Independent Thinking » networking

Out of Practice

Daria Steigman — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:04:29 +0000

Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester suggested that his team’s historic late-season collapse had nothing to do with the fact that he and his teammates were drinking on the job. His rationale: they were doing the same thing in April and May–and the team was winning.

Sure. And if I substituted laziness for running laps, the fact that I’d be sucking air after a couple of months would be coincidental too.

You have to practice. And practice isn’t just for athletes.

If you get out of the practice of blogging, you stop looking for inspiration.
If you get out of the practice of networking, your pipeline dries up.
If you get out of the practice of business development, it’s harder to make that first call.
If you get out of the practice of budgeting, it’s easy to go into debt.
If you get out of the practice of planning, it’s easy to miss market signals.

If you get out of the practice of doing, what falls down in your business?

Photo by Newtown grafitti (Flickr).

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Is Your Marketing Team Obsolete?

Daria Steigman — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:42:45 +0000

Hubspot founder Brian Halligan kicked off What’s Next DC* with a terrific presentation on inbound marketing (aka, how to get found by your clients, customers, and prospects). In it, he identified six steps to viral growth and looked at the skill sets needed to market to the way that people today shop, learn, and buy.

Halligan said the six steps to viral growth include:

Content Creation. He advises creating as much content as possible, and suggests that each piece can act as “a mini-magnet” to attract customers.
Optimizing for Social Media. Halligan talked about creating “remarkable” content. Halligan said that some of the best-read posts on Hubspot’s blog promise (in the headlines) insights, analysis, or marketing tips.
Be Original. The more your content is unique (or you’re first with breaking news), the more likely it will have legs (and spread via Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks).
Include Strong Calls to Action. Halligan recommends that these be “valuable, easy, prominent, and action-oriented.”
Nurture Your Leads. This is obviously a big deal, because if you’re not nurturing leads you’re losing them.
Study Your Analytics. If you’re not looking at your statistics and measuring your success, then how do you know what’s working and what’s not? Halligan talked about the need to “measure often and evolve fast.”

Don’t be Cocktail Party Compliant

Halligan said that many marketers are “cocktail party compliant,” a great phrase to describe going through the motions but not really being invested in the process. Does your marketing team have the right skills for 2011′s business environment?

Halligan suggested that every marketing organization needs to identify people with four key skills. (If you’re an independent consultant or a small business without a big marketing staff, think of these as skills you need to either own or borrow.)

Digital Native. Halligan suggests this is genetic. I’m not convinced it’s a gene thing, but I am convinced it’s not demographic. I’ve seen 70-somethings who “get it” and 20-somethings who are Web-phobic.
Analytic Capacity. We all know I’m a big proponent of data-based decision making, so I was happy to see Halligan highlight the importance of having at least one person on your team who’s happy crunching data.
Reach. “Reach is the new Rolodex,” says Halligan. This speaks to the need, even more today, to value the skills that networkers and connectors bring to the table.
Content Creator. Clearly being a good writer helps. But content is broader (e.g., video, photography).

Other conference speakers also talked about the need to rethink how you’re doing marketing and PR in the digital age. Bryan Eisenberg touched on a theme that I believe is critical to business success: being nimble, authentic, and continuously improving. Rand Fishkin pointed out that companies are very under-invested in SEO (so there’s a huge opportunity to make the long tail work for you). And Shonali Burke offered case studies of two companies that are building relationships with their customers. Echoing the day’s “content” theme, she talked about the need to tell your story “really well” and pointed out that everyone in your organization today is (by default) involved in customer service.

*Disclosure: Comped admission; but choice to blog and what to write about are all me.

Photo by Matthew Rakola Photography.

Predicting the Future (of Marketing)

Daria Steigman — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:00:32 +0000

What is the future of marketing?

That was the topic at a recent Thoughtlead online mini-conference. The premise: Select 60 smart people, ask them one big question, and give them each 60 seconds to make their case. The responses were sometimes predictable. More often, however, the speakers challenged themselves and us to think about what’s next–and why.

