So you have designed a great logo and now have your business cards. What do you do with them? Hand one out to every person on the planet you meet? Stick one on every card in a parking lot? Hang one on every door in the neighborhood? Only if you want to waste a lot of time and money.
Remember that business comes down to creating relationships with people. Why waste time trying to create a relationship with their car or door? And the bottom line of marketing is to create the situation where people come to you, because they see you as an expert in your field. So we don't start with spending a lot of money on advertising trying to create a brand or image. That will come in time.
You need to start with networking for two main reasons.
The first reason is that the fastest way to build a client base and get referrals is through word of mouth (the best kind). The second, and perhaps more important reason, is to get the feedback from people that will allow you to refine your business model and message before you start spending money on more expensive advertising options.
Word of Mouth
The best type of advertising in the world is having people referred to you by somebody they trust. That is going to take a long time if all you do is sit in your office and buy advertising. As a small business person you do not have the luxury of waiting for that to happen. That's where networking comes in.
A lot of people think that all you have to do is go to a networking function, shaking a lot of hands and collecting a bunch of business cards. Rarely will that get you many new customers. For example, imagine two people attending an event, taking a look around and deciding to divide the room in half. At the end of the event, they meet again to see who's collected the most business cards.
If you have been to any of these networking functions, you have probably met these people. But what did they accomplish? They just collected a lot of cards that will end up in a drawer or in the trash, or even worse yet, get scanned into a computer so that they can spam everyone they just met.
So why doesn't this work? A business card is just a piece of paper with some information on it. There was no relationship formed with the person the cards were exchanged with. This strategy is no different than going door to door and trying to sell widgets. You have not given the other person a reason to trust you, and therefore, no reason to do business with you or refer their friends to you.
You also have to accept that not everyone you meet can help you build your business or become your customer. They won't. Networking is like fishing with a net. You think about how to cast the net to optimize your chances of catching fish. You choose a promising spot, throw in your net and when you pull it in, you find a number of fish. The fisherman concentrates on casting his net, not on trying to catch one particular fish.
Your net is made of what you can teach your prospective customers. You net is the perception that you are an expert or leader in your field. Your net says that if someone has a problem, you are the one to fix it for them. Your net does not contain shiny products or services. That is for the fly fisherman. This takes a lot of practice, but you will know you are getting good at casting your net when people start asking for your business card, because they have a friend that you might be able to help.