Angels Den Blog

Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without them it could not exist, so companies put a lot of effort into building relationships with customers, establishing loyalties and servicing their needs. But how do you find these customers in the first place? What is your business networking strategy?

There was a time when the only way to reach your potential clients was to hit the streets and reel them in one by one or in small groups with face-to-face business networking strategies. While this is time intensive and certainly not the ideal form of marketing for introverts, this tried and true method of business networking is an effective means of forging long-term relationships and creating loyal patrons that bring in additional customers through word of mouth. In-person networking brings a personal touch to your marketing efforts, builds trust and is an ideal way to convince those who are on the fence to hop on down and join the ranks of your devoted customers.

With the advent of the Internet, this type of old-fashioned face-to-face marketing soon began to fall to the wayside as entrepreneurs and long-time business owners discovered new, time-efficient ways to reach a broad audience through online business networking via social networking and search engine optimisation. As social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have gained popularity and established a simple online foundation for mass communication, business networking through these and similar social networking portals has become the marketing strategy of choice for many companies, both large and small.

Partaking in online business networking allows business owners to connect with potential patrons in a convenient, immediate and inexpensive fashion and to cast a wide net in the hope of pulling in several new customers in one fell swoop. While it lacks the personal touch of face-to-face business networking, this marketing strategy has proven effective for new businesses as well as revitalising the outdated strategies of many well-established companies.

With these increasing options, it is natural to begin to wonder which business networking strategy is right for your company. Do you stick with traditional, personal contact to increase the probability that each prospect will become a loyal customer, or do you put your efforts into online business networking in order to significantly increase the number of prospects you can reach at one time?

The answer largely depends on the type of products or services your company provides and the attributes of your target audience. What you say and how you say it is central to your success, so when it comes to how to say it, you must consider the most effective means of communication for the particular prospects you are trying to reach. The lure of the Internet is incredibly enticing and online business networking opportunities are abundant in the modern age of search engine optimisation and social media promotion. In fact, online social networking has become so integrated into our way of life that it practically goes without saying that this will be part of any marketing plan. So much so that entrepreneurs often set up a Facebook account before they open a business bank account.

Both of these business networking strategies provide important benefits, and any entrepreneur will certainly use aspects of each as they work to establish their brand and customer base. No matter how devoted a business owner may be to personal contact, every business needs a website and every website absolutely must be search engine optimised. And, no matter how dedicated to mass online marketing an entrepreneur may be, personal contact will always be the most effective means of creating long-term relationships with clients.

The key to your company’s success is to find the balance that works for you and your target audience. Understanding the needs of your potential customer base will provide the foundation on which to build your marketing strategy, and therein lies the answer to the amount of effort you should put towards each of these effective business networking options.