Why networking should be a key part of your marketing strategy?

By Vicky Clapham

People buy from people. It’s a well-known, well-used phrase that carries so much meaning and weight when it comes to making a purchasing decision. Even in the new age of social media, word of mouth recommendations remains one of the most powerful purchase influences with 76% of people considering it one of the main influences on their purchasing decisions above anything else.

Aside from someone using your services/products, another way of creating the trust that comes hand in hand with word-of-mouth recommendations, is someone getting to know your work and skill set so they can confidently refer you to others.  

This is where networking comes in and can form an effective role in your marketing strategy.

Building a network isn’t a quick task, it takes time to form and build connections and relationships. It’s a slow burner, not an instant lead generator.

By networking you meet like-minded people to share your skillsets and experience, discover how you could help each other and create useful contacts for the future.  Building a strong network of professionals opens up lots of opportunities that can help in recruitment, collaboration partnerships, friendships, and much more.

In-person networking events are the easiest way to make instant connections and can be the fastest and most authentic way of growing these relationships. It doesn’t have to be a forced event specifically for networking, you can attend educational or interest groups in your area that your target audience may also attend. You can often find a lot of events in your local area listed on Eventbrite.

 Go along with an open, abundant mindset and have your elevator pitch (the concise summary of what you do and how you can help people attending) and business cards at the ready so you don’t get caught on the spot and miss an opportunity.

What about online networking?

In the Covid-19 era, networking is no longer just in person, but online too. Regular meet-ups like Meeow are an informal way of meeting smaller groups of business people to get to know over a 1-hour zoom call. 

Facebook groups are also a great online tool for meeting with like-minded business professionals as well as your target audience. There are thousands of groups available for every niche. However, be careful to always check the rules of each group you join and ensure you don’t post anything to violate these, many authentic groups often have a no self-promotion rule as the focus is on forging meaningful, valued relationships.

Paid online membership groups such as the Business Wellbeing Club are another networking option. Although they come at a cost, the advantage of this type of group is that people are more invested in engaging and collaborating with other members, to form strong connections and relationships, and often guaranteed business referrals are part and parcel of the offer.

With any networking group, it’s important to find your tribe and make sure they align with your values. They will only work if you enjoy being a member of them and want to make genuine connections with the people in the network. They all have their own style, approach, rules and objectives.

People can quickly suss out if you are there simply for the take rather than giving back to the group – and that can be detrimental to your brand and business.  

Networking strategically…

Before getting started, look at how networking could form an effective part of your marketing strategy and address your key objectives: Are you trying to raise brand awareness for a specific target audience? Are you looking to increase brand consideration?

Once those have been firmed up, figure out:

• The channels you’re going to use whether that be in-person, online, or both.

• Decide on your audience, will you be networking with business peers or your target audience?

• Research into potential networking groups, speak to other members and ask for recommendations

• Agree the budget assigned for this marketing channel and resource it, including who will attend, when and what you will take/present

Happy Networking!