Month: January 2022

Selling Out 2022 Conferences: A Step-by-Step Action Plan For Business Networking

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

Selling Out 2022 Conferences: A Step-by-Step Action Plan For Business Networking

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Networking has always been the best way to empower your success to build win-win relationships. In 2022, if you are looking to jump start your business with a conference, we can help you get the best attendance for your event. Let us be your guide to building profitable relationships and finding new clients through network management.

Step 1: The Who, What, and Why

Since there has been such a long gap between events due to the pandemic, you may have to develop your event-planning skills. To do this, you may need to ask yourself a few questions to begin the foundation for your event.

First, you will need to identify relevant connections and business associates to invite to your conference.

Secondly, what are your business objectives? Do you wish to build relationships and create collaboration opportunities with some of your conference attendees? What is the ultimate goal for why you are holding the conference?

Once you decide on the who, what, and why, you can begin your planning tactics.

Step 2: Provide Company Information to Your Event Management Company

Once you have decided your purpose for your conference, it’s time to provide a comprehensive brief of your company to your event planner. Points to include in your brief:

  • Your target audience and how they feel about your company or brand, and how you want them to think, know, and feel about your company after the conference.
  • Your future goals for the company
  • What message you hope to get across at the conference
  • Any major changes to the company in the past 12-18 months

Step 3: Establish Your Timelines and Budget

The next step in the process is to define your budget for the conference and establish a timeline to plan and execute. You can also add value for your stakeholders by allowing them to have an influence on all aspects of your business and include them in your planning.

Step 4: Leverage Speakers and Attendees

Everyone involved with your conference wants it to be a success. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to attract as many attendees to the event as possible. This will increase your visibility for your company or brand. The common goal can be part of your overall marketing strategy and can motivate participants to promote your conference.

Encourage your speakers to use social media to promote their appearance and your event ahead of time. They could have content prepared and a great headshot image. No more content is needed in order to share with one click of a button. Because many speakers have a significant social media following, this can help spread the word about your conference.

You can also encourage your attendees to promote your event on social media. This can generate more interest in your event as you get closer to the date.

Step 5: Promote Your Conference

When you promote your event yourself, make sure your message is going to the right audience. To find your target audience, do some research and discover their age, gender, and what industry they work in. You can begin this process by taking a look at your last event’s attendees. You can also analyze your website traffic to get insight into your target audience.

There are also a few websites that you can utilize to promote your event. These include Eventful and 10 times.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help you with your business development and optimize your networking skills to find new clients and build relationships. We can show you how to make your business profitable through networking. Contact us today to get started.

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5 Things to Look For When Starting Your Own Online Community

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

5 Things to Look For When Starting Your Own Online Community

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The benefits of having an online community for your business or brand are infinite. You can optimize your networking, create collaboration opportunities, and build win-win relationships when you have the best online community possible.

In this article, we can show you how to build an online community that can grow your business.

Define Your Community

The first thing you must do overall is determine who you want in your online community. There are four main categories of what defines a sense of community.

  • Membership – This is a sense of belonging to a group with similar interests.
  • Influence – Members should feel like they have some power and influence on the group.
  • Fulfillment of Needs – Group members should be rewarded in some way for their participation in the group. This is how to add value to your relationships for members being part of the group.
  • A Shared Emotional Connection – You know your relationship strategy has been successful when there is a shared emotional connection in your community.

Find the Right Social Platform

You can grow your business with LinkedIn, Facebook, or any of the other social media platforms. One of the best advantages of building your community on these platforms is that your online community can be easily discovered by new users looking for communities like yours or who are already engaging in similar communities.

You can also create your own branded community platform. One of the major advantages to this is the ability to control all your content, branding, and the entire experience. Since you are the one controlling this platform, it will be free from advertising and other distractions that occur on the popular social media platforms.

