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If you attend a Chamber, networking or other meeting where a guest speaker is presenting or some other important staging is being offered, here is a great way to use your time to drive traffic to your website without having to do any promotion of your own. All you have to do is take detailed notes on the guest speaker’s presentation and make the notes available to meeting attendees as well as to those who could not attend. This tip builds off the fact that most people are inherently lazy and usually will not do what is in their own best interest; so if you can do the work for them, they will visit your website to access the information and you have an opportunity to get these visitors into your sales funnel.

How this works

In your recap take particular note of key presentation points, cited resources (websites, books, reports), and other little gems of knowledge. Bring a digital camera to capture event images to add interest to your recap and to break up the text.  To further sweeten your deal; conduct an interview with the speaker and  pull additional information not presented during the discussion.

What’s in it for you?

Now that you have your recap completed and uploaded to a landing page on your website, contact the event organizer to let them know about your package and ask the planner to inform members about your recap coverage.  They will likely do it because the information is valuable, free and promotes the organization.  Be sure to include links to the speaker and event organizer websites; afterall, they are your partners in this and should get some publicity.

In addition to general exposure from the traffic flood headed your way you can and should use this as an opportunity to grow your mailing list.  Consider offering a free special report, audio seminar or ebook to incent visitors to join your mailing list.

Stop looking at networking events as business card swap parties and you will win, big time!

—————–

John Easton is a recovering corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Through his company, Eastonsweb Multimedia, John creates video, web and multimedia tools to help businesses turn “Browsers” into “Buyers” .  Get a Free Profit Boost by downloading the special report, The Definitive Guide to Explosive Website Performance (Click Here).

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Have you struggled to get new business through your Chamber of Commerce membership? I bet you attend all of those networking events only to find that everyone seems to be selling but no one buying.  You hand out cards but you get few call backs right? If this sounds like you then you are making one of the most common mistakes in getting new business through the chamber.  Don’t feel bad most members make this mistake. In fact, I used to be one of the biggest offenders.  Let me share a little secret with you that changed the results I now get from the chamber and has me excited to attend once frustrating networking meetings.

The secret that no one told you…are you ready?

Immediately stop thinking of your chamber as place to make a sale.  No, your chamber is one of the best opportunities to find people excited about delivering valuable referrals at no cost to you.  Arguably there is no larger gathering of motivated people in your area who sell to your target audience. Using the chamber to build a team of alliance partners rather than pitching individual members will immediately and phenomenally change your prospecting results. Below is the criteria you should use to select a suitable lead sharing alliance partner.

1. Partners should sell to your target audience
2. Partners should not sell a competing product or service
3. Partners should sell a product or service that compliments yours
4. Partners should be hard wired (motivated) to give and receive leads
5. Partners should be referable; worthy of your lead hand offs

Your assignment…yeah, there is a little work.

Before the day is out I want you to make a list of 5 industries that compliment your own. If you are a painter then one likely compliment would be a realtor. From here I want you to target 5 chamber events to attend over the next 4 weeks.  Set as a goal to come away with 2-3 contacts who fit the alliance partner requirements above.  Finally I want you to set up a meeting with each of your partners to outline how your lead sharing alliance will work (educate your partner on who your best customer is, share prospect “need indicators” for your partner to watch for, detail referral incentives, share business cards or other sales materials, etc.). Trust me with a focused effort on a strategy like this you will have more customers than you know what to do with and your chamber could go from being a time wasting money pit to your primary source for new business.  Commit to my one month formula and come back to share your results.

—————–

John Easton is a recovering corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Through his company, Eastonsweb Multimedia, John creates video, web and multimedia tools to help businesses turn “Browsers” into “Buyers” .  Get a Free Profit Boost by downloading the special report, The Definitive Guide to Explosive Website Performance (Click Here).

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We All Want More Website Traffic.

You have worked hard filling your website with just the right mix of content and tools to pull in new and repeat visitors, haven’t you?  You deserve more traffic, don’t you? Well, your local Chamer of Commerce is a good place to tap some of that Goole search traffic.

How Google Works.

Google ranks your site’s pages in part based on the number of links pointing to your site and the rank Google assigns those referring sites. In the search engine world such links are referred to as backlinks. Your local Chamber of Commerce is one way to secure an important backlink.

