Making it online means working it off line, and we are here to help. This blog is an off-shoot of a wee little start-up outside Chicago and we are making that start-up work. It has a small staff of young professionals who didn’t have a vast professional network to tap into when they started. And, frankly, putting up a website and hoping that some good SEO and an AdWords campaign were going to be enough just wasn’t going to cut it.
No, we are not knocking those things, but we know that they are not enough. We understand the internet. We live on the internet. It is what we do. But it is not where our clients live. It is not what they do. We have to find them in a real world where there are real people in real business clothes with real business cards talking about real business things.
So, how do you go about bringing your virtual business to people in a not-so-virtual world? You start off virtually, of course. You need to make sure your LinkedIn profile is all snazzy’d up before you get going, because these not so virtual people tend to hang out in this one virtual environment.
Ok, now for our 12-step Get Real Virtual Program:
- Order business cards.
Paper ones that feel good when you hold them. And whatever you do DO NOT GET THE FREE ONES FROM VISTA PRINT. (Sorry to have to name names). They print their logo on the back and limit you to templates that are ugly. Spend a little bit of money on them. If you need some inspiration check out Creattica, CardObserver or Flickr. Just make sure that your cards look as professional as you want to be taken. Try using a local printer, they might cost more, but they might be able to refer you some business in the future. - Find a networking group.
Or 10. Find a group of local entrepreneurs or a local leads group. Local chambers of commerce are also good places to start. If you want to start this search virtually, places to start are LinkedIn, MeetUp and NetworkingMonkey (Chicago only). Then, go to the networking group!
- Find an industry group.
This is different than a networking group. This allows you to show you care about your industry, such as an AIGA or a WebGrrrls membership. You can become involved in your community and show off your mad skills. People take notice. Why on earth would we build a twitter application for free? For the karma. And the industry publicity. We know it makes us look good. Now, go make yourself look good. - Go speak.
To a women’s group. A high school. It really doesn’t matter to who. Just start talking to people. If you go talk about your career path at a high school there is always the possibilty that the right kid was listening and has the parents who own a company who need a website. Or, there is the karma thing again. Next time the school needs a website you might just find yourself first in line.
- Meet people.
Go to small businesses in your area and introduce yourself. Schedule informational meetings. Be genuinely interested in the services you can receive in your own home town or neighborhood. People like to help locals, it’s true. I promise. If you make a point of meeting 10 new people every day, your business will grow beyond belief. - Host a seminar.
But don’t do it just to sell. Do it to teach. If you give a little of yourself people will appreciate you. They might even pay for your knowledge. If you host a free seminar, people still need to feel like they came and learned something and not that they came to hear a sales pitch. Their time is valuable, make sure they have something (knowledge) to take away. - Communicate.
Wether you send postcards, flowers, promo items or e-mails make sure you stay in touch with all of your contacts and clients on a regular basis. They need to hear from you. You need to keep them close, so that you stay top of mind. - Advertise.
Again, it can be a promo item or a newspaper ad, or an ad on an industry news site, but it has to reach the contacts that you are trying to make. It has to show them value. If a USB drive to 25 people with your logo has more value to your potential clients than an ad in an industry publication, then come up with a targeted list, make appointments and give away some presents. This is different than communicating because you are reaching people who you do not currently have a relationship with. - Volunteer
Do something that has absolutely nothing to do with your business. Just get out there and help people. It might be a soup kitchen, a BEDS program, Project Linus (we might be partial to them), or just about anything else, but get out there and do something with no agenda. The people you meet know people. And the karma points here are the best.
- Go back to that networking group.
Over and over again. Become a regular. Get to know people. Make people think you are successful before you are successful by being there and always talking about how you are successful. People like to do business with successful people.
- Approach your current clients
Notice how we waited til almost the end for this one? There is a reason for that. If you wait to approach them until you have a lot of them, you have probably not done work for some of them for a while. It could be high time to offer some updates or some social media work (a twitter background perhaps?)
- Go get some coffee!
All that hard work deserves a break! And some coffee. And time to make sure that all of those real world contacts are connected to you virtually. Via e-mail, on your e-mail marketing list, linked up on linked in, friended or fanned on Facebook, followed on twitter and entered into a contact management database (Highrise, Salesforce, etc.)
(Image credit: BatgirlBob)
