After spending days in creating a business plan, you are ready to launch your business. To spread the word out, you marketed your business aggressively and even got some traction too in terms of spike in traffic coming to your website.
Unfortunately for you, all that website traffic is of no use because they are not converting into paying customers. As a result, you start falling short of projections and fail to see the return on your investments. Soon your business finds it difficult to stay afloat due to financial constraints. You will have to find an investor who can fund your startup otherwise your startup will suffer the same fate as most new startup, which is to fail within first five years.
Thankfully, you can turn the tables by leveraging networking events and grow your stagnant business. How will it happen? I am not an networking pro and have not attended networking events before. How can I make networking easy. If you are interested in knowing how networking events can fuel your business growth then, you are at the right place.
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Connect with Investors
As mentioned above, one of the main reasons why small businesses fail is because they run out of cash. Networking events provides them an opportunity to get in touch with investors who might show interest in funding their business. Yes, investors might be receiving a lot of pitches and emails, most of them claiming to deliver a quick return on their investments but they don’t have proof which is what your business can show at these networking events and secure funding for your startup. Once your business gets the financial injection it needs, you can drive it towards stability and growth.
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Increases Brand Awareness
You have to buy a product, but that product is offered by two different brands. One is popular one and other is not so popular. Which brand would you choose? Most people will buy from a famous brand instead of a lesser known or even unknown brand. That is why new businesses struggle to sell their products and services because nobody knows about their brand.
Networking events are a great way to increase your brand awareness. It allows to share your brand story with the world, communicate your brand messages and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. Deliver value by sharing content that solves user problems. This will tell prospects that you not only know their problems but also offer a suitable solution, which would encourage them to do business with your brand.
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Attract More Customers
There is nothing more difficult for a new business than attract new customers. Your business can not survive for long if you fail to attract new customers. Networking events allows you expand your customer base and rope in new customers.
As your customer pool grows, it is much easier to convert those prospects into paying customers. Moreover, you can even turn some of the prospects into brand advocates through networking events. These brand advocates will share their positive experience with their friends and family, which would encourage them to try your products and services.
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Build Long Term Relationships
Networking is all about building long term relationships with stakeholders. This would only happen when you build trust. Just handing out business card to prospect won’t cut. You will have nurture relationship with clients and other stakeholders. Deliver an exceptional brand experience, make them feel special and focus on delighting customers which persuade them to come back to you again and again.
Here are some of the secrets of network marketing you should adopt to build long term relationships.
- Be consistent
- Keep learning and improving
- Be clear about your objectives
- Never give up
- Avoid being too salesy
- Deliver value
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Join a Community
Yes, building brand awareness might not be easy and might take years in some cases. The next best option you have is to join a community related to your niche. These communities already have lot of members who share similar interests as you do. You can interact with these members and engage them with interactive content.
Help community members, share your knowledge and experiences and answer questions to establish yourself as an industry expert. This will help you get more traction and attract more customers. You never know some of the community members might also refer your business to their friends and family. Make sure you actively participate in the community and you will get positive results.
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Follow Up After the Event
As a result, all the hype and momentum they have build in the networking events, goes to waste. It is important to collect some sort of information from prospects which allows you to get in touch with the prospect after the event. It can either be an email address or phone number.
This allows you to send a reminder email or have a polite conversation on the phone that reminds them that they have interacted with your business and shown interest in your products and services. You can also use this opportunity to promote your products and services and tell them about your best deals and packages.
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Increases Your Marketing Effectiveness
By participating in networking events, your brand influence grows. This influence can have a positive impact on your marketing efforts. For instance, you are more likely to get a positive response from an influencer who you have pitched to create some content for your brand. The more people know about your brand, the more likes, comments and shares your social posts will get. Search engines will start to rank your higher and your paid marketing efforts will also start to bear fruit.