Professional networks and marketing without advertising

One of my deepest interests is professional networks – how groups of independent professionals coalesce to serve clients. I’ve written about professional networks in both of my books, and this will be a central theme of one of my future books. Future Exploration Network is my own implementation of a professional network, in which we bring together global best-of-breed consultants and thinkers as required for specific client projects around the world.

One of the more interesting and successful professional networks I’ve seen is Connect Marketing in Australia, led by the energetic Carolyn Stafford. This started from a series of networking breakfasts for marketing professionals. It has now grown to a national network of professionals, with Connect providing clients with introductions to appropriate professionals, a series of packaged offerings, and the ability to create ad-hoc teams for specific projects. While Connect focuses on the small to medium size sector, it also does work for some top global brands.

Carolyn, as part of her own very successful promotion efforts, has written a book, Small Business, Big Brand, that provides 33 marketing tips for business, together with a wealth of case studies. There is also a mini version of the book with just 5 tips, which Carolyn has kindly allowed me to put on my blog – you can download it for free here. You can also purchase the physical book here. The downloadable mini version includes a case study on Future Exploration Network on how we promoted the Future of Media Summit 2006, titled “Stop wasting your money on ADVERTISING”.

This section of the ebook, including the Future Exploration Network case study, is below.

Stop wasting your money on ADVERTISING

Ouch ! Advertising agencies will hate me for this one.

Think back to the last time you watched television. What was the last advertisement you saw? Did it inspire you to get off the couch and buy whatever it was being advertised? Maybe you didn’t see the ad because you were channel surfing or in the kitchen? Do you even watch TV ? I really don’t believe all money spent on advertising is wasted, particularly if it’s of the online variety. My main point here is that the traditional ways of advertising (TV , print and radio) no longer cut it on their own.

In the past when consumer choice was limited, many brands were built on the power of advertising on TV. But over time the power of the television advertisement has been eroded by new media. You only have to take your lead from the big guys to see how major organisations such as Channel Nine, News Limited and Fairfax have embraced the internet. Channel Nine and MSN . Channel 7 and Yahoo. Even YouTube has a big media partnership.

All of this is, of course, is great news for you, because you probably don’t have the big budgets needed to produce and air the stuff anyway. If you’ve tried, and tired, of the old ways of advertising and they’re not working, start looking for new ways to market your business.

If you are still committed to traditional advertising methods, here are a few tips to make your ads work:

• Make sure you have an unbelievably compelling offer in the first place

• Get specific on your target markets and advertise in the niche media your customers read, watch or listen to

• Get a knock-out headline (70% of your effort should be spent on this alone)

• Write compelling copy that is response driven and incites action NOW!

• Include coupons, website addresses, 1300 numbers and more

• Test a few small ads with different headlines then measure which one is getting the best response, and only then run some bigger ads

• Use at least four other marketing tactics (such as google adwords, editorials, tele-marketing or direct mail) to work in tandem with your advertising.

Case study 02

Future Exploration Network & Ross Dawson

Ross Dawson is a globally recognised business strategist and authority on the future of technology and business. He is a best selling author and international keynote speaker.

Ross is a firm believer that there are plenty of ways to market your business without using ‘old hat’ advertising techniques. His ‘Future of Media Summit’ was a highly successful, high profile, sell-out event that relied on a whole

host of marketing activities other than advertising.

So how did he market it? He produced an enticing brochure and mailed it to his highly targeted data-base. He formed alliances with more than 20 other companies, industry associations and suppliers to market the event to their clients via printed invitations and on their websites. He invited media identities and high-profile industry experts to be involved on the panel discussions (thus ensuring him very strong media coverage both before and after the event). He built a knock-out website and ran a series of email campaigns and got blogging about the event. He also offered a free ground-breaking report available in print format and online.

“The summit itself was just the beginning of our marketing efforts and it really positioned us as the global experts in the future trends for online media,” said Ross. As a consequence Ross and his team have become the “go-to” organisation for comment on trends and issues. “The response to the summit was overwhelming. Within two months of the event we had over 20,000 downloads of our ‘Future of Media’ report – and it has generated online discussion in five different languages across more than 20 countries. We’ve had media coverage all over the planet, and we keep on getting interview requests,” said Ross.

Ross says his two biggest marketing success factors were the report and his own blog. “The information we provided in our reports, on our website and in my blog were invaluable and gave real insights into the industry. People were hungry for it,” he said.

Down to Action

Did you evaluate the success of your last advertising campaign or did you just assume it worked? Look at advertisements that have motivated you to action. What was it about that advertisement that inspired you to purchase their product or service? Now, find an expert to critique your last ad (a copywriter would be a good start) and then get them to completely re-write the ad. Then brainstorm a range of other marketing tactics that might work alongside it or instead of it.