Volunteering your services can be an excellent way to form new business relationships and raise your business's profile while lending a hand to a good cause. However, unless you take care, it can also become all-consuming, with little return (besides creating good karma).
There is nothing wrong with good karma, or better yet, feeling good about lending a hand in the community. The whole point of volunteering should not solely be to expand your marketing. If it is, you won't get very far (read reincarnated as a dung beetle). You should honestly be concerned about the project you chose to support. Doing your best for the project at hand must come before your desire to network. Those who join a cause for purely selfish reasons are usually uncovered. Potential contacts become turned off and few people will do business with those with questionable ethics.
So how do you get more from your efforts than a warm glow?
One method is, to choose a cause that needs someone with your expertise and will allow you to showcase your talents. Major organizations (Lions, United Way, etc.) usually have well-established hierarchies, and positions are often taken, but they offer a better opportunity to build relationships with movers and shakers. One-time events take less time in the long run and can provide a better chance for publicity.
Working with influential people, is more likely to make a difference to your career. Stuffing envelopes may be just as crucial to the cause, but you are unlikely to get much recognition or a chance to build rapport.
Once you've volunteered, don't rush into "making contacts". As you work together, conversation will run the gamut, from weather to the kids, and inevitably, to business. It's a friendly, natural way for people of influence to get to know you.
These people may or may not need your services, but chances are they know those who do. If they are impressed by your work on the project, they are likely to refer you to others. You have made valuable contacts. Contacts who can last a lifetime.
If you have taken a leadership role in creating a campaign, organizing volunteers, raising funds, or performed other key functions, you may discreetly blow your own horn. Do it discreetly, but do it, because it is all too easy to have your participation overlooked. Because they donate large sums of money, large corporations often take the spotlight away from individual volunteers. That's not to knock corporations, because without their contributions many projects would falter. Those in charge of volunteer projects maybe aware of the value you bring, however they may not realize the importance of public recognition to a small business. If they do, they may no know how to help you get that recognition.
Although your efforts were vital to producing a successful project, you won't automatically receive any collateral marketing opportunities. It is up to you to get the word out. Your, or your company's, involvement in an important cause might be news to the local newspaper, and it might also be worthy of mention in an industry publication. A graphic monthly may be interested in a design firms involvement in a good cause. Likewise, an accounting periodical might like to know about an accountant's involvement in fundraising. Send press releases to media that are related to your field. Write them in proper press release language. If you don't know how, buy a book or hire someone who can write press releases. It's worth the cost.
Take care not to bite off more than you can chew. Becoming too involved and spending an inordinate amount of time for the cause, will send out mixed messages. To some, you are unselfishly dedicated; to others, it's a sign that your business is slow or you don't know how to manage your time properly. Know when to say no.
Volunteering is a great opportunity to meet people and grow your business, but do it because you love it, not for the business reward.
Keith Thirgood, Creative Director
Capstone Communications Group
Helping businesses get more business through innovative marketing
Markham, Ontario, Canada 905-472-2330
Subscribe to Thrive-on-line http://list.capstonecomm.com/ma il.cgi?f=list&l=thrive_on_line
Qualitative research, whether individual interviews, in-homes, focus groups, ethnographies and... Read More
Postcards can drive a huge amount of traffic to your... Read More
I just collected my mail. As usual, more than 80%... Read More
As Claude Hopkins presented in his Scientific Advertising many decades... Read More
Mailing lists may be the cause of more heartbreaks than... Read More
Starting a new online business, developing a new product, launching... Read More
Sponsorship is the fastest growing form of marketing in the... Read More
I'd like to introduce you to someone. I don't actually... Read More
Do you have a list of marketing ideas that you'd... Read More
A church in my community provided me with one of... Read More
The customer is king/queen. We have all heard this mantra.... Read More
I love my dentist! When is the last time you... Read More
I attended a "Sales Focus" seminar a few years back... Read More
As the owner of a creative services boutique - I... Read More
People attend trade shows because they are in a specific... Read More
YES-- it is true that Networking is an art that... Read More
I have been working on a direct mail campaign for... Read More
I often talk with business owners who tell me how... Read More
Advertising on the radio can be an effective lead generation... Read More
Okay. Raise your hand if you think brand management is... Read More
There are many different ways to increase your traffic on... Read More
If you're just dipping your toes into the waters of... Read More
If the promotional items you give out end up in... Read More
A successful marketing plan doesn't have to include an athletic... Read More
Maybe you've heard these different marketing terms, maybe you haven't.... Read More
Just because you have to stretch your marketing dollars doesn't... Read More
Starting and managing a successful small business takes time, energy,... Read More
Customizing booklets can be done by industry or by company."110... Read More
Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life... Read More
There are many different ways to market offline, each important... Read More
How do you personally define success? High income? Substantial net... Read More
1. Advertise in trade journals, ezines, and web sites that... Read More
This is a devastatingly powerful way to extend your marketing... Read More
First, some background on today's topic. I've had a terrible... Read More
It is a well known web site marketing strategy: To... Read More
Looking for the magic formula or the whiz-bang approach that... Read More
Are postcards better for building awareness or for selling?In my... Read More
1) Create systemsCreate systems for everything you do, especially those... Read More
I met a lady who said she received a notice... Read More
Marketing A Resume BusinessWhen starting a resume business, your marketing... Read More
I was saddened to hear of the passing of one... Read More
In business we have a number of ways or tools... Read More
My wife likes to shop at the local Safeway. Is... Read More
Dant dant da da dant dant da da. Dant dant... Read More
Use your computer to send personalized color postcards in quantities... Read More
Too many business owners believe that marketing their business means... Read More
Strategy #1: Change Your Mindset That's right, change your mindset!... Read More
Little Kids Ask Until They Get What They Want.Mom, Mom,... Read More
The difference between a successful business and one that just... Read More
Unless you've been living under an Internet rock, you've probably... Read More
Generation X"--the 40 million or so people born between 1965... Read More
We live in an unprecedented era of communication. Because of... Read More
One of the basics of all marketing and advertising training... Read More
The intellectual property transfer market is now estimated to be... Read More
Anyone who runs their own business can tell you how... Read More
A brochure can be a wonderful promotional tool for a... Read More
With its association to an affluent, sophisticated lifestyle, wine can... Read More
1. Your Most Valuable AssetA mailing list of valued customers... Read More
As a small business owner, you must always explore creative... Read More
We all DO judge a book by its cover, and... Read More
What's your Selling Sentence? If you have a business, you... Read More
Every day I talk with professional service providers who do... Read More
A few decades ago, in the early days of automatic... Read More
Marketing to women entrepreneurs is not difficult. You just have... Read More
Ouch . . . sounds pretty drastic I know, but... Read More
Rest assured that no matter how smart you are, you... Read More
Marketing |