Community Is Key
Why does community matter to businesses success?
There are several reasons but the biggest one relates to trust. We trust experts. We trust friends. We trust those who are in our circles of influence. And our circles are communities.
Have you observed that communities who experience a common event – an earthquake, a riot, a parade or a festival, react in a similar way for a time. The event brings people together in either joy or misery. While most events are only for a short time, a community attitude grows over time.
There are many studies that look at how a community attitude affects a workplace and success and how the way we perceive community affects our business
The other day I was working with a unique business whose owners were very tired. Their business was flagging and systems and processes that they once had in place were no longer being used. One of the two owners was concerned that they would miss out on opportunities if they made a statement about who they were. Now in the same community, another business owner was thriving because their attitude was to lead the pack and create something different.
How to use Community for your business
Every marketing book says find a need but if you only look at the individual you miss the real need – the community need. NLP teaches about our need for connection and separation but my perceptions says that separation is only comfortable if first you are connected. When you belong to a community, you can then afford to be different.
To succeed in business find the community need and then you can find the personal need.
For example, in education, the community needs certain skills – doctors, lawyers, social workers, political scientists, engineers, scientists, poets, IT specialists, refuse collectors etc. But on an individual level, the schools appeal to the nature of a person to study a certain set of subjects.
In health care, the community needs healthy people – accident free, disease free and mentally alert and yet everything the conventional and alternate medical fields deal with is problems, dis-ease, disaster, cancers and other growths that consume communities of people. Allergies, autism, depression, stress are identified every day by professionals and patients and the need that each “medical professional” attempts to meet is to cure or circumvent the “problem”.
The experts talk about building lists and affiliates to help you spread the word through their community. But the other day a colleague told me that engaged community was the secret to his success. And engaged communities mean people interacting with each other and the practitioner or business owner.
It means that collaboration and co-operation are becoming more essential for business survival.
We all know the saying - birds of a feather flock together but have you thought about who you have in your community?
And what are the community needs where your business is operating?
Are you trying to meet individual needs or the community needs?
Are you hanging out in a community of your peers or the community of your prospects?
Sometimes your peers will become clients but often your peers will see you as competition first and then only later as the source of assistance.
One last word on Community (for today)
Take a look at the community of the churches, the Network marketing companies, the cults and the country clubs. Can you see what they have in common?
Let me know in the comments about the communities you belong to and please share this blog with your community and see what they think.
Thanks for communing
Roberta Budvietas
Reading, Listening and Being in Control
One of the greatest challenges for today’s business person is keeping up with the information you need to know. There
Cover via Amazon
are thousands of new articles to read and listen to published every hour of the day.
And as a business owner, you need to decide what to do with this information.
Understand the Danger of the Closed Mind
Think of the big book stores. They believed that people would always buy books and despite seeing the rise of Amazon and Ebooks, they believed that people would always like to browse book shelves and leaf through books. And some people still do but….the majority of people now access their reading materials on-line.
The big book chains have closed
Or think of Kodak. A company with a history of supporting the film industry and photos. Their business was built for the non-digital picture world and even with several incredible digital cameras, they still struggled to survive.
Kodak is gone after 125 years
Do you remember sitting down to your morning newspaper and drinking your coffee while you leafed through the pages to find out what was happening in the world or to your favourite sports team. Are you still doing so? Or do you now read the news online while you sip your coffee. Is your favourite newspaper still in print?
Many newspapers and magazines have closed their doors or sold out to others
As a business person, you need to keep informed.
- You need to find the trends.
- You need to see where the new niches are.
You need information to make decisions but the key is to make decisions.
Refusing to make a decision and act on information can be costly. Making the wrong decision can be costly.
Oh dear, what are you to do?
As with anything in life, only hindsight gives you close to perfect vision but there are no crystal balls. When you make a decision, you change your future.
When you refuse to make a decision you change your future.
You can only do your best. You can only keep your word. And whatever happens, you can only deal with what happens.
Today, make a decision. Check your information first but reduce your overwhelm by limiting you research time. And what you commit to, commit with your whole heart. Commit and never regret but measure and tweak and stay informed.
You need to stay in control. And control requires information. Make a choice – read, listen and keep control on your time, money and course of action.
What are you reading and listening to today?
What are you controlling today?
Let me know in the comments box below.
To your success
Roberta Budvietas
5 Tips Grow your business with Free PR
PR means public relations and is thought to cost lots of money and is really hard to get.
Here are 5 tips plus a few more things that media coach Louise Pagonis shared the other night at a National Speakers Association event. Louise was on the platform with Tom O’Neil and Lindsey Dawson who also shared special information including how Tom has had articles published in the Harvard Business Review.
English: The CNN Center in Atlanta. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
These two comments really stood out for me that night.
- The MEDIA NEEDS YOU
- Journalists are LAZY
- Know the opportunities out there. Listen to the news in your niche and remember that any media, even the smallest has value.
- Approach the media with an angle. If the media is talking about a topic related to what you are interested in or work with, then contact the media with an angle or a new trend that you have observed
- Build a big picture for the media. Tell them a story and give them a picture. Put together a package that teases them without telling the whole story. Give them a reason to be interested in what you are talking about and tell them why their audience might be interested too.
- Find the right person to send your materials too. One of the advantages with PitchRate and Reporter Connection have is that they daily tell you the names of people and what they are looking for today.
- Follow up on your materials. Remember a Yes is a yes and a No is a NO but a no answer means you can try again with a slightly better headline or pitch. And remember the receptionist can be your best friend to get to the right person to hear your story.
Oh and another idea – keep records of where you are published. Nothing helps with the next publication than saying you have been published in….
Content matters but if you hate to write, let a journalist write your story.
If you talk well remember radio stations are picked up all over the place on line.
If something is online then you never know when it might get picked up again. Personally, I have seen publications on our topics come up in searches 10 years after first published.
Have you ever been published in anything other than your own blog? Tell me where in the comments below and give yourself a publicity plug.
Now I have to go find my clipping file. I wish I still had my TV appearance clips!
To your business growth
Roberta Budvietas, mentor
Maven Connect
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Guest Blogging with Jon Morrow
