The third instalment of a series of marketing tactics and ideas for your business.

Are you the sort of person who shouts at Newsnight? Do you grumble at Radio 4? Swear under your breath while you’re reading the paper? I am. We’re the people who care – the people who are politically aware and want the world to be a better place.

Your politics might have nothing at all to do with your business. If you run a software company, you might think that that’s got nothing to do with your dislike of David Cameron, or that you get upset about child marriage in developing countries. You might think that you shouldn’t talk about politics in case it puts off potential customers.

But maybe you can use your passion to enhance your business.

Get A Campaign Going

Find a cause you believe in which is related to your work (even tangentially) and run a campaign around that cause. Don’t just aim to raise money – everyone does Movember (well the guys anyway). Make it into an actual campaign if you can. Your software company might want to campaign about issues of internet privacy or intellectual property. If you’re an ethical lettings agency like my client Catherine Bancroft-Rimmer, you might want to see the anti key money laws tightened up, forcing less scrupulous agencies to act more ethically.

Image by Richard Callanan

Put some thoughts on your website, write to your MP, join up with another organisation which is campaigning on the same issue. Encourage other people to do the same.

And bingo. You’ve got something to talk to your customers about, an instant way to stand out compared to all your boring competitors, a reason to get in the paper, something to write about on Twitter. And you might just have started something which could make the world a better place.

This is the second in my series of marketing tactics and ideas – suggestions for you to use in marketing your business. This one is about referrals and how to get the right ones.

If you’ve been networking for your business and meeting lots of lovely business friends who are going to sell your services for you, why not make your life easier for your referrers by telling them exactly who you would like them to recommend you to?

Make a nice clear document explaining what it is you do, and the chief characteristics of the people you would like to buy from you. If I was doing a very short version of this for the Joy of Business, I’d explain that I help people with small businesses to grow into bigger businesses by advising, mentoring and coaching. I’d like to meet people who:

• Have had a business for a while, but are ready to grow it and make some decent money.
• Want to know the best way forward, and if they’re doing the right thing.
• Want some practical support on how to develop their business from someone who has done it before.
• Have the capacity to earn at least 50k a year, and probably want to earn more than that.
• Are at a key growth stage with their business.

Once you’ve done this, get someone who knows nothing about your business to check it for you to see if it makes sense, and if you’ve put the commas in the right places. And then email it to the nice people you’ve been meeting while you’ve been networking. Print it out and take it along with you when you have a networking cake date to give to people. Personally, I’d just do it in Word with my logo on, and print it out on my cheapo printer, but if you’re more of a design/creative/fancy sort of person you could get some little books printed pretty cheaply, and then people would be more likely to keep them.

Right, I’m off to practice what I preach, and do a longer list to send out to all my networking mates. By the way, if you recognised yourself on that list of people I’d like to meet, you might want to come and have a coffee and a chat about what’s happening with your business. You never know what might happen…

As well as my regular thoughts, tips and advice on how to grow your small business, over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be writing a series of articles with random ideas for marketing activities. Some of them won’t be right for you and your business, and some of them will be. Some of the ideas will make you think… “Well we don’t want to do that, but if we did this, that might work”.

Now of course, I’m going to advise you that you need a properly worked out marketing strategy (which you do) but you also need lots of tactical marketing ideas to get you out there quickly, and to get you into the minds of the people who want to give you money.

I’ve been doing some research, and thinking of lots of things I’ve used successfully with my business advice clients over the years, but I need your help. It would be great if you could send me ideas which have worked for you, or which have made you buy things, or just ideas you’ve admired. I’m particularly looking for specific tactics I can tell people about, so the more practical, specific and quirky/different the better. Give me your ideas so I can share them out.

Part three of my look at some of the jargon words I use and hear other people use, with plain English definitions. This time, discounted cashflow and return on investment.

Discounted Cashflow

This is a complicated one. There’s even an equation:

But in basic terms, it means working out what money will come to you eventually from a business or investment and comparing how much that money will be worth to you in future years compared with now.

