Melissa Levin, Author at MNO | Online Business Networking

What Kind of Business Networking Should You Be Doing & Where Can You Go To Start?

If you’re in any sort of business, you already know that networking is key to your success. Whether your goal is to gain new leads, establish yourself in an industry or simply to make new contacts, the process of networking is vital to reaching your goals.

In this day and age, the idea of networking has grown and evolved. Long gone are the days spent holed up in a room chatting in-person with new potential contacts. Nowadays, it’s all about the idea of virtual networking.

Introducing the World of Online Business Networking

A great alternative to more traditional networking, online networking gives you the freedom to connect with anyone anywhere around the world with just the click of a button. No more travel, no more down-time – just simply connection. Rather than worrying about the time and expense of long travel days spent actually getting to a restaurant or meeting facility, you can skip the hassle and meet new connections from the comfort of your own home or office. After all, an hour-long meeting could easily turn into a four-hour affair, and for any entrepreneur, time is money!

With online networking and referral groups, you get access to members from all corners of the country, not just locally. This can be great for many professions, including digital marketers, who are looking to capitalize on a greater reach. However, this can be detrimental to other professions, such as realtors who work in small geographical areas.

How to Get Ahead with Online Networking

DON’T WING IT

When attending an online networking event, many include a segment where each attendee gets to introduce themselves. While you may know your profession like the back of your hand, it’s common to forget some elements when it’s your turn to introduce yourself. Write out your promo and refer to it when it’s your turn to talk so that you’re sure to deliver the right message.

IDENTIFY YOUR PROSPECTS & CONNECTIONS IN THE ‘ROOM’

When presenting your promo, keep a close eye out on the reactions on the faces of the attendees. You’ll find that your next potential client or partner’s eyes will light up or they will nod along when learning about what it is that you do. Connect with them after the meeting and put your sales cap on!

PLAY IT FORWARD FOR YOUR FELLOW ATTENDEES

You’ll find that if you share the links of your fellow attendees and tag them, that you’ll be reciprocated. The act of playing it forward isn’t a new philosophy by any stretch, but it’s one that’s not too common in the world of business. At MNO, we follow this practice by empowering our members to share each other’s links with just a few easy clicks.

HOW MNO CAN HELP

Take your online networking game to a whole new level of success by using the MNO Member App. This app has a feature that allows you to save multiple promos that you can easily refer to when it’s your turn to dish out the weekly promo. In addition, it offers a ‘play it forward’ button that allows for you to share a link for a fellow member while also giving you the ability to log any referrals passed. The MNO Member App also has a feature that lets you know who’s shared your links and which links they’ve shared so that you can track your success.

At MNO, we have a very unique approach to our referral groups. While we have chapters in various states to keep members closer together in proximity, we also offer a national reach. Members whose businesses are national can also have their links shared by members in any and all states using the MNO app, helping to build their clients and reach across state lines.

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Referral Networking | How To Nurture A Relationship With Your Top Connection

by Melissa Levin

How To Nurture A Relationship With Your Top Connection

In the world of business referral networking, there’s nothing quite like a successful connection. The right connections can help you grow your reach through offering referrals to their network for your services, effectively helping you to net new potential clients.

In creating and maintaining connections, it’s all about the relationship. To truly find success, it’s important to take the time and dedicate the energy to nurture and grow these relationships to a state of mutual professional trust and understanding. But if you’re new to the networking game, how do you get started in growing a top connection?

If you’re feeling stuck, we’re here to help. Here are some of our top tips for nurturing your relationships with your top professional connections to help generate more referrals and more revenue for both of you.

Don’t Forget To Play It Forward

At MNO, our main philosophy is always to play it forward. Basically, this means to proactively help others, whether there’s an expectation to receive something in return or not.

When it comes to fostering relationships with your connections, it’s always best to follow this practice rather than to wait for your next opportunity to come from them first. In the world of business, we tend to keep our cards close to our chest, but if you’re the first one to send your connection a referral, you will hold the upper hand in asking them to reciprocate this generous act.

The Process Is A Two-Way Street

The relationship between two connections is and always should be considered to be a two-way street. One should never enter a relationship expecting the other party to be the only one creating opportunities for them.

