Social Media

Social Media -

Everyone is excited about having social media as a way of promoting their business.  Focusing on it as your only source for marketing will limit your options for your business.

In real life when you see a neighbour once in awhile in the winter and you wave at each other -- these moments in time help you stay connected during the cold winter when no one sees their neighbours as often as the summer.  In the summertime, we have BBQs and invite them over; stop and chat in the driveway and even invite each other over for a coffee.  Friendships are built on the longer conversations and chats but the winter waves and quick hellos, help bridge the time in between.

Social media is like the winter bridge - it helps you stay connected with people in between your real life meetings or phone calls.

It is possible to start business relationships on social media websites as well.  In this case, you are best to take the relationship even slower than in real life.  When you interact in a meeting, you can watch for reactions that will help you communicate with the person.  On the phone, we sometimes ask for clarification if we are unsure how the person is reacting.  On social media, most communication is done in slow motion -- one post out and then a reaction could be an hour later or a day later.

I wish there was statistics to guide everyone -- traditional marketing takes approximately 7 marketing touches to get someone to seriously think about buying from you.  Social media interactions need ____ touches to get someone to call you and get serious about buying your product.

So back to the basics - social media should be one part of your marketing plan.  Not your whole plan.  Do not stay hidden by your computer and try to run your business - get out and use other marketing strategies to build up your list and work on the relationships and of course close the deals.



Cheryl Rankin
Fit For Business
647-287-0320

Marketing at Events

Marketing at Events

Events have a variety of ways for you to market your business
- have a booth / table
- be a sponsor
- be an attendee
- be a speaker
- provide a door-prize
- provide gifts or coupons for the bags
- be the organizer
- be a guest of someone who has an extra ticket
- have your business cards or flyers or product on someone else's table

To choose which things to do at an event
1) what is your budget?
2) who is the target market for the event?
3) how many people do they expect to attend?
4) are you ready to market? (have handouts or a draw or signage)
5) will you have exclusivity for a booth?

Sometimes the best events that you can attend have nothing to do with your business and you go as an attendee and talk to a vendor and they buy from you or connect you to someone that will.

Attendees can not market directly to other attendees or vendors at large tradeshows.  The organizers will not be happy and ask you to leave or fine you for trespassing.  You can have conversations and enter draws and mingle.

Get out and attend events - it will give you energy and give your business some exposure.

Cheryl Rankin
Fit For Business
647-287-0320

Networking to market your business

Networking to market your business -

If you do not want to make cold calls and you do not have a full bank account for advertising then consider networking to market your business.

meetings - regular business networking meetings will give you business friends, some business referrals in the long run and depending on the group some education to help you grow your business to the next level.  If people buy from someone they know, they like and they trust then this type of networking can help you market your business.

tradeshows - small business tradeshows are a networking opportunity that also has some marketing opportunities to purchase a booth / table.  Having a booth / table means that people come to you to network which can sometimes make it easier to network.  It gives you a chance to show off / display what you do.  Networking at event like this also gives you a safe way to network - you can visit all of the tables.  They want to talk to everyone.  Talk to them to find out what they sell and only after they ask what you do should you tell them.  They paid for the chance to have a table and you are a participant.

networking events - these events can have from 15 to 50 people.  Everyone attends these events in the hopes of selling their product or service.  First strategy is to listen to the other person and then you will get the chance to promote yourself.  In many cases, you can start a business relationship with someone at an event like this.  You may go home with many business cards but only a few strong leads or opportunities to have coffee and continue to build business relationships.  The good news is you now have business cards that you can follow up on - phone them!  Ask them if you can send them your newsletter.

large networking events - these events have over 100 people.  I suggest having a few different goals -- 1) I want to go home with 30 business cards 2) I want to meet 3 people that we schedule a coffee meeting and 3) I want to help at least 3 people so they remember me later.  Trying to get all of the business cards means that you will not get time to shake any hands.  Trying to have long conversations with people means you only meet one person.  Try and balance your time.

To help find business networking meetings and events -
www.businessconnectionexchange.ca
www.biznetworknews.com
www.thenetworker.ca

To book a business consultation to discuss your networking needs call Cheryl at 647-287-0320.

Cheryl Rankin
Fit For Business
647-287-0320
info@fitforbusiness.ca
Social media - twitter / linked in / facebook