Here’s a sampling of my favorites:

Michael Stelzner pointed out that people don’t trust brands, so it’s important to focus your marketing on helping other people. He also talked about recognizing people who help you. “If you lift people up, they’ll lift you up.”
Steve Rubel said the biggest challenge for marketers going forward is “time and space, and the relationship between the two… Let’s talk about space. Online it’s infinite. We have as much choice as we want in terms of content. Time on the other hand is finite, and attention spans are fragmenting.”
David Meerman Scott talked about the need to focus on real-time (versus campaigns) and to look for things you can do right now. “The bottom line: social media are tools; real-time is a mindset.”
Frank Gruber talked about always being curious, and about letting your curiosity lead you to find new ideas and innovations.
Mitch Joel suggested that the future of marketing ”should, and will be all about anonymity.”
Alex Bogusky said that collaboration is the new competition, and becoming transparent is not a choice.” The only choice is: do you do it, or do you have it done to you?”
Todd Defren talked about putting relationships at the center of everything.
Gary Vaynerchuk suggested that the future of marketing is one-on-one engagement. “The humanization of business is upon us.”

You can read the entire transcript here.

Photo by Krikit (Flickr).

Are You Building Relationships or Burning Them?

Daria Steigman — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:22:41 +0000

His name was Matt, and I loved him.

Matt was a trainer at Gold’s Gym when I first met him. He said hi to everyone, and he’d go out of his way to correct your form or (in my case) nag me to switch up cardio machines more often. When I decided to get a trainer, I worked with him. When he branched out and started up a boot camp program, I signed up right away. Months later, I ran into Matt when I was training for my first marathon. He was excited for me, and he hooked me up with his nutritionist–gratis–s0 I could get some advice on fueling for 26 miles. We lost touch sometime after that. Which is too bad, because I’d recommend him to anyone looking for a good fitness trainer.

At my current gym, there is no one that I would recommend. (My trainer isn’t there.) For the last 8 months I’ve been whipping my body back into athletic performance shape. Not one trainer has commented on my fitness, said “atta girl,” or otherwise showed that they care at all what I’m doing. And I’m in there several times a week–and I’m friendly.

Some of the staff know I’m not in the market for a trainer. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know others who might be.

It seems a cliche to say that “people do business with people they like.” But apparently we can’t say too often that business is about relationships.

Are you building them or burning them?

Photo by the U.S. Army (Flickr).

How Not to Start a Conversation

Daria Steigman — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:50:24 +0000

I received a two-paragraph e-mail the other day from someone looking to connect with me at an upcoming event. She spelled my name right, told me it’s her second time going to an event put on by this particular group, and said she hoped we’d get to meet.

So far so good.

But then paragraph two, in its entirety, read:

“Advancing organizations and individuals toward clear communication to produce and present best products and services using best practices…” I’ll look for you Thursday to wrap up my elevator speech.

Why?

Please don’t pitch me. Talk to me instead.

I like networking events because I love to meet new people. Find out what makes them tick. Who they are when they’re not in default work mode. Sure, we’re all selling something. But we’re not all buying the same things.

You can’t sell me if I tune you out. So strike up a conversation instead.

Postscript: When I emailed that I was happy to meet her but to please leave out the elevator speech, I got a mea culpa. She’s going to ditch the speech so we can have a genuine conversation.

See, it’s really not that hard.

Photo by Marcin Wichary (Flickr).

Is Your Network Deep or Wide?

Daria Steigman — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:00:40 +0000

Is your network deep or wide?

Tiger Woods‘ network is very wide–but it turns out it’s not very deep. Few top players turned up to play his tournament over the Fourth of July weekend. When Tiger, Inc., was at its height, the tournament was a who’s who of stars.

