Networking
I’ve started a networking group in Oakville, Ontario where I live, two years ago. I used to be a member of a major networking organization a few years ago and was looking for a way to make the format work better. One of the things I discovered in the last few years is blogging, so I immediately built a blog for my networking group. This has proven to be the best advertising vehicle for both attracting new members and for promoting individual members’ businesses.

Here’s a story: in my group we have a patent lawyer, Camilla Nielsen. She’s originally from Denmark, and relocated to Oakville a few years ago. The firm she was with at the time did not have any online presence, so she started blogging on our group’s blog. After publishing only two articles, a firm from Germany contacted her after finding her articles in Google. Because of that she’s now working for that German firm, so can continue practicing both in North America and Europe.

Another member rebuilt her site using blogging technology and started writing about her work. Because of it she was contacted by a major US trade magazine and is now writing articles for the magazine.

I can go on and on.

Networking can certainly be a lucrative marketing activity, if done right and with the right kind of partners. I can certainly help you with starting a group, see below for more details.

Blogging
With RE/Max you probably get a corporate site, but I would suggest building your own blog-based site as well. Blog sites are 10x more effective in attracting qualified visitors than regular web sites. Starting a blog can be very easy, you can get a free blog at WordPress.com.

For best results you should pick a good domain name with relevant keywords in it, such as RealEstateKingstonTN.com (you can register this domain with BeaverWebHosting.com for $10 per year)
and have your blog redirected to that domain for $20 a year or less, I forget the exact figure.

To get the ultimate freedom, features, and search engine “juice” I recommend hosting your own blog. This would entail getting a hosting account with a hosting company, e.g. BeaverWebHosting.com for $4.99/month and having a webmaster (such as myself :-) install a blog for you. This is more affordable than you may think, if you’re interested I’ll send you my standard offer.

Social Media Networking
Are you using Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin for generating leads and referral partners? Once you’re on Facebook, for example, you can run pay-per-click adds that will target only your geographical area, for this you don’t even have to have any facebook “friends”. Same on Linkedin, but these places are really geared more toward creating connections and relationships with people you already know, and also their connections as well.

I have low-cost ($37 each) self-study training programs on CD/mp3/PDF to assist you in getting the most of these online resources without spending a lot of time trying to figure it out yourself. You can listen to the CD/iPod while driving to and from an open house/showing.

Email Marketing
I am assuming you have some sort of web site, but are you collecting email addresses from visitors? Email is still the #1 marketing channel, with the highest ROI.

Systems such as MadMimi are making it super easy to create nice looking, simple, but effective, email promotions, newsletters and drip campaigns. Best feature — it is free for accounts with fewer than 100 contacts, after that it’s a mere $8/month for up to 500 contacts.

Postcard Marketing
I use an online system called SendOutCards to stay in touch with my clients and contacts. I can send single cards or whole campaigns with a few clicks. Postcards start at 31 cents, plus regular postage. This is way easier, more convenient and cheaper than buying cards in bulk and handwriting them, even if you get your kids or granny to write them for you :-)

There is also a business opportunity with this system. You could sign up as a distributor and sign up all of your agents as accounts. You can then create cards for following up with clients, friends, etc and have all those cards automatically available to all your agents as well. If you sign up as a distributor I will add $50 to your postage account and also design up to three greeting card campaigns at no charge.

For example you can create a “campaign” greeting card to thank your clients on the anniversary of their purchase. You create a single greeting card and add a gift to it, say a $50 Starbucks card or a Home Depot, Walmart or other retail gift card. Once this is set up, all you need to do is add the new client’s name to the database and select the “campaign” and click done. The client will then automatically be sent the greeting card with the gift enclosed in the envelope 365 days later.

If you give me your business address I could send you a free information package, or you can go to GrowBizWithPostcards.com. I can create a gift account for you so you can try the system and send a few cards on me.

