Analog Networking Morning

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Just as Social Media can be a useful avenue to raise the visibility of your business face to face networking is also an important element to promoting your business and the service or product you offer.

I call that my analog networking time. And today will be full of that.

I’m heading to the eWomenNetwork event at the Savannah Southern Women’s Show. And while that may sound like it could be a bit of an estrogen filled morning, I find eWomenNetwork to be one of the most productive of the networking events I attend locally.

And I don’t say that just because Gorgeous is the founding Executive Managing Director of the Savannah chapter either. Though I will admit that probably adds just a little bias to my opinion.

Truth is women make or heavily influence something like 80% of all buying decisions in our culture these days. Couple that with the fact that this particular group is focused on intentionally making business connections and it adds up to a winner for my business.

The similarities between seeing results with analog face to face networking and with digital social media networking are striking. And when you get right down to it, your results are usually tied directly to how much effort you are willing to put into building those relationships.

So for now I’m off for a breakfast event.

Learning with Lynn Lilly and the Ladies

You may or may not know that Gorgeous is the Managing Director of the local Savannah chapter of a business women’s networking group called eWomenNetwork.

I’m proud of what she’s accomplished in growing that group from nothing a little over a year ago. But pretty much it has been her thing. I’ve kept my distance for the most part. Besides I’ve been kept pretty busy with all the ships.

Things are changing however as we grow my own baby, SuccessCREEations.

Networking

One of the concerns of any business or organization has to be growing the contact base. Without a growing contact base there is no potential customer pool and the whole thing may very well wither on the vine.

There are tons of ways to expand your organizations contacts. For example blogging can be a great way to expand your reach online.

Likewise, if you are interested in building a local customer base, one of the best ways is to get out into the community and meet people, network face to face. And from what I’ve seen here in Savannah there is no better place to do that than amongst the ladies at the local eWomenNetwork events.

Granted I might be a little biased. But I’m sure nobody’s fool either.

So I decided it was time to start participating, step in there, meet some folks, and offer my help to whoever might need it. I’m glad I did.

eWomenNetwork is obviously oriented towards women. However there were a handful of smart men who attended last night’s event as well. These guys understand that over 80% of the buying decisions are made by women and not us men. It makes great business sense to get to know some of these ladies who are controlling so much spending power.

I met some new folks. And last night’s speaker shared something that resonated with me as well.

Lynn Lilly

Lynn Lilly is a lady with more than 20 years experience in the marketing business. She did a great job sharing with us last night. One point really struck home with me.

Creativity is the great UN-Equalizer

Never really thought about it before but she’s right.

We all have the ability to creatively come up with ways to give ourselves an edge up on the competition. The trick is to stimulate our minds to get those creative juices flowing.

Lynn was kind enough to leave us all with a little tool to help get the ball rolling. You can see from the picture that she put together a stack of idea cards to stimulate the synapses.

All in all it was a good night.

And it sure didn’t hurt to be spending time with all those lovely ladies.

Networking to Promote Your Blog

One of the facets of blogging that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves is the networking aspect. Networking is a huge part of promoting your blog.

Successful bloggers read other blogs they are interested in, especially those in their same niche, and actively comment adding value to those blogs.

Many are also active on various other social media type web sites that are relationship oriented and make new connections there as a result. Two of my personal favorites are Facebook and Twitter.

Often conversations that started in a comment box, or on one of the other sites spill over into emails with different folks.

Or maybe it might even lead to a phone conversation like it did the other night when Chris Brogan Twittered his cell phone number and asked who wanted to give him a shout. I called his number and chatted with Chris for a few minutes.

And now I have a friend and professional contact in the Boston area that I doubt I’d have met without blogging.

Promoting your blog takes time, sure. But that time will equate to new contacts that your business could never make via traditional marketing approaches.

Is it worth it? I sure think so.