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Posts Tagged ‘relationships’
Monday, February 6th, 2012
What sort of business owner are you – the complete extrovert? Do you have hundreds of people in your network with whom you only have a passing knowledge? There is nothing wrong with developing a broad network of contacts. However, it is often more beneficial to develop a sound relationship with a group of individuals.
Generally speaking, a network is a one way operation. You make contact with a wide range of individuals in the hope that one day they could be of help to you. A relationship is a two way operation. You’re there to help them when required, and they are there to help you when required. Networks are easy to develop. You can do a little research, discover all the movers and shakers who could be of use to you, and you add them to your list of contacts. You may even add them to your social media accounts.
Relationships require work. They don’t happen overnight. In many cases, relationships are one sided – you’re doing all the helping, promoting their cause, even through social media. Relationship builders are by no means selfless. In fact, the art of building relationships still revolves around promoting yourself and building your business. The difference between a relationship builder and a networker is longevity – relationship builders are looking at the long term benefit to their business.
In the long term, relationships will survive the ups and downs of the business world. People in a network will come and go whenever it suits them. They generally don’t stick by you during troubled times, or help repair your reputation when a dissatisfied worker or customer goes on a social media rant. Those you have built up a relationship will, and where possible, help you to negate the effects of that hit to your reputation. Why? Because they know you, and they care – as you would if the same happened to them.
There is room for both, and it’s certainly a good idea having a strong network of people who could be of use to you. While networking, consider taking the next step and developing a strong relationship with those who really matter – it may only be a handful, however, the benefits will far outweigh a hundred in a network.
Tags: relationships, Reputation Management, Social Media
Posted in Networking for Small Business | 6 Comments »
Sunday, December 12th, 2010
Every once in a while I read a story about someone doing something totally different online that I think would serve as an inspiration to small business owners trying to market their businesses online. Today, I want to talk about the social media chaplain.
I think this is a great story. It’s something you don’t read about every day. A chaplain who uses social media to make connections.
The interesting thing about this story is that Chaplain Jon Swanson just uses social media to meet people and build relationships. And that’s really what social media is all about. Nothing more. The strategies different people may use are likely different, but the bottom line on social media, no matter who you are, is that it is a relationship-building tool.
Successful sales people talk about building relationships. Successful business people talk about building relationships. That’s what life is all about. And it doesn’t matter what business you are in – you are building relationships.
Why not do it through social media?
The interview with Frank Reed is a very telling one. It says that
- Being successful through social media is possible; and
- The definition of successful is whatever you want it to be.
This isn’t whitewashing it. You define your own success. But get this: If a guy can go online, use social media to meet people, and develop a spiritual ministry around the relationships with people he meets online, what’s stopping you from building your business through social media? You really have no excuse.
Tags: relationships, small business, Social Media
Posted in Social Media | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
I have some friends who are very good at SEO. One friend in particular swears by it. According to him, it’s the most important thing about doing business online, or Internet marketing. But is it?
I think SEO is very important. But I don’t think it’s the most important thing.
If you listen to the SEO enthusiasts then SEO is the most important thing because it’s free and that’s where the lion’s share of traffic comes from – the search engines. I can’t argue with either point. They’re both a matter of fact. But the problem I have with the “SEO is the most important thing” philosophy is that it ignores the one essential thing that every business needs to focus on – relationships.
SEO is important. If you want to succeed online then you’ve got to put in an honest effort to excel at it. But it doesn’t matter how well you do SEO, if you can’t maintain positive relationships with your customers then your business will suffer. You might gain some customers through SEO, but you will lose them. And word of mouth will spread about your people skills.
When it comes to online marketing, doing business with people is the same as doing business off line. If you want them to like you and to like doing business with you then you’ve got show them that you care. It’s all about building relationships.
Tags: online marketing, relationships
Posted in Reputation Management | 1 Comment »
Sunday, June 6th, 2010
Everywhere you look now someone is hawking the latest greatest gizmo, gadget, widget or thingamajig. Even service businesses. But is web marketing overly saturated?
Facebook has millions of users daily, many of them businesses trying to get their pitch in front of everyone else. Millions more are Twittering. Then they’re Stumbling, Digging and spamming the search engines with this and that. Is it too much?
It may very well be, but we could say the same thing about other media in the past – TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, you name it. Over the years, consumers have learned to filter out the bad brands from the good brands using common sense, advertising gimmickry discernment and personal preferences. The way of the Web won’t change that much.
The big difference is that people do not go online to be bombarded with advertising messages. In fact, many people go online to escape them. And then they find them anyway.
In an overly saturated Web full of marketing messages, most of which hawk products that aren’t worth using, how does a small business owner get his or her message out to the right audience at the right time without tapping into the annoyance factor? It’s real simple, really. Market in moderation.
Yes, that’s my solution. Use your online time to focus on building relationships and only send out marketing messages moderately. This will reduce the annoyance factor while still giving you the opportunity to reach your target market with your products and services, but it puts the most important part of marketing first – the relationship.
Tags: online marketing, relationships, small business
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Everyone wants recognition. And if you do business online and are looking for public relations from bloggers and marketers, there is a right way and a wrong way to approach them. Actually, there are several right ways and several wrong ways.
SEOmoz recently wrote a funny post about an e-mail proposal that missed the mark. And it was really so elementary that I’m surprised the person looking for marketing help didn’t step up and admit his wrong square in the face. So what the big sin? Simply this: A mass e-mail where all the recipients could be seen by each other.
Huge No-No!
The No. 1 cardinal rule for e-mail proposals is this – make them personal and individualized.
If you are going to approach any number of people and ask for a quote or estimate or publicity of some kind, any kind of assistance or partnership, don’t send out an impersonal mass e-mail. That’s just plain tacky. Find out who the contact person is, by name and title, and address your e-mail to that individual. Also, send each person a separate e-mail. And don’t expect people to jump through hoops for status or money. That’s not what business is about. It’s about relationships so build good ones right from the start.
Tags: e-mail RFP, publicity, relationships
Posted in PR for Small Business | 2 Comments »
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
Social media is something that more and more small businesses are getting into as a way of getting publicity. You do need to be careful, though, because social media sites are just that, social. They don´t appreciate blatant ads and marketing schemes designed to trick unsuspecting victims into visiting your website. Not to mention, if you get visitors by trickery, they won´t be buying from you anyway.
The best way to use social media is to add some value while subtly promoting your own site. And the best way to add value and become an active member is to build some relationships on the social media sites that you frequent. All of these websites give you the ability to add friends that you can then share links with.
Look for people who have similar interests and add some of them as your friends. Don´t spam, though, because this can get you kicked out of social media sites! Instead, when you are reading the front page of Digg, or using StumbleUpon to find new sites, note who submitted the ones that you are interested in. Then add those people as your social media friends.
As you build up a network of friends on two or three social media sites, you´ll want to make sure you encourage them to check out your links. Do this by occasionally sending them a message with a link to a page you think they would enjoy. Don´t make this your own site all the time, use various websites that you find interesting.
Another good technique is to stumble or digg the websites of your friends and their links. Leave comments, and in general, be an active social media user. This is the best way to prevent banning and to get the utmost promotion value for your own websites. As you continue to build relationships, you´ll notice that people are bookmarking and rating your site more and leaving comments as well. It´s a great way to get some free advertising.
Tags: promotion, relationships, Social Media
Posted in Social Media | No Comments »
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