Networking - the life blood of small, local service businesses. It can be hard to generate referrals for them but here is some good news – there are other ways you can support your fellow group members that are quite powerful without directly or regularly referring people or businesses to them.
If you are a small business owner or self employed, chances are you belong to at least one business networking group. Made up of motivated people who meet regularly they are a good way to build relationships with other business owners. Members referring business to other members are the life blood of these groups.
But in our experience, referrals in these groups tend to come from businesses who would naturally work together (for example, marketing consultants, graphic designers and web developers).
It can be hard to find ways to support all the members in your group if your businesses do not typically work together, or you don't regularly see a high number of people who are potential referrals.
Good news – there are other ways you can support your fellow group members that are quite powerful without directly or regularly referring people or businesses to them.
On your website
- Publish guest blogs from someone if their business is (or can be) related in some way to yours. If they aren't regular writers, you can get a quote from them and insert where relevant into a blog post that you write. Make sure you include a link back to their website, so they get some SEO benefit along the way.
For example we included a short blurb from talented professionals we know in these blogs:
Web Content vs. Web Copy – what’s the difference and which is the best for your website?
Website imagery – 5 ways you get it wrong – and 10 tips for doing it right
- If you have a recommended partners or local business links page on your site, add the members that might be of use to the people who visit your site. Think beyond your business here – a list of local businesses such as accountants, IT consultants, writers, web designers, printers and even cafes and restaurants would all be helpful for other locals.
- Add a small promo (like an ad) for a service that you know people who come to your website could also be looking for but that you do not provide. For example electricians and local plumbers or builders. Accountants could recommend bookkeeping services etc. Any leads you get turn into a referral!
- Consider a unique landing page that people in your network can link to if they are in the habit of emailing your details to potential leads. This page would be hidden from public view and start something like this: If you are on this page, you have been referred to us by someone in our business network....etc etc.
Then you can include specific special offers, discounts or location information that would show your relevance to them specifically. Include references or testimonials from other people who were referred to you.
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Read and comment on their blogs published on their website. Sign up to their newsletters so you know when they have news or articles to share.
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In exchange for a link back to your own website, write a testimonial for someone in your group that you have done business with. Or do one on behalf of someone you referred to them, such as "I referred one of my best clients to ABC company for XYZ service and they were extremely happy with the result, saying that......."etc.
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If your group is big enough, consider having a website specifically for your group on which you can publish blogs, news, special offers etc. This would only work well if the website itself was well targeted, visible and got reasonable traffic, so it will take some effort and contribution from everyone in the group. Don't leave it over to your web developer to do on their own!
In your email (or print) newsletter
Similar to your blog, you could include quotes or short paragraphs and promos from people in businesses that are likely to be useful to the people receiving your email newsletters.
If you attend a group meeting as a visitor, collect business cards then email each member personally and invite them to sign up to your email newsletter. Do NOT sign them up automatically! You can also sign up to the newsletters of people you meet.
On Social Media
- Like, follow and connect with all your group members (and any other in the wider Venus network you meet). Be careful about liking people on Facebook however, remember that a lot of people use Facebook for personal reasons. It takes nothing to ask “can we connect – what's your preferred social network?”
- Share your members' blog posts on your social networks. Twitter is good for sharing content that isn't necessarily related to your own business
- Comment on social status updates. Many groups have their own Facebook pages and it doesn't take long to make a quick comment on something they post – especially if it is a link to a blog post or article on their site.
- Provide recommendations and reviews on Google plus, Localist etc. Since this takes time – schedule it as a post-coffee/catch-up action point or after you have bought their service/products
If you are a news junkie, sign up for Google Alerts with their name or company name – that way you can be up to date with what's happening with them or their business.
Of course there are other things you need to do to make sure your networking is effective, but these are easy and often overlooked methods of adding value and supporting your networks.
Just linking to someone's blog or website or commenting on or sharing their content will give their website a search ranking boost – and that is always a great outcome!
Image: stokpic.com
