Sunday, November 7, 2010

Personal Matketing

Relationships 101 (Maxwell, John C.)



"Just about everything you do, depends on teamwork." - John C. Maxwell


You need to know your backyard businesses in order to expand your potential lists for sponsors and advertisers.  Have you ever walked into the cleaners around the corner? Have you ever introduced yourself to the store manager at the local grocery store? Do you know the manager at the local community bank by name? Better yet, do they know you? Or, do they even know that you exist? If not, you have a real problem.

Your problem is that you have not invested in "personal marketing."  I am not talking about marketing yourself.  If you are the face of of your business, nonprofit or church, you need to create some personalized and face-to-face introductions.  You can do so with social networking likeFacebook, LinkedIn and Yelp along with other sites.  You may want to get in touch with people and check their Twitter page and start following them just to stay informed and keep interacting.

 For instance, a local pastor who writes books and Bible lessons needs to develop some kind of relationships with the local librarian and area bookstore owners and operators for carrying his books and hosting a reading and book-signing.  The Little League coach should at least see if the community's pizzeria is will to offer a discount to the team's families if they frequent the establishment every Saturday afternoon after their games.  The Christian businesswoman needs to know if there are other Christians in business in her area and how to connect with them.
Armed with newfound relationships, you need to maintain your relationships with potential business partners, vendors and others. Use email marketing such as Mail Chimp or Cosntant ContactStart posting in the blogosphere.  Set up a frequent gathering of those who work in your local area at your site or a community venue. You don't have to host it by yourself.  Partner with your local Christian business network or chamber of commerce.  Get the word out to others with your tweets and status updates on social networks.

This is not a major "trade secret." In fact, for many of us, it should be more obvious to us.  Let's take advantage of what exists, even if we haven't noticed it up until now.

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