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monkeys_bunny

i would not even know were to start with Networking groups. could you kindly tell me what they actually are and how you go about such things. We live in a seaside town not a bit city, i have not heard of anything around here

Savvy_Sue

There are a couple of free magazines which are delivered very locally to me: A5 format, and I think the format extends to other postcodes. So suppose you are based in Bournemouth, your equivalents would be the Bournemouth 1, 2, 3 etc, to cover the BN1, BN2, BN3 postcode areas.

Mix of articles, plus adverts. But always several articles from 'professionals' explaining what their services are and how they could benefit people. Those professionals include solicitors, alternative health practitioners, schools etc. Yes, they do pay for an advert, but I'll bet it's cheaper than the local paper - sure, coverage is narrower but I think these are more likely to be read and maybe kept than the local paper!

Can you identify anything like this in your area?

monkeys_bunny

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

There are a couple of free magazines which are delivered very locally to me: A5 format, and I think the format extends to other postcodes. So suppose you are based in Bournemouth, your equivalents would be the Bournemouth 1, 2, 3 etc, to cover the BN1, BN2, BN3 postcode areas.

Mix of articles, plus adverts. But always several articles from 'professionals' explaining what their services are and how they could benefit people. Those professionals include solicitors, alternative health practitioners, schools etc. Yes, they do pay for an advert, but I'll bet it's cheaper than the local paper - sure, coverage is narrower but I think these are more likely to be read and maybe kept than the local paper!

Can you identify anything like this in your area?

we do have such a booklet/mag thingy and i actually won an full page advert in there for us.

i also ask all our clients at the initial paperwork stage to let me know were they heard about us and so far its only ever been recommended and the estate agents recommending us. No one has ever said, newspaper, leaflet, mag, posters, FB, twitter, blog, website, walking past the office etc. Sometimes i feel like im just waisting my time :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

It may be something you need to plug away at: I could tell you the name of the solicitors who writes for the magazine we get, although I've never been anywhere near them! On the other hand, it may be a complete waste of time for you.

Would one of the team be willing to do home visits to take instructions for wills? It's not a direct online way of advertising, but if that was a service you could offer, then a leaflet drop to all the local care homes / sheltered housing schemes might be worthwhile.

Horace

monkeys_bunny wrote: »

i would not even know were to start with Networking groups. could you kindly tell me what they actually are and how you go about such things. We live in a seaside town not a bit city, i have not heard of anything around here

A business networking group meets either in the early morning, lunchtime or in the evening. Some groups have high membership fees and others tend to be on a Pay As You Go basis. The groups are nothing to be scared of, they are groups where other business people meet over breakfast, lunch or dinner - they learn from each other and when you have been a few times and they start to know you then business tends to come from it. Don't do the hard sell because that put's people right off, think of what you can offer to businesses.

There are networking groups all over the place from big cities to seaside towns.

Google them - look for BNI (their fees tend to be quite high and you pay each time you go for your breakfast) - you have to attend each week and they are very much a referral based group which can seem a bit rigid because you have to make referrals. Look for Ladies Who Latte (this tends to be a mid morning meet up of business ladies for coffee), Business Biscotti (similar to Ladies Who Latte) although it tends to be mixed businesses, your local Chamber of Commerce, The Federation of Small Businesses (although you need really to be members of these last two organisations but the FSB branches do have networking events that are open to all including non-members).
Do a google search for business networking groups in whatever town you live in. There is another group called 4Networking their fees are quite high too and you have to pay £10 for breakfast - their meetings take place from 8am til 10am which is ok but they do take out a large proportion of your day when you take into consideration travelling times.

Get yourself onto LinkedIn, join groups on there that are relevant to your industry so that you can share ideas etc, there may even be groups on there that relate to the town where you live, join them because you will find business people on there. A LinkedIn basic account is free, it is free to join groups on there too.

Look out for local business clubs too.

I can see you are going to busy on google tomorrow LOL.

Networking helps you grow your business.