Try To Market Your Online Business Offline By Networking Locally

Written by Andre on March 11, 2011 – 1:54 PM -

Networking locally is a great way to market your online business offline. There are numerous organizations, clubs, and groups that you can join and network with that will assist with your offline marketing. The chamber of commerce, meet up, women’s groups, even your local hobby clubs are good networking opportunities. Where ever your possible clients and customers “live” is where you should be, both online and offline.

Online business owners often live in a sort of vacuum not having much contact with the outside world, so finding a way to get out of your comfort zone will be good for you and your business. There are good reasons to network locally aside from the fact that it can be actually fun to do. Plus, you need to get out of the house and out from behind the computer to be a well rounded person. Many people are shy or intimidated by offline marketing especially face to face networking, but you need not be worried. Here are a few ways to break into offline marketing via networking.

Church — Yes, church is for worshipping, but you can also network at church. Most people do. They buy from church members, and patronize their congregants businesses and refer each other. This is perfectly acceptable to do and will in fact make you feel more a part of your community. There are churches of all stripes, so if you do not attend one right now, you can find churches that are liberal and conservative, it’s completely up to you.

Exercise class — Of course you should get to know people with whom you are sweating every day! When you get to know people and make friends with them they will want to tell their friends about you, so don’t be shy, and tell people what you do. Ask them what they do first to break the ice.

Join the PTA — Most local areas have Parent Teacher Associations of some sort. If you are a parent, or a grandparent, you can join your local PTA. Once you join, get involved. Usually they will offer several sponsorship activities every year from an advertising spot in the yearbook, to the newsletter, to placards at an event. Even if you do not join, you can usually still sponsor events at your local schools.

Try these ideas for icebreakers to start networking in order to market your online business offline and before you know it you’ll feel more comfortable for more powerful networking such as joining and participating in your local chamber of commerce.

To learn about some other ideas have a look at this no cost report, Quick Tips for Marketing Your Business Off line. if you are not marketing your business offline, you are missing out.