With everything written about the Internet you could forget the importance of actually meeting people.
Most of us utilise networking in our marketing because we recognise that personal recommendation is the most effective route to market. The Keller Fay group say that "According to McKinsey, three-quarters of all industries are driven by word of mouth. Bain says there is no better force to drive sales growth than strong customer advocacy".
In this article from the group, Word-of-mouth: The real action is offline, they point out that 72% of all word of mouth interaction takes place face-to-face, with a further 18% by phone.
It's important to have an effective marketing mix and the Internet is clearly important. Do make sure, though, that you invest enough time in meeting people. You can't engage in enough conversations personally so make sure that you are building a trusted network of advocates. Your advocates will be talking positively about you when you are not there.
Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
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