In the world of digital marketing, success isn’t just about mastering SEO, crafting clever campaigns, or staying on top of the latest trends – it’s also about who you know.
For digital marketers, building a strong network isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential. Whether it’s connecting with clients, collaborating with peers, or staying in touch with industry leaders, relationships can open doors and provide valuable insights.
For Mark Rouvray of active Digital Marketing, networking has been a key part of his growth strategy for many, many years. When he’s not working on websites, handling SEO, creating pay per click campaigns or managing social media campaigns, he’s looking to build relationships with other like-minded business owners. But it wasn’t always that way.
So, we wanted to take you on Mark’s journey through networking, and how he’s ended up as a member of Fabulous Networking today.
Overcoming Preconception
As someone who had been in the corporate world for 25 years, Mark already had an opinion in his mind about what networking is and how it all works. So when he came to work for himself, he had to challenge some of those preconceptions.
‘I think networking in corporate life is a almost a dirty word really. So I didn’t really have a great attitude towards it. But someone introduced me to my first event, which I remember for not really knowing what I was doing and not enjoying it for the first half hour, because I felt like I had paid to be there so I had to running around selling myself. Which, of course, was completely the wrong thing to be doing!”
It absolutely is! At Fabulous Networking we believe that people buy people, and more importantly that people don’t buy salespeople! Instead it’s all about proving your knowledge and skill, building relationships with other business owners and expanding your own personal network. Which Mark learned very quickly!
“I soon realised that just being yourself and chatting to people and building relationships was the better way to do it. And actually, then I started to enjoy it! I kind of snapped out of that one quite quickly. In fact, I even ran a networking group myself for a while!”
Networking is More Than Just Business
If you’ve been involved in any kind of networking in the past, you’ll know that a successful group isn’t just about the business. It’s about the connections you make with other business owners (and with each other), how much knowledge you’re willing to share, and how much you contribute to the local business community. If you talk to anyone while out networking about their aims, you’ll find they have a few different responses for you, like Mark here.
“I think everyone’s aims for networking are fairly similar – they’re looking to try and get more business our of it, and get introductions. That’s always part of it. And I would say that I get around 40%-50% of my business as a result of networking. It can be difficult to assess it on a meeting by meeting. But there are a few other things I get out of networking.
I’ve always said I would probably do networking even if I didn’t get any work out of it, because it’s good to have that network of people. You don’t always have those connections when you work alone, and it’s good to have people you can talk to and get advice and support from.
There are also the collaborations that you can do. Sometimes it’s working directly with someone, or introducing each other to clients, or even working together with a few people as a mini team, which is something I’ve done through networking. Collaboration is probably the biggest hidden benefit that people arrive at slightly later. The last thing for me is suppliers. Maybe for myself but also for my clients. Knowing people who I can recommend helps me, but it’s nice to be able to recommend other people too.”
What Gives Fabulous Networking the X Factor?
Of course, there are a lot of different networking groups out there! It can feel overwhelming when it’s time to choose one to visit, or even join. How do you know it’s going to be right for you, or provide you with the results you need? It’s one of the things we asked Mark to share with us, along with how Fabulous Networking is different, and the best option for his business.
“I never enjoyed the really rigid, rule-based networking groups. I don’t like the whole concept of locking people out, because I always feel like people choose people, and every person is different. One web designer might do one thing really well, while another designer does another thing better. But I’ve never like the really informal ones either, where you just rock up and have coffee.
Fabulous Networking is nicely placed in the middle. It has some structure, but it’s not terribly rule-based, and it’s quite a flexible kind of environment. They also put on a variety of things that you can do. I like BizChat as it’s not just about everyone selling or trying to promote themselves – it’s a chance to get to know people in a different environment. There’s also the ‘get it done days’ and the book club, which I don’t particularly use myself. But I do like the online meetings and the in-person ones, where we all network, introduce, learn and get to discuss issues and share our skills. You don’t tend to get people really doing just sales pitches! It’s the flexibility that makes it a great way of doing things. And I’ve got clients from Fabulous Networking, and others have referred me, which is a big part of what I’m looking for!”
So, there you have it!
You can learn more about Mark and his fantastic digital marketing work by visiting his website. Or if you want to meet him, why not come along to one of our meetings? We run multiple online and in person meetings a month, with options to suit everyone. We look forward to meeting you!
