Daily/Weekly/Monthly Networking Tips & My Magic Bullet!
Recently, a colleague asked me "What should I be doing on a daily/weekly or monthly basis to enhance my marketing efforts?" GREAT QUESTION! Of course the answer would take up pages and pages of advice, however, you have to start somewhere! So, here are a few tips to get you started. Comment below and share your own tips!
Daily/Weekly: 8:30 am
- Monday: Reach out to one person already in your network to schedule coffee during the week. This should be someone you know fairly well and someone you feel would be comfortable discussing details about how to be better referral sources for each other. Ask them: what groups they belong to; what industry is their best source of referrals; and to talk about a successful 'case study' for a recent client. (Obviously be prepared to discuss the same for your company.)
- Tuesday: Go through your LinkedIn contacts; reach out to 1 or 2 people to connect via coffee or lunch; this should be someone who you don’t know well (unlike the Monday contact) but want to get to know better; identify a common person that makes it a “warm call." Schedule lunch and ask questions about them. Find out how you can support them, don't ask for business unless it comes up organically.
- Wednesday: Write a blog article for your website and LinkedIn. Think in terms of 5 tips for doing X; how you can you help others with this post? While you are at it, prepare titles for the next 3 weeks.
- Thursday: Link your LinkedIn blog post to Facebook to cross promote; link it through Twitter as well. How about Instagram? Can you send that article to a local newspaper for publication?
- Friday: Look at the coming quarter to see what events or activities you can get involved in such as street fairs, nonprofit events and the like, and what you need to get ready; i.e., premium items? Business cards re-order? RSVP. Then invite someone to attend with you. Need to find local events? Access www.rocklandeventscalendar.com to find events to get involved in. Attend a new group each month to see if there is another place where you can make connections or contribute your talents. Remember that joining a committee or a board is where the magic happens. That's where people get to know you and your capabilities.
Monthly
Choose a consistent date like first Friday of the month and put it on your calendar so you remember to take advantage of these opportunities.
- Look at your website and see what can be updated; Google 'rewards' sites that are updated on a regular basis and penalizes sites with lower rankings that seem static.
- Identify quarterly events coming up and see what you can get involved in; respond early so you don’t miss deadlines and get shut out.
- Thank about your 3 best clients: what made them so successful? What did you do right? How can you put those techniques into new client relationships?
- Send an email blast, use your blog posts as a basis for that email; use bullet points and drive people to your LinkedIn profile or website for more information.
- Research your competition and see what they are doing. Check their websites; their LinkedIn profiles and their FB and Twitter feeds; what are they doing that you’re not? What can you learn? What can you do to be proactive so you are ahead of the curve?
- Consider joining the board of an organization; this is where real connections start and grow and if I had to identify one 'magic bullet' for networking it would be this. I believe immersing yourself into an organization is one of the most powerful ways to meet people, demonstrate your talents, and gain new business. Not to mention you will be giving back in one way or another.