Real people | Real relationships | Real value

Too many people at an event makes it almost impossible to connect with anyone.  But being there is still important and part of the experience.

I see the real person, face-to-face relationship being where the real value will be next year.  Mass marketing won't work; there's way too much for it to be effective.  It may be more efficient to blast out 10,000 e-mails and in some cases be sufficient or right but is it effective for personal relationships?  I think not.

But we also need to be collaborating with like minded partners so we can produce something of real value to our audience.  Prospective customers will still have business needs and budgets but they will have less time on their hands so we have to make it a lot easier for them.  This will mean more effort in finding our audience and sending them something more personal; maybe a letter or personal invite based on some decent research into their market or company. 

Of course this is what we've all been doing for the last few years, in the easy times, when it was that little bit easier to get business.  Nothing needs to change, we can carry on as we were.  That army of attendees to your seminars will continue to arrive, thirsty to hear your words of wisdom about what they should be doing.

I'm one of the less fortunate.  I've had it good for the last few years and committed many of the marketing sins.  I'm taking the effective approach.  It may not be the most efficient route but I reckon I'll get there quicker.  I took a different fork in the road 12 months ago and can now see where I'm going but only because I knew what I was doing was efficient but not really that effective.  Now I can look back and admit it. 

Online relationships have value.  Blogs have value.  Seminars have value.  E-mail marketing has value.  But the real money is where there is a real person, face-to-face, good old fashioned relationship.  It may sound hypocritical but isn't this exactly what we are trying to retain or achieve through all of our online efforts; better, more profitable relationships?