If you are a chamber member be sure to add your site’s address as a hyperlink in their member directory.  Because your Chamber probably does a good bit of work optimizing it’s site for search engines, it almost certainly has a strong page rank which increases the value of the backlink to your site.

Other chamber backlink opportunities include,

1. Online advertisements (make sure to include text links)
2. Sponsorship listings
3. Board member listings

Lets Get Started.

As I always say, your chamber works to the extent that you work it. Thanks for the visit and let us know how this strategy works for you.

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Who would think these two would make a good couple; Twitter, super popular low touch online community and your local Chamber of Commerce, old school community where face to face interaction is the rule.  Well let me tell you the two neighborhoods are not as far apart as you might think. 

The next time you meet and greet at a Chamber event instead of passing out business cards like some over cafinated postal worker, ask the people you meet for their Twitter id and propose a reciprocal Twitter exchange. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service, which allows users to send and read other users’ updates or tweets and registering as someone’s “follower” is the prerequisite to receiving their tweets.

For each person engaged in this way you immediately gain the reach of their extended Twitter network and them yours. Here’s how the story might unfold. You approach someone who seems friendly enough.  After exchanging business cards, elevator pitches and of course Twitter id’s your friend retrieves his Blackbery from its holster and starts typing a note that reads, “At Charlotte Chamber event meeting with the most interesting person (that’s you).  You folks should consider following him”.  In minutes your Blackberry buzzes and you see that you have 30 new people following your Twitter updates. 

At your average Chamber event there are only 15 to 30 minutes reserved for networking; just enough time to connect with 2 or 3 people at best but a single connection with a fellow Chamber Twitterer exponentially increases your level of exposure. If the person you speak to is not a Twitterer, consider your talk a great opportunity to introduce a groovy (did I just say that?) new business building tool. One quick tip here; be sure to add your Twitter id to your business card and other marketing collateral materials.

See, the Chamber can be cool too… 

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Sure you can attend the many networking and business events at your local Chamber but why not facilitate.  Being an MC at a Chamber event is a great way to introduce your company to prospective buyers and build a loyal following that can lead to a ton of new business down the road.

When you simply attend Charlotte Chamber events, your ability to meet new people is limited.  Let’s do the math.  If the event lasts 60 minutes, 30 minutes are dedicated to the main program; 15 or so minutes go to meal particulars which leaves just 15 minutes to meet and greet.  If my math is off sue me but the bottom line is you can only speak to a couple of people in the time allotted for networking.

Contrast this scenario with your role as MC where all eyes and ears are on you as you tell the group about your business just prior to introducing the day’s speaker.  If your presence is needed long term, as in the case of a panel discussion; your bond with the attendees will strengthen with each intelligent question you pose. Now if the Chamber webcasts a video of the event then your exposure increases exponentially.

As I am so fond of saying, “the Charlotte Chamber works if you work it.” Have you ever MC’d a chamber event?

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Since everyone at Customer Flypaper is talking email newsletters of late, I thought I might as well jump in.  Speaking opportunities along with well connected members make the Charlotte Chamber or any Chamber for that matter a great place to win new subscribers for your email newsletter.  Below are several opportunities that can, if approached correctly, lead to a subscriber flood.

1. Networking Events: If you attend networking events, why not make the most efficient use of your time by inviting those you meet to subscribe to your newsletter? Offer a free gift to sweeten the pot (free e-book, whitepaper or teleseminar mp3).
2. Speaking Engagements:  Should you participate in panel discussions, forums and other Chamber speaking engagements, tactfully solicit subscribers for your newsletter.  One way to do this is to organize a drawing where the participants register for your newsletter by submitting a business card for a chance to win a gift (audio book, Starbucks gift card, etc.).
3. Board participation:  At first look you might wonder why waste your time serving on a Chamber board but this is were the Chamber’s power elite congregate and by having a few of these influencers on your list you can reach hundreds.  Once a member agrees to join your subscriber ranks, ask your fellow associate to forward each issue of your newsletter to others in their contact sphere.

No matter the Chamber event you choose to attend or the project teams you work with, the bottom line is to always ask your acquaintances to subscribe to your newsletter.  Just one more way to beat the Chamber business card exchange blues.