Since connections are professionals in the same industry that don’t compete with one another, it’s much easier to speak to one’s clients about their connections’ services. For example, when a CPA does a client’s taxes, it’s quite easy to recommend that they also sit with a financial advisor to place some of their assets in tax-sheltered accounts. In this same example, when a financial advisor places a client’s assets into a tax-sheltered account, they can recommend that they meet with their trusted CPA to make sure that their taxes are filed properly.

Let MNO Take The Guesswork Out Of It

When an MNO member identifies their top connections, they can use the app to create feature links that are designed to source these connections when they’re shared on their fellow members’ social media platforms.

For example, a mortgage lender in an MNO chapter can create a featured link asking to be connected with a realtor who’s looking to partner up with a reliable mortgage lender who is able to send them clients in return.

With just one feature link, an MNO app member can generate multiple connections for their fellow members, thus multiplying their ability to generate revenues from these connections. Now that is the perfect way to nurture a relationship with your top connections!

Ready to get started with referral networking and building effective relationships through MNO? Visit a Chapter below!

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How Online Business Networking Can Help You Reach New Customers

by Melissa Levin

How Business Networking Online Can Help You Reach New Customers

When it comes to building and expanding your network of clients and customers, there’s nothing quite like the power of word of mouth. This method is extremely effective in many, if not all, circles, as it is more like a personal recommendation rather than a professional business referral. However, it can quickly prove to be limiting if you’re not careful.

With traditional networking groups that rely on word-of-mouth referrals, you run the risk of getting stuck. This type of referral is only typically done when engaging with someone in need of a service, so you can quickly become limited on how far you can reach.

The Power Of Online Business Networking Groups

This is where online networking groups can step in and help. A perfect complement to traditional word-of-mouth referrals, online networking groups can cast a much wider net to hopefully attract new clients.

When a member of your online networking group or referral group shares your links on their social media, they’re in essence creating an ad for you with their signature or stamp of approval. Much like Yelp and other review-based websites, a referral group can help generate referrals between the members via their endorsement of each others’ products and/or services.

How To Use Online Networking Groups

If you’re considering using an online networking group to help you generate referrals, chances are you’re already feeling stuck and have had a few key questions arise: “What links should be used? What should be specifically said about you? Where should the link be shared? What are we trying to accomplish with the link?”

With the MNO member app, you can easily answer all of the questions above and much more. Using the MNO app, each member is allowed to not only designate which link(s) they want to be shared but also where they want them shared (ex: in a Real Estate Group), what should be stated to accompany the link, and what the end goal is in sharing the link (ex: landing a new client, increasing social media presence, etc.). These multifaceted links are called ‘Feature Links’ in MNO and the members share each others’ feature links in hopes of securing even more referrals than traditional word-of-mouth referrals.

In the MNO app, word-of-mouth referrals can be logged and tracked. The act of sharing feature links through the app across many platforms and forums with just a few clicks have been proven to help both businesses’ and musicians’ business grow exponentially.

Ready to get started with MNO? Visit a Chapter below.

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How Can A Business Professional Build Your Fanbase?

by Melissa Levin

How Can A Business Professional
Build Your Fanbase?

When it comes to making it in the music industry, it often comes down to one thing: your fans. Whether you have one super-dedicated fan or thousands of them across the country, your fans are some of your biggest advocates and contributors to your success.

But building a strong fanbase can be a huge challenge to overcome. Sure, you can grab some at a local venue or when you’re opening for a bigger band, but you can only go so far in your immediate vicinity. How do you expand your reach and really grow your fanbase?

The answer? Easy – look outside of the typical places. Get your mind out of the little box that you’ve placed yourself in and expand your horizons. Go for something a little more unexpected, like a business professional.

Feeling a little confused about why you should be hitting up business professionals to help you really grow your fanbase? Here are some reasons why they should be the number one networking contacts on your list.

#1 – BUSINESS PROS MAY HAVE CLIENTS IN THE INDUSTRY

Let’s step back and think for a minute – Drake, no doubt, has a CPA and a financial advisor. Also, undoubtedly this relationship between Drake and his financial advisor is a strong one and is further cemented through the great work that the financial advisor does in growing the value of his assets. A simple, “Can I forward you a link of a friend of mine who’s doing music?” could truly help open the doors to a musician friend.

