Where can I promote my small business?

There are literally thousands of places you can promote your small business, but the key is to quickly establish the most effective and the most cost efficient.

Business Networking

When I first started in business, one of the dads at school took me aside and told me I needed to start networking. Having come from a corporate life, I did network, but it turned out to be a very different experience when you are networking for your own small business.

I started off networking on a regular basis, if I wanted to I could have networked morning, noon and night. I started to collect business cards and enter them into an Excel spreadsheet, I was meeting hundreds of new people who were all trying to sell to each other. I quickly figured out there had to be more to networking than this. I soon realised that I was starting to see some of the same people on a regular basis and building relationships with those people. The more I chatted with them, the more I found out about their business and the more they found out about mine. These were the people who started referring clients to me and who I would send my clients to if they had a specific need. From accountants and solicitors to builders and florists, the range of people I added to my little black book was huge.

I then decided I needed to be much more focussed. Building these relationships was great, but I needed to be ‘more sniper and less scattergun’. I needed fewer, deeper relationships, rather than more, superficial relationships. That’s when I really found BNI. As a weekly meeting, it is a big commitment, but the relationships were far better quality and so much more meaningful. Some people find the accountability too much. But if you are serious about growing a successful, profitable business, accountability matters….. a lot!!!

If you want an invitation to a local BNI meeting, wherever you are in the world, just ask me. With over 10,800 chapters worldwide, there will be one near you!!!