Show notes

Episode 126 - Meeting up face to face, pros, cons, for it, against it.

Esther

Hello and welcome to the Monday Morning Marketing Podcast.I'm Esther.

 

Melanie

And I'm Melanie.

 

Esther

And today we're talking about meeting up face to face -pros, cons, for it, against it. What do you think?

 

Melanie

Well, we've all been fighting to see each other for a longtime now, haven't we? Yes, unfortunately, you couldn't make it to the event,but a few weeks back now, there was a good few of us who met up at theKickstart Dublin event and it was really the injection of energy that I neededto get myself back out there again. So I know your movements are limited at themoment, Esther, but not forever.

 

Esther

No. And I can still enjoy things online as they are a lot ofpeople. I'm not the only one in the situation who are vulnerable and can't meetup in person at the minute, like you said. But a lot of events are stillrunning hybrid. And obviously at the minute, Melanie and I are talking aboutevents that are interesting to us. So like marketing events and events where wecan learn more about our industry. But it's not limited to that. I mean,there's a lot of craft fairs that I see opening up again now, and some of themare actually struggling to sell the table space. A lot of people think thateverybody finds me online now. Everybody buys from me online. So why botherhaving a table or space at one of these events? What would you say to peoplelike that to people who should go to promote their stuff, their product?

 

Melanie

Well, it works for some people, Esther. I completely agree.It does work for some people. And over the last couple of years, we've beenforced to use that as the only medium to reach our audience. But even then,even when we were forced to do stuff online, we didn't isolate it, many of us,to just one avenue. We didn't just use Facebook or just use Instagram. A lot ofpeople also did online speaking. They also did, most people might not have evenbothered trying TV ads or radio ads or an article in the newspaper until thepandemic. And they spread their fingers across these other platforms becausethey knew that social media in isolation wasn't enough. And now we've got theopportunity to go and meet people face to face again and connect on a wholedifferent level all over again for those of you that can actually do it. Andthe reason why I think meeting people face to face is so crucial is that youmeet them, not just when they're on. A lot of people I've met over the last fewyears were on when I met them for the first time. And I felt like I was beingsold to a lot of the time. And I feel like I'm doing all the selling when I'mtalking to people, doing Q and A's and speaking at events. We both spoke atdigital women last year, didn't we? Very much "you're on" and therelationships don't really function when you're on. Yeah.

 

Esther

It's definitely a one way street.

 

Melanie

Yeah.

 

Esther

And we don't mean awful as in having a bad day. We mean justnot in sales mode or in work mode, even. Like, if you were to meet somebody,like, I've met people even recently that have come to my door, local electionsand the conversation can get turned around to be, oh, and what do you do for aliving? Well, I build websites. Oh, well, we need a new website for blah, blah,blah. You know, obviously, they'll probably never remember which door theyknocked on, but it doesn't all have to be whenever you're like you say off, theconversation flows that much easier and you don't feel like you're in thespotlight selling. And that's when building relationships is fundamental tobuilding your business.

 

Melanie

It's not just that either. Just before we started recordingtoday, I told you that I'm going to be getting a work experience person comingin next month.

 

Esther

I'm very jealous about that.

 

Melanie

And the great thing there is we've got the option of eitherher coming into my office or doing it online. And I said to you that if shecomes into the office, I can show a whole lot more of the work experienceinvolved, than I would be comfortable in just giving her stuff to do remotely.And so that's exactly the same with introducing your business to other people.They will get a much better and rounder picture of who you are and what you doby meeting you because you exude your business.

 

Esther

Yeah. And was it last year? Has it been that long? You and Iwent to an in person event when I still could ATOMICON over in Newcastle lastNovember. And we met people that we'd only met online.

 

Melanie

Yeah. Never met any of them before.

 

Esther

Some of them, no. And we went for dinner with them, we haddrinks with them, and it was a totally different relationship. And then you'remore invested in the person personally than if "oh, well, I chatted tothem online. They say that they do this and they say they do that",whereas now it's like, oh, yes. And she was saying you're more animated aboutwhat you're saying as well. But you were also saying there, Melanie, that justbefore we started this recording that it was Kickstart Dublin that haskickstarted you into looking for other events to travel to or attend this year.And I think there's no stopping you now.