Lunch with your clients
I remember reading in a marketing book about a real-estate agent who got all of her business from having lunch with every single client on the anniversary of their purchase or sale. The clients would be reminded of their agent and would refer friends, family and colleagues to her.

Back to Better Business Networking - BBN
Since starting my own group in Oakville, other local businesses have approached me to help them out in starting a group, so that’s where the BBN idea came from. I am doing this profit-neutral, which means I only charge a modest amount for setting up and maintenance of such group blogs.

Each group receives a full-featured, unlimited-use blog site, such as OakvilleNetworking.com.
I pay for the domain registration and hosting. I maintain the site and make backups, etc.

I am currently offering a 2-hour training course for each new group to teach them about using the blog and basics of online marketing. Obviously, I can only provide this to local groups, but for people like you I have online training videos which are only accessible to members so they can learn at their own pace.

Each group also receives a free email marketing account with pre-written templates you can use to invite potential new members to join you.

Each group also gets a Twitter account and a Linkedin group set up, where every single blog post published by your members gets posted automatically to both Twitter and Linkedin. If you also create a Facebook group I will set it up for you as well.

All of this costs only $15/month for the whole group! This means if you have 20 members it would cost each member less than a dollar to have access to the blog and all the training. There is also a one-time installation fee of only $200 for the group. All fees are payable by PayPal subscription or by cheque.

Another option is a one-time payment of $600 (can be financed in 3 monthly payments of $200) and the site is yours forever, with no more monthly fees. You can still collect contributions from members to recover your cost, but I suggest that they be minimal, because one of the basic premises of this idea is that there are no membership fees. The site hosting and maintenance fees can be described as annual registration or account maintenance fee, and should be kept to $20 or less.

One more thing: if you choose to go for the $600 one-time fee, you also qualify for affiliate commissions if you refer me to other groups.

If you’re interested in any of this, please let me know, I’d like to break into the US market with this idea, and would assist you in any way I can. BTW, I am based in Ontario, Canada.

Please look me up on Linkedin and read the testimonials.

Hamilton mortgage agents Paul Smith and Malcolm Macdonald started their group in July of 2009. They meet every other Wednesday at Kelsey’s Restaurant, 200 Centennial Parkway North, Hamilton - (905) 573-6111.

If you have a business in Hamilton and would like to join the Hamilton Business Network please take a look at their Members Directory to see if your business category is open, if it is, fill out the application form and wait for a reply from Malcolm or Paul.

The first meeting of this group was held on Thursday, July 16 at Cora’s Restaurant, at 7 am. Several owners of Mississauga-based businesses were in attendance.

The group decided to meet every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. mortgage lender Richard Fournier is heading the group.

If you’re interested in joining the Mississauga Business Networking group, please check out their Members Directory to see it your business category is still open.

Membership is free. Remember, every group runs itself — there are no rules set in stone.

This group operates in Mississauga, Ontario.

A group of business owners in Oakville, Ontario started their independent networking group on April 30, 2009.

Their blog site was launched under the name of Oakville Business Network.

This group was founded by Mark Mulholland.

If you’re interested in joining this group, please check out their Members Directory first to see if your category is open.

Or contact Mark Mulholland at 905.331.3623

A group of business owners in Ancaster started their independent networking group in January 2009.

Their blog site was launched under the name of Ethical Network Group in March 2009.

This group was founded by Steve Jackson. If you’re interested in joining this group, please check out their blog site first to see if your category is open.

Steve Jackson
Send Out Cards
Independent Distributor #30882
905-297-7878

The Burlington/Hamilton independent business networking group was launched in November 2008. Their blog site BurlingtonBusinessNetworking.com was launched in March 2009.

The Oakville, Ontario independent business networking group was formed in the Summer of 2008 by a group of local business owners who were looking for a way to network, but were not happy with any of the current networking organizations.

The group grew quickly after their blog site OakvilleNetworking.com was launched.

Today they thrive with 30+ members.