Marketing lessons from a successful networking group launch

I’ve got to be honest I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself. You see the Horsley Network that three friends (Jonathan, Liz and Claire and I set up launched last night, and we had more than 30 guests on our first night! And having been to plenty of more established groups that have struggled to break 15 guests, I think we can pat ourselves on the back for having marketed the event effectively.

So how did we do it?

We focused. I’m a huge believer in niching your offering, and this networking group was no different. We’ve set up the Horsley Business Network for business owners who live in Horsley, and people who run businesses in the villages. By having that focus (just as my Grow Your Business exhibition has a focus) there’s a stronger pull for the people who actually engage with the aims of the group.

We created a plan. We thought carefully about the structure of the evenings, how much would be fair to charge. And we were realistic about how much we needed to invest in marketing – which clearly paid off! See below. Too many people try to start businesses up on pennies because they want to be earning money before they put anything in. Prudent perhaps, but I seriously believe we would not have received the response we did had I sent round some photocopied “Word Art” flyers.

We took design seriously. We got some great businesses at last night’s event. Why? Because the flyers and website didn’t look cobbled together, they looked like we meant business. Like it was worth bothering to leave a warm house and set out on a cold night to share a beer or two with some interesting people. In fact, we took the design so seriously that a couple of people thought that this was a franchised operation! (It’s not – it’s strictly not-for-profit.)

We created some compelling copy that focused on the reader. We thought about what their aspirations might be, what objections we’d need to overcome. And we used testimonials to add conviction.

We promoted – hard! We arranged to distribute 5,000 flyers in the local area – a combination of asking local schools and shops and some serious pavement pounding! We also left flyers on noticeboards and in village halls. And I set up an email distribution list that included some of my own contacts as well as asking others to forward it on so that it “went viral”.

We used online as well as offline media. We have a professional looking website, we tweeted about it. Next time we’ll probably use linked in as well to spread the word.

We thought about tipping points. It’s all about enticing the reader to get out of their armchair and into the pub. There’s one benefit right there! For others it was the beer, perhaps the promise of support from likeminded business owners or the fabulous speaker in the form of Karen Skidmore. I had also set up an online survey in December to find out what people really wanted which made it much easier to deliver what they wanted.

I can’t help thinking that if many small business owners marketed their own businesses as comprehensively as this, they would also find the outcome exceeded their expectations. But all too often it’s tempting to skimp on the professional design, the careful copywriting and the market research in favour of saving money and channeling everything through social networking.

What do you think?

in About us, Branding, Business Strategy, In The Studio This Week, Low Cost Marketing, Marketing, Networking