Get networked!

One of the most effective marketing opportunities you have available to you is networking. Networking provides great opportunities to get to know other business people, meet new customers, and find out more about the local business environment.

Not only do you get the chance to promote your business, you also have the opportunity to make new friends!

Across the Fraser Coast region we have a range of networking opportunities open to you. These include the more formal such as membership of Clubs and Associations where you pay an annual fee, to informal such as Business Hervey Bay where you simply pay a gold coin donation at the door.

To make the most of your networking opportunities, practice saying a short pitch about your business. The challenge is to communicate the name and nature of your business in 15-30 seconds. 

Keeping it short and sweet means you won’t bore people, and you’ll have the opportunity to find out about them. Many lucrative contracts and great friendships resulted from little more than a casual chat at a function.

Some monthly networking opportunities open to you include:

· Business Hervey Bay – generally the last Friday of each month. www.businessherveybay.com
· Hervey Bay Chamber of Commerce breakfast – last Wednesday of each month. www.herveybaychamber.asn.au
· Maryborough Chamber of Commerce breakfast – first Tuesday of each month. www.maryboroughchamberqld.com.au

“This article was written by Tracy-Madonna Wylie, Business Manager, Nutbirdz Strategic Marketing, and printed in the My Marketing Companion column of the Fraser Coast Chronicle in 2008.”