 

Melanie

I think it was the day after and I put up a tweet and saidthat was such a brilliant event that motivated me to want to go to other eventsnow. And I asked online, bearing in mind who I am, and these are the areas ofinterest I have. And I also put it in Digital Women as well, actually put thepost in Digital Women as well and said, "where shall I go? These are theareas of interest I have. Can people list down events that may be ofinterest"? And I have booked of the seven that were suggested, five ofthem.

 

Esther

Wow. What did the other two overlap or something?

 

Melanie

Well, some of them were slightly out of my reach, eitherprice wise or distance, and a couple of them actually overlap. I would love togo to Social Day, but I'm already booked to go to somewhere else with IrishTech News, so I can't go to that.

 

Esther

But you're also already booked for next March to go toSocial Media Marketing World, aren't you?

 

Melanie

Yes, I'm going to Social Media Marketing World for the firsttime

 

Esther

In San Diego. So for all our US listeners...

 

Melanie

Meet me there. I will be there. It's a planning, though,because it's down to budgeting your time. This is all part of your marketingobviously.

 

Esther

Your money as well. Yeah.

 

Melanie

So you got to have all this part of your strategy goingforward, part of your budget going forward. You've got to think of all theother things, the incidental things that you need around it. I will probablyget my hair done beforehand. You've got flights, accommodation. Is there anypreparation? Am I speaking or am I doing a panel or if I'm doing none of that,who am I going to be around? Is there anybody I can deliberately target tobring onto the podcast, that sort of thing? You got to think of so many thingswhen you go to in person events.

 

Esther

Yeah. It's not just about the socialising. I mean, we dolove the socializing aspect of it. But even last year with the ATOMICON, therewas so much learning that went on. There was so much great information beingshared by the speakers. And like you said, we picked up a good number ofpodcast guests from there. So it is more of "what's in it for me"when you go to the events rather than what you can share to other people.Sometimes, yeah. Other times it is. Okay. This is what I'm going to tell peopleand this is how I'm going to present myself. And I'm going to wear my brandcolours, I'm going to wear my T shirt that has my business name on it. All of thosethings you have to take into consideration, because at the end of the day, youare there to represent your business. You are there to generate more businessand more income and more revenue as well as the connections, because noteverybody is going to buy from you. But they might know somebody who needs yourservices.

 

Melanie

Exactly.

 

Esther

We're getting back to the whole word of mouth marketing,which has never died, has never gone away. And people still hold in high regardthat if you give a recommendation to go and work with somebody, then they'remore likely to take that rather than the Google reviews online from strangers.So definitely look at what's going on. Look at what's in your local area. Ifyou can't afford to travel. Obviously I have a lot of FOMO this year. I'm notallowed to go anywhere, I'm not allowed to travel. And just with my currentcondition, that won't be forever. But a lot of the events that I would beinterested in are also still hybrid and they're going to be online so I don'thave to miss out on the learning aspect, although I will be missing out on thesocial aspect.

 

Melanie

But today is all about you building a fresh appreciation ofthe fact that we can attend a lot of these events one way or another and it'stime we did. Just keep repeating to yourself, social media, as wonderful as itis, is one small part of a large panel of things that you can use to promoteyour business. So if nothing else, if you've not listened to any other thingsthat we said today, please listen to this. Social media is just a small part ofa whole plethora of things and tools that you can use to get your audience tofind you and don't be afraid to go back out. I will be honest with you. I wasquite nervous speaking at Kickstart for the first time in three years face toface with real human beings. But do you know what you feed off the energy ofpeople there.

 

Esther

Even for introverts and I know a lot of people that arelistening to us are probably going but I don't like being around other people.I quite like being on my own. That's okay. You can always find otherintroverts. I mean, a lot of events now and Kickstart Dublin was one of themhave Facebook groups or pop up groups that you can start talking to the peoplein the group before you actually meet them face to face. And if you need to putup the post that says "I am an introvert, you will find me in thecorner". There will bound to be other people that will answer and go, I'llbe in the corner with you but not talking to you because I'm also an introvert.So you will find anybody and everybody and you will find the people that youcan associate with, work with, collaborate with, buy from, sell to. Events arewonderful. And on that note, we leave it for today, guys and we'll be back nextweek with more Monday Morning Marketing. Until then, bye.