Capturing the Stories (Meetup Angel 16-08-2007)

[Servane Mouazan]

Once again, the Global Tribal Meetup in London Angel was full of insights, tips and referrals. A warm bunch of connectors in a cold English garden!
Among the bright ideas, one recurrent theme was “capturing the stories”. For marketing purpose, for monitoring and evaluation purpose, for social purpose, etc…

(Our next Global Tribal meetup will be on 6th September: Smartnetworking event; London. FREE!!! http://smartnetworking.eventbrite.com )
To maximise the impact of your website:

Make use of images and keep the text to a strict minimum.

Think of who you want to target: your clients, beneficiaries or people who can spread the word about you to their own clients and networks?
Ask yourself: is my navigation process clear and obvious, also for non internet savvy people?
Once people have visited your website, do they have a good reason to come back? Are there things to download, freebies, regular news, tips or opportunities?

The 7 steps to selling something and establishing meaningful relationships with your customers:

Celia kindly shared her “7 steps to a sale” concept.
1- Establish, nurture relationships by informing your network about what you are up to, sharing pictures, stories, information about you. Not too much, but regularly…
2- Update pictures, data’s, new material, and share them as well.
3- Gradually grow your database and keep up with your network’s contact details
4- Offer a visual taster, a sample, a freebie via your website.
5- Can you showcase your product or service for free? Put up an event, a teleconference, a little seminar and be the main speaker.
6- Contact your local press, radio… spread the word to a wider audience.
7- When your customers have been satisfied with your product or service, let them do your PR, they are your best references!

How to attract attention:

We had performing artists among us at the last meetup and one of the topics was about getting to the main stage of a festival once you had done all the smaller ones…

Some of the tips are perfectly adaptable to other entrepreneurs:

Gather credentials, quotes and visual material every time you deliver your services or showcase your products.
Deliver your services in different contexts, different places, in environments you wouldn’t immediately think of.
Create new content, new energy, get out of your comfort zone, dare to package your services differently. Be bold! What would be really exciting?

One recurrent dilemma was the issue of finding a niche market and the fear to miss out on clients: the advice was Market narrowly, practice broadly… It provides you with focus, context and helps your customers to identify and benchmark you. Nothing prevents you to get customers elsewhere incidentally!

Quick tips:

Apparently, the golden price when selling things on the internet is £49.99 or $49.99 or €49.99.

Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate and capture the stories (http://www.24weeks.com/)

Quick web links:
RSA coffee House challenge: to pitch your odea over a coffee and getting money to get started! http://www.coffeehousechallenge.org/

Chris Cardell Marketing tips: http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk/

Tubetorial to boost your google rankings : http://www.cardellmedia.co.uk/

David Parrish, t-shirt and suits: Marketing tips for people in creative business. Free ebook: http://www.davidparrish.com/page.asp?pgid=125&pgsid=33