Identify the Stakeholders

The relationships with your stakeholders are extremely important. Define your stakeholders through the following categories: marketing, sales, support, and product. You will also need to know what kind of value your stakeholders are looking for. This will help you know which influence and benefits your stakeholders can bring to your community.

Build Engagement With The Community

When your online community is engaged, you will have better results. There are a few ways you can build engagement with your online community.

  • Create a Daily Theme – If you create a theme for each day of the week, it is a creative way to keep the community focused on a specific topic. It can also encourage participation from community members.
  • Ask Questions -You can encourage conversations and engagement if you ask specific questions to the group.
  • Create a Title For Community Members – If you give your members a name, it gives them a sense of identity. For example, an online brand known as The Budgetnista refers to its community members as Dreamcatchers and addresses them this way. This helps your members feel like they are a part of something special.
  • Share Exclusive Content – Post content that your members cannot get anywhere else.

Grow the Community

Once you have your online community established, you need to expand it. The best ways to promote your community are:

  • Send out emails to newsletter subscribers and existing customers with a call-to-action to join the group.
  • Add a link to your business website.
  • Promote it on appropriate social media platforms.
  • Encourage members to invite others into the community.

Promotora Systems Inc. can empower your success with our many coaching programs that can help with all your business development needs including building profitable relationships in your online community. Contact us today to get started.

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Are Small In-Person Events the Future of Business Networking?

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

Are Small In-Person Events the Future of Business Networking?

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The coronavirus pandemic managed to obliterate gatherings both large and small for nearly two years. Now that in-person events are returning, some protocols will need to be addressed. To prevent the further spread of the virus, many companies are looking to have smaller, more intimate networking events. What many don’t realize is that you can still grow your business by developing relationships during these smaller events.

Keep It Less Than 100 People

For the foreseeable future, many people will prefer to attend these smaller, more intimate events. Besides the obvious health concerns, people want the chance to have meaningful interactions with other attendees. It is suggested to keep the number of attendees less than 100.

Have A Strategy

It is best to have a specific goal at your event for both your company and your attendees. Define what it is you are trying to accomplish with this event. Are you looking to find new clients, have quality connections, or create strategic partnerships?  Choose your invitees based on your goals. You can add value to your network when you choose the correct attendees for your event, as your guests receive this benefit, too, and no one’s time is wasted.

Avoid Hybrid Events

During the various pandemic lockdowns worldwide, Zoom meetings became the trend in business. This was to accommodate people who could not attend in person. The issue with this event type is that people on Zoom are not really included in the loop but are more like observers. Now that in-person meetings are coming back, it is best to avoid these hybrid events.

Make It Memorable

You will need to make your event something special and memorable for your attendees. After all, this time was isolating and lacking in real human connections, so people need a way to really connect again. The standard happy hour in a bar isn’t going to impress anyone anymore. Think of something to make your event stand out. Can you incorporate a theme, unique venue, or special guest to feature at your event? If you can find something to make your event worthwhile, you are sure to generate interest.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help small business entrepreneurs develop relationships to grow their businesses. We can show you how to make your business profitable through networking. Contact us today to get started.

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Meetings of the Future: Virtual Meetings

Posted on by Adrianne Phillips

Meetings of the Future: Virtual Meetings

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The coronavirus pandemic greatly impacted the business world. The frequent lockdowns around the world forced most workers to stay home. As a result, virtual meetings took precedence to keep worldwide commerce moving forward. In 2020 alone, Zoom saw an increase in users to nearly 300 million.

For many companies, virtual meetings are the best way to continue their business without the interference of any external factors. This appears to be the best way for these companies to continue networking events, find new clients, create collaboration opportunities, and build win-win relationships.

The following is a list of virtual meeting types that are increasing in popularity in the business world.

