will already have built-in credibility by being the focus of the meeting. Events such as trade show seminars, local business associations meetings and nonprofit organization volunteer events are potential audiences that will get you in front of the right markets.
Network, network, network ~ Networking is still one of the best ways to meet new prospects and if you play your cards right, one of the least expensive ways to market your company. Find out where your vendors and clients hang out and see if you can get an invitation. Say YES to any invitation to meet new people, even if you feel a little bit uncomfortable because you don’t know anyone.
BONUS TIP: Get the book “How to Work a Room” by Susan RoAnn and read it forwards and backwards ~ it is filled with great ideas to meet and mingle even when you are shy.
Marketing when business is slow should be easy and fun. If you aren’t motivated to market your small business during slow times, how will you be motivated when business is good?
August 22nd, 2008
To read the rest of the article visit Alf Nucifora at http://www.nucifora.com/art_272.html
How are you influencing your current customers and growing your business? And would it make sense to tap into or better communicate with the affluent market? If you’d like to learn more about how to tap into the Luxury Market here are two really good resources I discovered:
Winsperinc.com has a free White Paper – “The 6P’s of Luxury Marketing,” A New Model for Considering Consumers’ Buying Behavior for Luxury Brands. (http://www.winsperinc.com/6Ps/) which I highly recommend you read. Those six P’s include:
People buy from People, The Six Key Characteristics of Product, Passion (Connoisseurship shared in real and virtual communities), Pleasure (Luxury is experiential), Purpose (Luxury may have an element of superfluity but it can also be practical), and Price (the rise of fractional ownership).
Read the World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch/Capgemini
Download Jessica Kisorek’s 11 page special report called “The Distinct Role of Online Video in the Marketing Mix”
And finally, read the Highlights of the Spring 2008 Affluent Market Tracking Study #13 that was conducted by Affluence Research.
BTW, the Luxury Marketing Council event I mentioned on the 17th was held at the fabulous Four Seasons Hotel in Miami. They are the masters at luxury marketing! From the moment I pulled into the valet, walked through the lobby and found the meeting room, it was an experience. There is such pride in the hotel staff, in fact it is more than pride. Each person I came in contact with made me understand why Four Seasons is a world class luxury hotel. As I walked through the lobby (apparently looking lost) the lady behind the valet desk asked if I needed assistance and gave me perfect directions to the meeting.
Once in the meeting room, servers pleasantly held out their trays for us to partake of coconut shrimp and more. I asked one server if I really wanted some shrimp but that I needed to put my things down. She waited a moment for me to get settled and showed up with the tray in hand! And then Ricardo Acevedo, GM of the Four Seasons addressed the group and I realized that great service really does start at the top.
All the best in your marketing endeavors! If you are looking for a marketing coach to help you plan a campaign or work WEB 2.0 strategies into your marketing mix, give me a call!
July 19th, 2008
Want to tap the Luxury Market? Then you gotta know where they hang out! And btw, you don’t have to be rich or famous to attend these events as long as you have the entry fee!
Here are a few places to start:
Non-profit organizations the affluent support financially AND emotionally (I call this “cause-related networking”)
Churches, Temples and Places of Worship
Exclusive Resorts and Country Clubs
Skyboxes at Sports Stadiums
High-end Restaurants
Social Clubs
ClubCorp Clubs – aka Tower Clubs in some cities
Yacht Clubs
The Arts such as Opera, Ballet, Museums, Art Galleries
Read the calendar of events listing in your local papers and online to find out what’s happening in your community. If you have local celebrities, start watching the local magazines and newspapers to find out what organizations they support.
Ask your own circle who they that you could be introduced to.
Create a “hit” list, get an invitation, mark your calendars, and network!
July 17th, 2008
