ATTEND A CONFERENCE, OR CREATE YOUR OWN CONFERENCE Attending conferences is one of the easiest, exciting, and effective ways to meet and connect with your customers. Knowing which conferences that your ideal customers will be at is a smart way to build strong, in person connections with your brand. Speaking at conferences where your ideal customers are in attendance is even better. By doing this, you’re immediately positioning yourself as the go-to industry expert in the room, and you hold the desirable position of having your customer’s undivided attention. If the thought of public speaking makes your palms sweat and your heart skip a beat, there is no need to force yourself. While it’s significantly more work, you can also create your own live event or conference as a way to build your brand. A great example of creating your own event, is when Halifax Locals Anita Kirkbride and Linda Daley launched their live event last year called Social Media Day Halifax. They didn’t wait around for someone else to create an event in the area for business owners looking for advice on social media—they went ahead and developed it themselves! BE WHERE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE At the end of the day, we all crave connection, and live events are a powerful tool you can use leverage for your brand. Even in one-on-one networking situations, the relationships you make with people in-person will always end up being stronger than those made online. Also remember that having a presence at live events can be more than speaking at these events, it can be about getting your brand name in front of customers and a great way to do that is by being a sponsor of a local sporting team and for a festival or event. Customers appreciate a company that gives back to the communities that they serve, and it will give you a great opportunity to meet other sponsors and potential customers as a result. For me, teaching at live workshops in partnership with fantastic companies like Venn Innovation is an honour. Not only do I get to talk about something I’m deeply passionate about but knowing that my audience will leave with the tools to improve their businesses’ brand is worth more than anything to me. So, get yourself out there and move out of your comfort zone whatever that may be. •
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • JULY 2019
81 JULY 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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