Business networking is an essential growth strategy to scale up your business and create a real impact on your bottom line. Finding a supportive network can help you find true value in your work, as you help your customers with your products and services, while making authentic connections.
Here, we share with you the most effective ways you can grow your network, build your brand, and put in the necessary work to scale up.
Promote other local businesses
As a thriving business, it’s easy to get committed to trying to topple your competitors. But in order to truly grow your network in a positive way, you have to give back by sending other local businesses referrals and promoting their services to others. It’s a simple way to send new leads their way, and get some back in return.
Be present at networking events
Whether you’re networking online or offline, you need to build your presence in varying networking communities to make sure people know what you’re doing. Whatever industry you’re in, it’s important to increase your visibility by attending conferences and trade shows. You can also find networking opportunities in LinkedIn groups, and on Twitter!
Follow up!
Your networking efforts won’t be worth much if you don’t follow up! Following up with your contacts cements trust, reputation, and solidifies your relationships. If you’ve sent out a proposal, send a follow-up email. Build your brand’s reputation by being persistent, and staying true to your word.
Build a good customer loyalty program
You build good loyalty programs not only because you want to retain customers—that’s not always your end goal—you build them because you also want to attract new customers. Building an attractive loyalty program gives great value to your customer base.
Leverage global platforms
It doesn’t matter whether you're running a small to mid-size business, global platforms are still a great avenue to develop your brand. Today, the growth of eCommerce has opened up countless opportunities to grow your business quickly. Finding a platform that can help you reach your full potential as a business will allow you to connect with more people, and more importantly, to the right markets.
Join Bartercard to grow your network
Bartercard is one of the most innovative platforms that can help grow your business! As an immense online marketplace, Bartercard gives you the opportunity to expand your business network and open your business to a wide range of customers. We network you with other brands, so you can reach numerous potential customers around the world. Grow your network and your business—join us today!
