5 Ways Marketers Can Expand Their Network
20 Jan 2014
|
|
Your network is your net worth. By augmenting your network and meeting new professionals, you can connect with more potential clients, referrals, and potential business partners. Here are 5 ways you can expand your network:
-
Attend professional networking events frequently
Organizations such as IABC host professional networking events regularly and enable you to meet other agency people, senior executives, and marketers from consumer goods companies and B2B businesses. You can also attend events from large networks such as Meetup and Networking Vancouver and build relationships with people who share the same professional interests as you. For instance, you can join in events hosted by Networking in Vancouver to meet small business owners who are looking for ways to strengthen their digital channels. This will help you expand your network and meet more prospective clients. -
Add prospects immediately on LinkedIn and send a customized message
While businesses cards enable marketers to share contact info easily, LinkedIn allows digital marketing professionals to build relationships and connect with one another immediately during a networking event or after it. By adding a person you’ve met in a networking on the same day, you can send them a customized private message to help you heighten your chance of being remembered by your prospects. This will help you nurture long-term relationships with them as you can engage in continuous conversations with them, put a face on your name (LinkedIn profile picture), and showcase how you can work with them based on your experience on LinkedIn. -
Join your friends’ networking events
Aside from attending marketing-related events, you can attend networking events hosted by organizations outside your industry. You can participate in events held by human resources groups, IT organizations, or manufacturer organizations. This will allow gain greater insights regarding various fields, meet people who may become potential customers or business partners, and demonstrate how your services can help companies from different industries. Even attending training workshops such as Smartt's P.A.C.E. Digital Marketing Workshop can give you a wonderful opportunity to meet other professionals. -
Interact with prospects over Twitter
With the growing adoption of Twitter by marketers, interacting with other businesses and marketing professionals over the micro-blog is an effective and convenient way to find companies that may need your service and marketers who are in the same field as you. An You can interact with qualified prospects over Twitter by following people who follow a specific Twitter account. For instance, if you want to interact with other marketers, you can follow people who follow -
Submit guest content
Guest blogging is probably one of the oldest PR tricks in the book – and it works. By submitting content on other marketers’ websites, company websites, or local or national publications, you can boost your exposure cost-effectively and substantially. This can help you spark people’s interests in learning more about you, your brand, and most importantly, your products and services. That said, your content has to be unique and useful or else you won’t be able to cut through the noise and differentiate yourself from the crowd.
The revolution of digital technology has not affected marketers’ needs to augment their networks. It has only simplified and amplified it. By using the five networking tips above, you can meet more marketing professionals through professional networking events, meet professionals outside your field by attending your peers’ networking groups, and expand your reach substantially and cost-effectively by interacting with professionals over Twitter and LinkedIn. This will allow you to increase your network rapidly and connect with qualified prospects.