A GUEST WRITER BLOG
Creative Networking
Networking plays a huge role in maintaining any business - and finding
creative ways to begin or continue networking with our contacts can
be a challenge. A great deal of time and effort is necessary behind the
scenes before we reach out to create dialogue with a contact, and then
even more time goes into building a positive relationship with them
where both parties benefit. Therefore we need our networking efforts
to be as effective and efficient as possible. At the same time, we
should want those networking connections to continue indefinitely. So
when we are approaching a new networking contact, it is important to
keep in mind that our goal is to create a long-term relationship with
them.
At first, several ideas will pop into our creative mind - ways we can
support others, what we may be able to offer, what we are looking for
from them, options we may want to consider in the future. That is
great! Do those, but pace them out so that we are not doing all these
things at once. Spread the networking opportunities out over several
months, perhaps over several years or longer. When these immediate
ideas run out there are plenty of options to brainstorm on including
collaborating on a community fundraiser, hosting sales on the same
day, utilizing each other's social networks, distributing each other's
coupons and perhaps referring each other to interested clients.
There are many things we can do online as well that can maintain
these networking relationships. Online Bulletin Boards, for instance,
act like those familiar website pages we've all seen before listing
resources or referrals... but instead, the board has the visual
appearance of an actual bulletin board.
Sometimes the website manager will ask for a nice blurb and a link,
they may want a logo image that they hyperlink. In other cases you
may need to design something with more imagery - similar to what
you might do for flyers, posters, banners, bookmarks or business
cards. Each image that is tacked onto the virtual board, referral listing,
business listing or resource page will also be hyperlinked so people can
just click on the image and find out more.
Whenever we are invited to submit an image, it is important to
examine what other people have done on that specific page. We need
to determine how we will stand out among them. Knowing where we
want to drive the traffic to (the URL) and understanding the audience
that is visiting that page will determine the keywords we choose to
utilize and the copy that we write.
Be sure to keep the text simple and as large as can fit in the image -
we don't always need to have complete sentences on resource listings
or e-bulletin boards, just a few words to create enough interest that
the viewer will click to learn more from there.
So get creative and get ready for an exciting and inspiring networking
adventure!
Lillian and her husband Dave are the team behind Brummet Media
Group, high-fiving cheerfully as they pass each other on the way from
checking off one item or other from their long to-do list. Their business
includes Dave’s music studio and percussion repair services, numerous
award-winning non-fiction books, a YouTube channel and 2 popular
blogs.
Visit the Brummets @: https://taplink.cc/brummet
-&- drop by their Amazon Author page
