Alberta Business Marketing

Last evening our Calgary Business Professionals Networking Group held their monthly Beer, Wings and Networking event at the Rusty Cage in South Calgary.  What a great establishment for a social networking event where everyone can come together for some fellowship and networking.  Hats off to our great business club in Calgary.  Thanks to Ray and the entire team at the Rusty Cage/Studio 82 for another wonderful event.

The lesson learned at our Calgary Business Networking Club

Social Networking requires people to be real.  Our business networking club is social networking and we are not hiding behind some keyboard and computer screen.  We are out and about in the community, meeting up, sharing stories, exchange business cards and learning from each other.  One of the comments that we kept hearing throughout the event is how real this business club actually is.  That everyone can just be themselves and tell it like it is in a completely comfortable environment.  This is a very important and a crucial life-lesson I learned a while back.  Many tried to reach out to me, especially during my “I” focused years.  We need to be authentic, real and ourselves more than anything.

During the evening and speaking with the members at the event I ran into a Calgary Social Media self-proclaimed Guru.  It was this couple’s first time at our event and one of the people claimed they knew me but sorry I don’t recall meeting them in the past.  This guy and his partner claim to do everything in the world of social media.  They will fill your pipeline with qualified leads, your revenues will gush like Leduc Number 1 and they have an endless team.  You need feet on the street in New York City, he does that.  You need some customized coding, he does that…maybe you need someone to mop the floors at the end of the night, he does that.  Can you see the potential challenges here?

In my early days of IT Matters, we gave the perception to our clients that we were their single source for anything IT related and even to this day at Ulistic, there is value is being a single source or that CONNECTOR who knows the right people to introduce in situations.  This is why I network, to understand who does what and who I can refer business to.   I still like to believe we can be a single source of knowledge and share openly with those we care about and trust (KNOW, LIKE, TRUST).  What is different about that mindset vs. “we do that”.  We don’t do everything, however we have strong strategic alliances that are able to help you with what challenge faces your business.

Do you need a sign for your office, we know someone and we can introduce you.  How about some tricky software code, that as well…we don’t do that but we have talented business relationships that we would more than happy to connect you with.  It is about being a CONNECTOR, about looking out for the needs of others without “sticking your oar” in and claiming it is all about you.

People like to deal with humble, authentic and real people. Part of being authentic and real is knowing what you are good at, showing that you really care and forming alliances with those who can help you with the weaknesses in your business.

Tags: Calgary, Calgary Business Professionals Networking Group, Guru, Human Interest, I T MATTERS, New York City, Online social networking, Social network service, tricky software code, Uncategorized
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Stop the presses…I recently read a very interesting article in today’s Calgary Herald from Canwest News Service journalist Misty Harris on the flood of “Social Media Guru’s” in today’s economy.   I few weeks I wrote a post on this blog about these self-proclaimed social media gurus and my good friend Joe from MSPMentor.net followed up with his article on “Seven Signs Your Social Media Coach is a Fraud“.

Instead of focusing on the negative like I have in the past this time I am going to try really hard to focus on the positives about having a professional who really understands small business challenges, marketing in general and how social media can play a part in your overall marketing efforts.

Here is question one to ask them.  What is marketing and how does it differ from sales?  Email me for the answer, not going to give away all my knowledge on my blog.  However, here are some differences on professionals vs..the others.

1.  Real Professionals never call themselves gurus, ninjas, experts and the list goes on.  Some of us may call ourselves consultants, professionals and maybe a strategist.  But many of don’t carry numb chucks so we are not ninjas or preach from the altar and therefore the evangelist wording is out.

2. Real business professionals have a proven track record.  We may talk about some of our success stories, but normally we are under a NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) and rarely have the opportunity to share some of our success stories.  However, like in some of the comments on Joe’s blog, we come recommended by our loyal clients to others and more often than not, engage with people the old fashioned way – we meet them face-to-face or talk to them in person.

3. Real professionals also run successful businesses or at least part of a successful business venture. Does your social media consultant under EBITDA or profit/loss?  How about the measurement of ROI and success indicators?  Here is a tip, ask your social media guru about the importance of the number of followers on Twitter and then call me or email me for my answer.  Want to see if we are different?

I love what Kemp Edwards from BCIT said in Misty’s article when talking about social media gurus “It’s sort of like declaring yourself the champion before you’ve hoisted the cup” or even what Dee Tremendous from the Toronto-based blog “Tremendous News” says “Social Media is a fertile land for douche bags”.

What I would caution Canadian small business owners is this…do your homework.  Check out your social media guru’s website, is it professional?  Is it just some free template and has all the free WordPress junk on it?  Your business needs to have a resource who can help you understand what makes sense for your business…not that you need a Facebook page or a Twitter account – just because.

Tags: blog, Business/Finance, Calgary Herald, Canwest News Service, Coach, Facebook Inc, Guru, Guru Granth Sahib, Joe, journalist, media guru, media gurus, Misty Harris, MSPMentor.net, Online social networking, Sikh terms, Sikhism, social media, social media consultant, Social Media Ventures Inc, strategist, toronto, Twitter, Twitter Inc, Vajrayana Buddhism, World Wide Web
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