If you’re running a small business, the important thing to know about discounted cashflow is that it is completely irrelevant, because you have no way of accurately predicting the future. You don’t know what shape your business is going to take in 6 months’ time, let alone planning detailed spreadsheets for the next 3 years.

Return On Investment – ROI

ROI is a much more useful and more widely used term. In general use, it means making money from what you put into the business. I often use the metaphor of a business as a machine, where you put in time, effort, skill, money and resources, crank the handle of the machine and out pours profit and enjoyment. It’s my Joy of Business metaphor, and the profit and enjoyment is your return on investment.

Photo by mag3737

More technically, ROI is the amount you make from your business compared to the money you’ve put in, or the amount of gross profit you generate from a specific marketing activity. For example, if an online shop spent £1000 on Google Adwords, and made back £2000 of gross profit, that would be a 200% ROI.

I hope that helps you cut through the jungle of business jargon – if you need any help clearing your strategic path, and you need some business advice, then you know who to call.

Business jargon Part 1 – Sensitivity analysis and KPI’s

Business jargon part 2 – Opportunity cost, scaleability and marketing collateral

I often recommend that my business support clients build their networks to build a strong set of relationships with potential customers and referrers. Sometimes this can be done simply by joining a networking group and getting involved so people know who you are – that’s been my strategy in getting so involved with the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce.

Sometimes though, your customers aren’t on your doorstep, or they’re more difficult to reach. If you’re selling to corporates, or in a specialised area, you need a more in depth strategy. And even if you are building up a good network around you, you still need to be able to target the right people.

Target Sign by Mr T in DC

So here are some ideas on how to do that:

Who do you want to meet?

Often we’re networking for the sake of networking. This can be good because of course the person you meet at a business breakfast may have a cousin who is married to someone at the BBC who is looking for the expert to host a show about how to grow businesses, which is going to transform your career forever. Do let me know if your cousin’s wife works at the BBC and is looking for that person.

My point is that random connections can work really well. If you have a group of people who like you, understand what it is that you do, and want to recommend you, you’ll probably do well. But sometimes we need a bit more structure to make this work.

The first step is to be very clear about who you want to meet. Who are the decision makers who are going to give you the sale? Which companies do you want to meet with? You need a hit list, either of specific individuals (usually for high value sales of 50k+) or the types of people, e.g. HR Directors of companies with more than 350 employees.

Where do they hang out?

You need to find out where these people are likely to be. Consider specialist trade conferences, seminars and training events, private members clubs, geographically specific networking groups. Dig deep into your target sectors and find out where the people on your hit list are likely to be. You can use LinkedIn to find specific people, and then find out who could introduce you to them, or find LinkedIn groups which have these people in them.

And ask. This is where your slightly more random network of people comes in really handy. Last year a client needed to find people who worked at Virgin in their sponsorship department, and when I asked around, someone I knew put me in touch with the very chap I needed.

Create something

If there are not really groups or networks which your target market decision makers are part of, or if you can’t get into those networks, consider creating something. I’ve worked with a couple of clients who have created networks or seminars for the people they want to work with. They’ve done this as pro bono work, seeing it as an investment in the future. And sure enough, after a little while, my clients have been able to create some good relationships, and then say, Oh, by the way, we’ve got this thing… would you be interested in buying it? Large cheques have followed.

The lessons

• Work out where the people you want to meet will be, online and offline
• Find a way to get there
• If you can’t find them, create a space where they will come
• And ask people for specific introductions to the right kinds of people

Other posts on networking for business success

If you found this post useful, you might want to follow me on twitter, sign up to the “Julia Chanteray talks” RSS feed with the big orange button on the left hand side, or get my email newsletter

Other articles on networking include:

Which business networking groups in Brighton and Sussex are right for you

A more general guide to getting going with business networking

Using LinkedIn for business