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What should I do next?

Now that we have that pesky value-proposition stuff out of the way, here are a few tips for you to consider when submitting your event.

1. Link out:  Add links within your event description to customized landing page containing detailed event information
2. Add a video or other media to your landing page to give prospects a sense for what they might get by attending
3. Turnaround time:  Time your event post properly, as the Chamber staff will take about 2 days or so to process your request and post your video
4. Add the event link to your marketing materials (website, newsletter, blog, twitter, etc) to stimulate interest

John Easton, my blog partner prepared the video above so that you can kick the proverbial tires.  Have a look and good fishing.

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Let me give you ths short version of what could be a long story.   BusinessFirst is a joint program between the City of Charlotte and the Charlotte  Chamber where subscribing members are profiled to determine specific pain points then matched with resources to help solve their particular problem.  The Chamber’s membership and resource base is so wide that there are few problems that BusinessFirst can’t help solve.

I have witnessed companies with cash flow issues, zoning problems, construction, human resource and  marketing challenges all helped through the BusinessFirst program.  The keys to engaging BusinessFirst are to first step up and contact the program manager (Ashley Hendrick) and then take some time to define in detail your business’s issue, clearly articulating the outcome you want to realize.

As I have been saying, success through the Chamber requires more than handing out business cards at networking functions.  Member success comes from having a thorough understanding of the available opportunities and forming a plan to make use of the programs that will work best with your organization.

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My blog partner Kristina is always going on about the importance of good public relations as a key ingredient in a successful marketing strategy.  I believe that I am accurate in saying that most Charlotte Chamber members overlook PR opportunities within the Chamber.  From print to web, the Chamber has a host of media properties just itching to feature your company and content including:

1. Ventures Charlotte Magazine: Quarterly print publication
2. eVentures Newsletter (click here): Monthly email newsletter
3. Chamber Blog (click here): Daily musings on Charlotte Chamber developments and general Charlotte business topics
4. Chapter and Council Communications (click here):  Monthly communications distributed to the members of local area chapters and industry councils. 

The main advantage of seeking Chamber media attention is targeting.  With three to four thousand member businesses, the Chamber audience is a perfect place to go fishing.  You can pitch a news story about your business or an educational article to the editors of the various print publications and position yourself as an expert in a guest blog post. 

Your feature opportunities are limited only by your creativity. Just remember the golden rule of PR that you must tailor your story pitch to the publication’s audience, answering the question in the editor’s mind, “why should I care?”

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Let’s face it the Charlotte Chamber and related organizations need to make a buck and event sponsorships make sense but what’s in it for you?  If you work them right event sponsorships can be a gateway to new business relationships. 
 
Notice I say relationships here.  Get the thought out of your mind that you are going to setup your fancy tradeshow display, hand out some brochures and a contract will be inked immediately.  This doesn’t work with networking relationships, nor will it work here.  To influence a purchase decision, you must hit prospective customers with your message and brand multiple times; so sponsorships can be a very strong introduction if executed properly.
 
Okay, so now we know what not to do. Below are several things you should consider in executing your Charlotte Chamber sponsorship strategy.

1. Make your talk educational:  Pick a problem that your business solves making sure it’s one  that keeps your prospects awake at night. Focus the day’s presentation on creative ways your business’s solves this problem.  Hand out sales sheets detailing several solutions.
2. Mailing list:  While you should ask each individual you meet that day if it’s okay to add them to your mailing list (asking is a must for avoiding spaming prospects in the future), one sure fire way to get everyone to opt in is to give something cool away using a business card drawing.  Let everyone know that by placing their card in the jar, they get your free newsletter and a chance to win your new back scratcher or whatever your giveaway is.
3. Your talk:  At these events title sponsors usually have an opportunity to deliver a short presentation to the group. I have had great success with this opportunity by entertaining the crowd with a contest.  I offer to give $100 to anyone who has a business issue that in 15 seconds I cannot dig a solution from my company’s offerings.  I usually pick three people and we have a lot of fun but more importantly, I and my business are always remembered.

Now dust off your company name tag and call your Chamber sponsorship coordinator.  What are your experiences with Chamber sponsorships?

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