This is a group to share ideas on marketing (y)our VO biz. What works? What doesn't?
WELCOME TO THE MARKETING FOR FUN AND PROFIT GROUP!
Make yourself at home here!
There are hundreds of voice talents willing to share their ideas and help you with your marketing strategy or questions. All you have to do is ask.
Got a question or a comment? Jump right in!
And if you have any suggestions on how to improve our little corner, feel free to email me: danhurst@danhurst.com
dan
There are hundreds of voice talents willing to share their ideas and help you with your marketing strategy or questions. All you have to do is ask.
Got a question or a comment? Jump right in!
And if you have any suggestions on how to improve our little corner, feel free to email me: danhurst@danhurst.com
dan
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However...Pearl, I am set to go to a BNI meeting in Anaheim on Thursday! We'll see what happens.
I'm so glad to hear you sound excited about BNI. If you go to the website, you can register and log in and listen to their free podcasts. They are so positive and give you some great marketing tips. It's all really common sense stuff, really but when you hear it said in the right way, you want to put the ideas into action.
I hope you have some luck with it.
All the best to you
I was going to mention about the one person per industry per group thing but I thought I'd written enough. It was a pretty long essay by the time I was done!! LOL!
I live in Greater Houston and I don't think there are ANY other VOs around here so I don't have a problem with competition in my local area. There are also quite a few chapters in the local vicinity too.
Shame it didn't work out for you Trish. 7am is pretty early. 8am is good for me. Drop my kids at school, go straight there, get fired up and excited talking about who's got what referral for who, feel on a high, come home, eat brunch and work hard the rest of the day with a smile on my face. I love Thursdays!!
Like you say, no 2 people have the same experience or story. The world would be a boring place if we all did!
Good luck and all the best for 2010!!
Glad to hear you've had some luck with BNI! I checked it out in my area last winter and it just wasn't a good fit for me. They met at 7am (yikes!) first off, and I am SO NOT a morning person that I just couldn't bring myself to make the commitment. lol You should also probably mention that they only allow one person per industry at each chapter; not a problem for me since I live in the sticks but in the more populated areas people might get turned down if there's another VOT in the group already. I also wasn't crazy about feeling obligated to find the other businesses referrals, but at least they don't penalize you like Le Tip does.
Anyway, congrats on the success you're having! It's so cool to hear people's marketing stories and strategies, and that what doesn't work for some, works for others. No 2 people in this biz have the same story! Always nice to hear a different perspective.
Happy New Year all!
--Trish "The Dish" Basanyi
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This is my first posting in this group although I often add little comments to Penny Abshire's VU group "Positive Thinkers Unite". It's a great place to go when you need some inspirational thoughts and a positive boost!! Please join if you're not already a member.
I just wanted to let you all know that I have joined a local networking group here in League City (Southeast Houston) that has already proven to be a great source of work for me.
I say local, but in fact, it's an international networking group called BNI (Business Networking International). I was invited to join by a friend's husband who is a chiropractor. At first, I thought it would be a waste of time.....and money..... but I realised that this is not just a networking group where you meet different people and hand out cards. It's actually a referral group! We have 23 businesses in our group and we meet every Thursday morning in a steak restaurant for an hour and a half 8am-9:30am. During those 90 minutes we each stand up, talk about our businesses and what we do, tell each other what a good referral would be. For me I usually say something like a realtor needing a voice for a virtual tour, any business needing voicemail or on-hold marketing message etc. Then we hand out referrals to each other. Each one of us gets some kind of business each week.
There are all kinds of businesses represented in my group, including a realtor, chiropractor, builder, dentist, marketing company, web design company, florist, title company, carpet cleaner, ......all kinds of business.
When we hear of friends or business associates who are in need of services such as the above companies, we approach them and ask if they would be interested in a representative in that field (who is in my BNI group) to call them. If the person is not really interested in having the work done, they would say no but generally, if they really need that carpet cleaned they would say yes because they trust your judgment and are happy that someone has referred a company to them and a company that is known to do a good job. It makes for a very happy customer and a very happy company.
So far, I have had work recording voicemails and especially on-hold messages. That is now a booming business. The technology has only recently become available to small businesses to enable them to put a customer on hold and play a commercial instead of the radio or a piece of music or just dead sound. I have currently recorded 4 of those just within my group. I've also got a job to narrate a web video and a training video.
There is a little work involved because you actively have to try and find referrals for other members in the group but it's no more difficult than me trying to find work for myself. in fact sometimes it's refreshing to talk to someone about having their carpet cleaned for a change.
BNI is international and has chapters in almost every large town or city in the world. New chapters are starting up all the time. Mine is actually still in the start up phase but referral exchanges are still doing well for most of us in the group.
If you want more information or to find a chapter near you, go to http://bni.com.You can look up your local area and see where your nearest chapter meets. You can attend a BNI networking meeting twice for free as a visitor. Take at least 30 business cards with you, meet and greet everyone and then listen to what they all have to say. It's good fun and a very positive experience.
The downside is, once you join, there is an annual fee and that calculates out at about $430.....but....within a couple of weeks of joining, I had almost made my money back. I've been a member for less than two months and it's looking promising so far. I'll keep you posted and let you know whether or not I will be renewing my BNI membership next year.
Have a great day everyone.
This is a pretty laid back community. We're just looking for those little tools that give us an extra edge in our business.
You'll find some great ideas here...and some thoughts that will stimulate fresh ideas for you.
Read. Absorb. Learn. Implement.
...and let us know what worked for you!!!
Thanx for the invite to ya site. Look forward to its benefits.
Cheers for the New Year too mate. :-)