I heard one golf commentator state that players feel that Woods has never supported the PGA Tour. Sure, he made everyone a lot of money (including himself), but when was the last time you saw him play the Frys.com Open or the John Deere Classic?

Networks exist in many shapes and sizes. Most of us have a private network of family and close friends that’s walled off from our business selves. It’s deep, but not overly wide. Beyond that innermost circle, we have ever-wider ones of friends, then colleagues, then contacts.

The best networks are both wide and deep. You want breadth to be able to identify potential partners, new business opportunities, and step outside your own bubble. You want depth so that you have a network of friends and colleagues who have your back. How wide and deep our circles are depends on how we nurture them.

When Tiger Woods private life crashed into the open, it opened up the schisms in his network. So we see he may hit a golf ball brilliantly, but he has no well of goodwill among his professional circle.

What kind of network do you have?

Photo by ellenm1 (Flickr).

Second Look: Philanthropy, Flight Attendants, and Happy Interns

Daria Steigman — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:16:26 +0000

Second look is back. I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.

Small Talk Matters: We talk about the importance of networking, but how many of us do it well? John Baldoni offers some good tips for chatting up the boss (or anyone else). It’s all about preparation, personality (yours), and keen perception.
Customer Service, Flight-Attendant Style: Watching flight attendants is a good way to learn about business, says Neil Patel in a useful post about customer service, rules, and the small things that make a difference.
Interns vs. Assistants: Mary Deming Barber has a thoughtful guest post for Solo PR Pro that looks at how to get the most from (and for) your intern–and when you should be hiring an assistant instead.
Texting and Philanthropy: “Rapid information sharing and [people-to-people] connections have already turned several major industries upside down. Philanthropy is next,” writes Timothy Ogden in a terrific post about how texting is transforming the way we give.

Photo by kudumomo (Flickr).

What Everyone Ought to Know About Networking

Daria Steigman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:10:54 +0000

I was skimming through my LinkedIn Groups the other day, and one discussion thread jumped out at me: Are networking events worth the time? The originator was frustrated that his forays weren’t putting him in a room with the people he wanted to meet.

Like many people, he is missing the big picture: Networking doesn’t bring business. Networks do.

While I’ll certainly admit that some events prove a complete waste of time, most offer opportunities to meet interesting people. The job seeker he’s dismissing might just end up working at a place where you want to do business. That room full of vendors (hey, we’re all selling something) might yield your next partner or your next lead.

It’s very rare that you walk into a room of strangers and walk out with new business. But the connections you make today may just fill your pipeline over time.

Has this happened to you?

Photo by Matti Mattila (Flickr).

Do You Work the Room?

Daria Steigman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:57:42 +0000

One of my favorite reasons for attending a conference is the opportunity to meet new people and expand my community.

At last week’s GrowSmartBiz conference, Washington Business Journal‘s Alex Orfinger asked for a show of hands as to who sat with someone they didn’t know at lunch. About two-thirds of the hands went up.

What were the rest of the people doing there?

Photo by The Shifted Librarian (Flickr).

Are Business Cards Obsolete?

Daria Steigman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:58:20 +0000

[Note: This post originally appeared on IABC'sÂ Communications World blog.]

I love that there’s an iPhone app that lets you exchange contact information just by bumping phones. But does this mean that business cards are becoming obsolete?

Business cards speak to me, especially when it comes to small businesses and solo practitioners. The paper, logo, design, and readability give me clues to a company’s personality and whether they have thought about that first impression. Whether someone does or doesn’t have a Web site and/or a customized e-mail address gives me some data about their permanence and their business sense. And please think twice before handing me a card with out-of-date information.

The Japanese have an entire ritual around business cards. While Americans are typically more informal, we might do well to probe the underlying reasons for the meishi exchange.

So what do you think? Do you decipher business cards or wish they’d go away?

On a related note, my friend Deborah Brody has a good post on business card dos and don’ts that has some common sense tips for making sure what you are handing out isn’t hindering your success.