Networking Your Way To New Business

by Audrey Bell-Kearney©2007

Being in business requires you as a business owner to let people know that you exist and what services or products you have to offer.  You can let people what you do in a number of ways including advertising, which can cost you a pretty penny. 

Print media can be very expensive, but is one way to reach your target audience.  Another way is radio. 

Radio is not as expensive as print media, but is costly too.  It will able you to reach a lot people at one time depending on where your ad is placed and what time of the day it is played.

If you are considering TV you had better have a hefty advertising and marketing budget.  When you talk about going into placing a commercial, you are talking about thousands of dollars.

I found that one of the best way to get the word out about what you do is to networking.  There’s nothing better than good old word of mouth.  A lot of small businesses never spend a dime on advertising.  All of their work comes from word of mouth.

There is something now called viral marketing, which is usually one on the internet.  This is when someone sends you an email, then you send it to two people and they each send it to two people and so on.  This is a good way to get the news out.

If you are asking yourself, who will you network with here is just a few suggestions that have worked for me.

1. Join business associations, they are always having brunches and after hour networking events. 

2. Go to town your meetings there are many of the towns’ people there that you might not know and this will be your chance to introduce yourself.

3. Join your local chamber of commerce they always have networking functions

4. Set up a speaking function or a seminar and invite people that maybe interested in your services.

These are only a few suggestions.  You can go to your local library or book store and get books that are just dedicated to networking.

I hope this information was helpful.

Audrey Bell-Kearney is the author of Success Is A Matter Of Choice & A Mustard Seed Of Faith, The Sister Inc Blueprint For Starting And Running A Successful Business and the ABCs of Self-Publishing.  She is also the host of My Sister's Business  TV Show.   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   http://www.Sisterinc.com