Dawn Winder’s – ‘world of brands’ diary’

 

Dawn’s Diary – Through my fashion capital diary I will share with you my experiences and observations. I will give you tips on how you can use branding strategies to build your own personal brand identity, enabling you to increase your confidence and communication, which will strengthen your marketing and PR and sales efforts. Subscribe to the i-define living e-newsletter on www.i-define.co.uk for more information

 

 

 

We all know networking is important but how do we make it work?

 

I recently ran a workshop for people within the creative industries on ‘taking the work out of networking’

 

 

 

 

 

Two of the most popular issues were;

 

1)       How do I get clients from networking?

2)       How present myself without selling myself?

 

Over my next few diary entries I will be sharing with you some of the secrets to effective networking.

 

With more and more networking groups emerging, the pressure is getting greater than ever to ‘go out and network,’ but the reality of making it successful once you have been is more tricky. Let me explain…

 

The process from stranger to client is not easy or quick. The reality is

we have been fooled into thinking that networking is where we should go to get out business.

 

There are four steps to go through to get from business card to business your potential clients have to:

 

1. meet you
   
2. know your work
   
3. understand the benefits of your product or service
   
4. pay for your work

 

 

During the 4 steps there will be various clues that your potential client will be looking for in order that they become a client, repeat client then an evangelist. It is not always a straightforward process and you have to invest time and effort to make it work.

 

I suggest you consider the purpose of networking is not to go and find clients but to do the following:

 

• contribute & participate
  
• share knowledge & contacts

 

These are the rules of effective networking that will bring long-term benefits to you and your business.

 

Find out the benefits of personal branding for networking next time!

 

OK one thought for now:

 

If your network understands you, what you do, how you add value and what makes you unique to your industry, they will be able to promote it for you!

 

 

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