fbpx Skip to content

Week 6 – Networking, networking and more networking

Hello All

As this week’s title suggests my recent marketing activities have largely focused around Networking.  Up until starting Clearwater I have always recognised the importance of networking but have never given it a clear focus over other activities.  The main reason is that I was planning the marketing and others were carrying out the activities, therefore we had both the resources and finances to comprehensively invest.

As a new business owner I obviously have to be very careful with my outgoings.  I would love to be in a position where I can try a range of marketing activities.  In my opinion the word ‘try’ is key because marketing is a long term strategy where various activities should be undertaken.  Some will undoubtedly work better than others but there are very few that will yield quick but retainable wins (especially as I am providing a service and not a product).

When I first started this business I naively thought that I could sit in the comfort of my small home office and business would start flooding in.  Thanks to my wife’s encouragement (I think I called it nagging at the time), she helped me see the light and I signed up to join 4Networking (4N).  I am not a natural at networking, I would much rather hang in the background waiting for introductions rather than force myself on people.  So when I considered the various groups you can join and the events you can attend the format and style of 4N was perfect.  4N currently has 286 breakfast groups across the UK, and their attractive passport scheme means you are not just limited to your local area (I won’t go in to more details now but for more information please click here).  I now look forward to attending my weekly 4N breakfast events and feel that my confidence is growing and growing.  For me networking is not about meeting and selling to the people at the event but it is about helping each other out and generating referrals.

See also  Experiment for the Newbies

So my main commitment for the last 3 months and certainly for the foreseeable future has to be networking.  Getting my name in front of people and building brand awareness is critical and the best method for me is by networking, networking and more networking.

Hope you all are keeping busy

Mark

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.