Late last year when I realised I needed to actually DO SOME MARKETING for my business or forever be doomed to the wasteland of companies that DON’T DO MARKETING, I called a dear friend, the amazing Sophie Blue who also runs a PR consultancy.
“Sophie - I need to get some new clients and have no idea where to start.”
Call me dumb but I had had this client (and several others) for over ten years (pretty much unheard of in the PR world) and had been happily ensconced in doing their day-to-day work, head down. Idiot.
When you run a small business, little things mean a lot. Like clients. Many of my clients would have been overlooked or given a lean service had they been with a big agency but with Bay PR, they were treated like royalty. “Big fish in a small pond”, as the saying goes.
However, silly me, I forgot I was actually running a business and not working for said client for the past eleven years.
Sophie recommended I “get out there” and “do some networking”.
Sounded exhausting and also scary. Meeting new people, making polite conversation and swapping business cards. Yuk. Would rather be home on my sofa with a glass of chardy and a Sex in the City re-run.
“Where shall I go?” I asked Sophie, feeling like a failure before I’d even started. Images of being lost and lonely in a crowded room of strangers began to roll into my doom-laden mind.
“Hop online and have a look at Eventbrite or the Chamber of Commerce,” she said cheerily.
So I did. I went along to meet-up at the Coogee Chamber of Commerce as I live in Coogee and my office is in Randwick so it was a nice, easy start. I met some great people including the wonderful Edward Zia who has since introduced me to his Meetup group.
I’ve also been along to the NSW Chamber of Commerce events which are also fantastic – and guess what – I even bumped into Sophie. I’m not sure if my networking venture is going to lead to new clients but I’m actually having fun meeting people and sharing information and ideas along the way. And surely, that’s what networking is all about?!