Whether you are trying to get new customers to grow your business,
establish lucrative partnerships or even just get a job, it has always been
important to know the right people. Having good products, skills, or
qualifications, is all well and good, but unless you have a relationship with a
person at a company you want to do business with no one will ever take the time
to discover how great your products or skills really are.
With so many people and products competing for attention these
days the only way to break through all the marketing noise is to go to a
friend.
We all know this in our own lives when our first instinct is to
get on the phone and call a friend when we need something. It is so much more comforting to know we are
buying a critical service for our business from someone we know than an
anonymous web site. Hiring someone who
we already know, and trust, is far more preferable to taking a gamble with
someone we have never met, who sent in a resume or a pitchy brochure. It simply takes a LOT more effort from our
overworked lives to do the necessary research to ensure that the supplier or
job candidate is dependable.
This leaves business people or job candidates who don’t have those
critical friendships at the companies they want to do business with in the
cold. Advertising and direct mail have
become less effective. You’d stand as good a chance getting an interview for a
job by placing your resume into a black hole as filling out a job application
without being able to get through to the decision maker.
Unfortunately, all the new internet social media venues just make
things worse. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs are creating even more
noise. Whether you are a sales or marketing person trying to find customers or
a job seeker looking for a job it’s become a Herculean task to stand out and be
noticed.
Being
successful is all about knowing the right people, and podcasting is the most
effective tool there is for building relationships with the people you need to
know.
Podcasting to the rescue!
Podcasting pulls it all together. With a
voice message, you do not have to have expensive equipment or be dressed in
your best or feel uncomfortable in front of a camera. You can be in your PJ's
with rollers in your hair and still be able to record a podcast. Then you write
250 words or less about the topic of your recording. Attach your recording,
along with a picture that demonstrates your theme, save and publish to your
website, and send it out through all your social media.
Check out the latest statistics. Podcasting
is right up there with video now.( Podcasting has grown 105% since 2006 from 22% in 2006 to 45% in 2012. Likewise, the percentage of consumers indicating they have listened to an audio podcast has grown 163% from 11% in 2006 to 29% in 2012.) http://www.conversedigital.com/digital-strategy/podcasting-statistics-trends-future
Christine Till
The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress
www.marketingmentress.com
780-904-9557
To learn more about how you can successfully
build relationships with people who can help you with your success, contact
Christine Till, The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress at:
Twitter: @mktgmentress