On Monday we indicated the importance of balancing your approach to and strategies in networking: combining the benefits of social media networking and in-person networking activities.

There is tremendous power in a balanced approach, although the feedback we often get when talking to people about this balanced approached is along the following lines: “I really don’t have time to do both, which one should I focus on?”; “I hate having to be put on the spot in meeting other people”; and, “in-person networking takes time and money – both of which I’m short on….”

Before addressing these issues, first answer 3 questions:
1. Are you a product company or a service company?
2. Do you sell your products or services exclusively (or almost exclusively) online, or in person?
3. What is your customer demographic profile?

How you answer these questions doesn’t negate the importance of a combined approach, what it does do, however, is guide you on how you should allocate your online and offline time investment.

Keystones for your Networking Approaches:
1.Online Sales Focus – If you exclusively sell your products or services online, than you should invest a large portion of your time in online networking. (You should, however, supplement this by attending at least one conference or professional event per year, where you are likely to find your buyers or the type of people who are likely to buy from you.)

2.In-Person Sales Focus
If you do not sell your products or services exclusively (or perhaps not at all) online, then meeting people in person is the most powerful business development strategy. It better enables authentic relationship building, and people buy from (and will sell to others) people they like and trust.

3. Demographics
Demographics help further focus and refine your approach. For example, if your primary customer base is the Gen X and Gen Y generations, then more emphasis in online networking makes sense, as these generations are prone to (have been raised with) using social media.

4. On Time and Cost: Return on value trumps either.
Both online and offline networking take time, and ultimately how you spend your time equals money (or lack thereof). Whether offline networking costs significantly more than online marketing depends, as consider this: How much time you spend on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, and what is your return in business? And, the opportunity to build a network of colleagues who will support you and refer you, in addition to meeting prospects, is worth the investment to attend.

Social networking has “leveled the playing field” for small businesses, though it’s misguided to focus solely on an online approach (unless you are a solely a online service.) A balanced approach (in relation to the type of business you have and the demographic you serve) shows the highest return for most small businesses today.

Tags: The Networking Continuum: Balancing Online and Offline Approaches

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 at 9:04 am and is filed under Brand Building, Professional Growth & Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.