Business development … a necessary evil for business owners who are smart and who are not waiting for the phone to ring (that would be the people who are headed back to the corporate track pronto). Do an activity every morning and here are a few ideas if you are not already doing this for your business.
Networking events. Find an organization that works for you and attend regularly. Make sure you have a presence whether it is a strong brand, a great ability to promote yourself or having a noticeable presence at the event (i.e., table). If you are going to attend a networking please do not do the following: 1. Have a half a$$-put-together table – you will look unprofessional, unorganized and most likely will generate zero business as a result. 2. Find a networking event that is a fit for your company and do not spend a lot of money on an organization until you determine it is a good networking group for you. Most organizations will let you attend once or twice to test the waters. And, note to self, if you are selling make up products you might not want to join an organization dedicated to men’s apparel … just a thought. 3. A noticeable presence at the event means not dressing up like a clown. I am not kidding here.
Blog. Frog. Blog. This is one of the simple marketing tools that can take you to the top of the search engine without spending massive amounts of money on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you are lucky enough to have a business partner to work on this with you take turns. And, don’t feel like you need to stick to business the whole time. Don’t air your dirty laundry or latest bar-hoping adventure downtown; but if you are passionate about something just write and get it out there. Also, I recommend always putting in key words and linking in to your websites.
Newsletter. Is it easy-to-write a newsletter every week? No. Not in the slightest, and even if you get to a point where the writing ability which may come quite easily to you normally might hit a full stop due to stress and in my case when I have too much going on and have too much on the brain I am not funny. Period. And, that honestly kind of freaks me out. Here is a tip – write when you are inspired, laughing about something that you are passionate about and return later. Sometimes it may take me a week to write a newsletter but most of the time about 30 minutes especially when I am chatting about entertainment of the week, like this current moron who is sending me her newsletter to her pampered chef party under the pretense of something else. Annoying. Anyway, inexpensive marketing tool and a GREAT way to stay in touch with your clients and tell them what you are up to. Do you know that telling people what you’re working on generates business? That’s a freebie. LOL.
