Are you feeling it?

Last week, when I gave a talk for the Freelancers Union called "Marketing in an Economic Downturn," I started the session by having each of the 30 people in the room stand up and tell not only what they do but also how they are experiencing this "economic downturn."

You know what? Most people admitted they weren't actually feeling it yet. Moreover, those who were feeling it acknowledged that it was probably because they hadn't really ever done any marketing. And, they agreed that what they're "feeling" might be mostly the media "infecting their brains" with panic.

My advice, of course, in all circumstances is, "Don't panic." Do something instead. And what I advised everyone one to do is get out there. Networking is the number one recession marketing tool. Why? Because when people need help, they go out looking for it. So you are most likely to meet people with "needs" if you go out looking for them .

So double up your networking efforts. If you usually attend one meeting a month, attend 2 in October. If you usually do 1 event per week, find 2 this week. It can only help. And it's better than staying home.

Anyone else not feeling it but worried anyway?

P.S. I did a radio interview with Barbara Weltman recently on this topic during which I outlined the 5-Step Marketing Machine. She's posted a summary of it here.

Comments

[James Currie]

Illise, my wife was at the in-HOWse conference this weekend. The speaker invited people to stand up, say their name and list the kinds of people they were hoping to network with during the weekend. My wife, a normally shy person, decided to stand up and be the first to say she was looking for other inhouse designers in the non-profit industry. To her surprise, when the session was over, 15 people stood in line to speak with her. Throughout the rest of the weekend, people were asking if she was the non-profit designer who stood up. She even made friends with three other women in her industry to hang out with for meals the rest of the weekend. What a great and effective networking exercise. How many times have you been in a room and wondered if you could just make an announcement of who you were looking for, networking would be so much easier?

[TurtleBlueBird]

I would urge anyone in James Currie's wife's situation to at least c-o-n-s-i-d-e-r BNI (Business Networking International).

I had heard about BNI about 3 years ago, heard it was weekly meetings held at 7AM and was all about networking -- two things that sounded horrible to me!

A few months ago, a friend invited me to visit his chapter on their Vistor Day. I couldn't make it that day, but did go a few weeks later, and was stunned at how organized, structured and productive the format was.

I checked into a few other groups in my area and have just joined one that seems like a really good fit for me. It's too early to report any results, and BNI is certainly not for everyone. But there are chapters everywhere (internationally), it's not too expensive, I'm getting to talk to all kinds of new prospects and I already have benefitted from the increase in confidence I have gotten from speaking on a regular basis about the kind of business I would like to get.

Just a thought.

[AP]

I like that: "Networking is the number one recession marketing tool." When you're starving for business, you have to go back to basics and hunt. Maybe we’ve become too complacent with the convenience of email and economy of years past. Our society is maxed out on credit cards and have overcommitted themselves.

Every dollar counts. Just trying to figure out how to make my clients spend dollars now, rather than later.