Virtual Reality Meetings

Virtual reality (VR) is where attendees are transported via headsets to a digital world with others instead of attending an in-person meeting or even a conference on Zoom, FaceTime, or Skype. The participants have numerous options for their VR experience, including customized shared office spaces and the ability to create their own avatars. Each year, this VR technology is becoming more accessible and affordable. In the near future, look for VR headsets to become as common as the smartphone is today.

Other Types of Virtual Meetings:

Business Meeting – This is still the most popular form of virtual meeting. It basically uses a video call to replace the traditional business phone call. In this meeting type, all participants wear headsets and enter the video live stream.

Conference – Conferences involve more people. It is similar to a Zoom meeting except that it is much more interactive. Participants can choose customized avatars while the host sets up the meeting.

Remote Collaboration – This type of VR meeting is quite different from the others. Besides having a VR conference, meeting participants can actively complete their tasks online during the meeting. There is no limit to the number of participants you can have working on your collaboration, and they can be located anywhere worldwide. This digital environment allows for great creativity and innovation.

Virtual Workspaces – These are similar to remote collaboration but on a much larger scale. This is the ideal setup if most of your workforce is remote. This virtual workspace can also be like a traditional office break room, where your employees can chat, make plans, and share ideas.

Promotora Systems Inc. can help set your company up with these new VR meetings and facilitate bookings with relevant connections and leads. We can also provide your company with coaching programs and a business development strategy to help grow your business. Contact us today to get started.

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7 Tips for Networking Online

Posted on by Arif Raza

7 Tips for Networking Online

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We know networking is important for business, but we don’t always know how to network effectively online. The key is to use your current network and grow those relationships, but that’s easier said than done. This week we’ve put together 7 tips to help you network more effectively online.

#1: Do an online audit

Ensure your social media accounts are current and that they show the information that you want to present to the world. You are your own brand, and potential new contacts are going to check you out online. An audit and, if necessary, an edit of your web identity will help you make the impression you want once you get started with online networking.

#2: LinkedIn is your friend

LinkedIn is a great tool to help you grow your network. The free version is great, but if you want all the bells and whistles, then you’ll want to invest in the premium version. This small fee each month will give you even more access and information about the people you want to connect with. If you set aside a few minutes each day to share content and create meaningful connections, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your network will grow.

#3: Participate in virtual events

There are tons of online communities that do virtual meetups, such as a morning coffee or happy hour. These events are typically free to join and give you an opportunity to meet people online in a stress-free environment using Zoom or another video conferencing platform. While these meetups don’t allow for the same level of intimacy as in-person events, it is a good alternative, especially if the people you are looking to network with are outside of your city or state.

#4: Participate in online chats

Facebook and LinkedIn have many groups you can join that will allow you to network with hundreds, even thousands, of people you wouldn’t have the opportunity to network with in-person. A simple search on the platforms will populate a list of groups that might be of interest to you. Just search out the groups with people in your career field or a topic you are interested in, and your options for networking will be limitless.

#5: Reconnect with your current network

While you are busy building new connections, don’t forget about your current ones. You will want to keep those connections fresh so that they can help introduce you to their network. Always be looking for opportunities to help people within your current network. This will show them that you aren’t just interested in what they can do for you, but also what you can do for them to help them grow.

#6: Take your time

Building your network is a marathon, not a sprint. You will want to take your time forming connections and nurturing them. This is an ongoing process and not something that you’ll be able to accomplish in just a few days. Take the time to get to know your connections and give them an opportunity to get to know you.

#7: Don’t wait to get started

Start focusing on growing your network now. Since we know it takes time to cultivate a relationship, you’ll want to start making those connections. Online networking makes getting started a breeze; all you have to do is create a profile and reach out to a few people you know. As you form connections with people you already know online, you’ll start seeing more and more people you’d like to connect with. So, the sooner you get started, the better.

These are just a few tips to help you network effectively online. There are many different approaches you can take, but it’s important to remember that forming genuine relationships with people in your network takes time and effort, so make sure you are ready to make that commitment. If you need help getting started, contact us and we can help.

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