Are You Linked in to Business Opportunities Online?
As the economy continues to retract, smart entrepreneurs are realising that now is not the time to reduce their marketing activity, but they are looking for innovative, inexpensive and efficient ways to connect to potential customers and referral partners.
If you were to ask a group of Irish entrepreneurs what was the one way they had been the most successful in attracting more qualified leads and customers to their business in the last 12 months, do you know what they would answer?
- Did you guess they would say networking?
- Is that what you would also say for your business?
We are very fortunate with Ireland being a relatively small community, that very often we are just one or two people away from making a connection with the person we would really like to meet with, or someone we would identify as our ideal client.
And today we have the opportunity to not only connect in the real world, but also online. With the increase in the number of online social networks, where we can start connecting online and nurture our network between face to face meetings.
The professional social network LinkedIn.com continues to grow each month, and while it has far fewer members than Facebook.com, it is certainly considered to be the network of choice by most professionals.
New joint ventures are being formed, jobs are being advertised and appointed, events are being promoted, alumni of organisations and colleges are reconnecting and clients are being found through LinkedIn every hour of the day.
One of the benefits in having a professional profile on LinkedIn offers, is to help you as an entrepreneur be found in the search engines. With no technical know-how and no budget for search engine optimisation, you can increase your visibility online. Many of us research people in ‘Google’ both before and after meetings (almost like an online reference check!). In turn, we too need to make sure that our reputation and personal brand online is well represented when someone ‘Google’s’ us, which they can do through LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is also a great source of research, for example:
- before a meeting
- tendering for a contract, or
- to make a connection with someone of influence in your industry.
So if you haven’t considered using online networks as part of your marketing plan, why not take some time this week and make sure that you polish up your profile on LinkedIn to express your expertise? Remember that you can join LinkedIn at no cost other than spending time creating your professional profile. If you need guidance in setting up your profile on LinkedIn you can view a video online www.greatvideos.biz.
Then each week why not spend just 15 to 30 minutes connecting with and nurturing your network online – you’ll be surprised at what business opportunities you might uncover just a few mouse clicks away.
© Krishna De
About the author: Krishna De www.bizgrowthnews.com is an award winning digital marketing and online identity speaker and mentor.
NOTE: Krishna will be speaking about how to get the most out of LinkedIn for your business at the April Fingal Business Network meeting taking place on 30th April 2009 at the Grand Hotel, Malahide. This meeting is free to Members but guest booking is essential and costs just €25. Book online>>
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