Building A Community For Your Business

You've found a niche in the market that you think you can satisfy. You've drawn up a business plan and maybe even gotten a friend to collaborate on it with you. You've found an office space and have got yourself a few clients. Now you need to branch out and make sure that business keeps coming in so that your company can stay afloat. There are many ways to generate business, most of which start with using your existing network and that means building and maintaining a community. Here are a few ideas on how you might start:

1. The 'hundred mile' network:

In our global marketplace companies are often reaching across oceans for new business but aren't known in their own neighbourhood. Sometimes the best place to start is to go back to basics and get to know your neighbours. Whether you're a B2B or B2C business you have a community of people and businesses surrounding you, some of whom need what you're selling. How do you get to know them? You can do everything from throwing a neighbourhood party, to barbequing one summer day while handing out business cards, to joining local committees. A great way to meet people and get them to trust your professional opinion, is to share your expertise for free. One way to do this is to launch a free weekly workshop where you can impart your expertise. One or two hours per week won't cut too far into your schedule and is enough to keep new faces attending all of the time. If you offer people what they want for free and they are looking for more of it, they'll likely use you and pay.

2. The internet:

The internet is now where businesses market themselves and where their prospective clients and consumers are hanging out, sharing information and talking. Promoting your company online has extended well beyond online banner ads. Now companies can do everything from search engine optimisation, to paid search ads, and social media marketing. If your prospective clients hang out on social sites like Twitter and Facebook, then it is well worth your while to create a presence on those sites. Once there you can start engaging your community by discussing things that would be of interest to them, linking to articles you think they'd like to read and engaging them with entertaining content, competitions and more. Most online marketing can be done entirely for free. However, it is advisable to hire a specialist agency if you're looking to get real results. While these platforms are social, informal and interactive, they still require a strategy and constant updating and work. If you leave them alone for too long, like anything they will fade into the background. So be honest with yourself about how much online marketing you're willing to do.

Those are two good places to start building a community, online and off, and start generating more business for your company.


------

Adaptive Consultancy is an internet marketing company who specialise in
website design, eCommerce, and internet marketing, including SEO, PPC
and SMO. Learn more at
http://www.adaptiveconsultancy.com/internet-marketing-company