#2 – BUSINESS PROS MAY BE PART OF GROUPS THAT CAN HELP WITH CORPORATE EVENTS

Did you know that corporate or business events typically pay exponentially more than a regular bar or venue gig? Many associations and corporations tend to lean towards internal referrals for their event musicians. With a business professional as a contact, you can easily be recommended and selected to perform at upcoming galas, seminars, awards ceremonies, and more that would help build up your fanbase and revenue.

#3 – BUSINESS PROS HAVE EXTENSIVE MAILING LISTS

Many business professionals maintain huge lists of clients, prospects, and connections. If they were to add a link to your music to their monthly newsletter, it would definitely bring engagement to your music and help build your fanbase.

#4 – BUSINESS PROS CAN HELP YOU PACK YOUR NEXT SHOW WITH A CLIENT APPRECIATION EVENT

Many business pros have a budget set aside to host fun and exciting client appreciation events. Something as memorable as inviting them to a local music venue to watch your live music would benefit both you as an artist as well as them, as it would strengthen the relationship between the business professional and their client.

#5 – BUSINESS PROS CAN GIFT YOUR MERCH TO CLIENTS

Rather than them sticking to the old-fashioned branded coffee cups and hats, business professionals may find themselves thinking outside of the box and be interested in sharing your merch with their clients. This, in turn, will help turn these clients into fans. Plus, if they’re wearing your merch around town, your name will get out there even more!

All in all, don’t forget to expand your horizons and reach outside of the music industry to build your fanbase. And when you find a business professional that really helps you out, pay it forward. Focus on bringing them referrals and opportunities and they’ll continue to help you build your growing fanbase.

Interested in getting in touch with some amazing business professionals? The MNO app makes it easy, bringing together like-minded music industry moguls and amazing business professionals.

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How To Increase Sales With Online Business Networking Groups

by Melissa Levin

How to Increase Sales With Online Business Networking Groups

When it comes to growing your music business, it’s often a world of hit-or-miss ideas. From investing in social media or other paid media to simply standing on a street corner and handing out your work, there’s a world of ways that we’ve been told to try to get our names and our craft out there.

But one tried-and-true method of bumping up your music business is often overlooked – online networking groups. Not the typical fan circles you can find on social media and other forums, networking groups combine the best of the business world and the music world. These groups help put musicians in contact with an unlikely ally – the business world! By connecting with business-oriented minds and establishing a support system within, you can build your music business exponentially.

Interested in hearing more about how to bump up your business with online networking groups? Keep reading.

Put Yourself Out There

Always the first step in getting into any industry, actually putting yourself out there is key to starting the process of increasing your business. This doesn’t necessarily mean hopping on a stage and announcing yourself, but rather putting your name and your talent out into the world in a way that gets you noticed in a good way.

With a networking group, you instantly have access to other like-minded individuals who will help you really put yourself out there. You can skip the process of sifting through your contacts and go straight to a group that can really help you make a name for yourself.

Find The Right Group

In any industry, there are plenty of networking groups out there, especially when it comes to the music business. But, finding the right group to network with can be a challenge, especially if you are new to the business.

Rather than jumping in as many groups as you can, we always recommend conserving your resources and sticking to the ones that you know will be most effective. After all, quality is always better than quantity! Look for groups that are active within and without the group. Make it your goal to find a network that will help support you and will be excited to see you grow and succeed. They’ll be able to provide the resources, experience and knowledge that you need to truly build up your business.

Go With Something Unexpected

Like we mentioned before, sometimes it’s best to go with the unlikeliest of allies. Rather than sticking to your guns and only networking within the music industry, try branching out with an online business networking group that includes members from other industries, especially those involved in business. Their professional network will be vastly different than yours, potentially untapped and primed for you to access. These contacts will be able to assist you in expanding your reach and your business even further than ever thought possible!

Music Network One (MNO) is a global online business networking platform that will help you increase sales and grow your following. Check out the concept of MNO and what differentiates us from traditional networking groups. Visit a chapter or contact us below. Take that first step today!

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