Some things just don’t change. As we enter into the new year and evaluate where to spend our time, energy and money, the #1 marketing strategy with the highest return continues to be personal contact.
One of my client’s mentioned to me a while back that, back in the 80’s, his large firm paid a healthy sum of money (well over $100K) to a marketing research firm to evaluate where they got the best rate of return. Overwhelmingly, the answer was personal contact.
Today, that answer is still the same.
So how are you leveraging “personal contact” for your business?
It is your best way of building relationships that will pay off – through lunch dates, winning seats to your favorite athletic team, volunteering at your favorite non-profit, fraternizing with other professionals in industry/trade organizations, or even social networking.
Here are some great resources, stats and support to help you leverage the #1 marketing strategy:
Newsletters, Emails And Coffee Dates: Win Business By Going Old-School by Dorie Clark, Contributor to Forbes.com
104 Fascinating Social Media & Marketing Stats by Business2Community.com
9 Benefits of Business Networking by Kim Baird of AmazingBusiness.com
Why You Hate Networking by Susan Adams at Forbes.com (note the last paragraph about attorneys…maybe not true but interesting, nonetheless)
In conclusion, taking an online/offline approach to your marketing will win you the greatest ROI (return on your investment) with marketing. That will include some strategic online marketing (like LinkedIn, Avvo, email marketing and blogging) along with offline marketing (like business networking, coffee dates and maybe even magazine advertising).
