Build Connections by Asking Questions and Giving Answers

Today’s post is actually an excerpt of my eBook: Plan to Profit, LaShanda’s Blueprint to Online Marketing Success

Interacting with people is an important part of building relationships and a better business. Surveys, polls, discussions, questionnaires, blog comments, chat sessions, teleseminars … these are all different mediums that you can use to start dialogues between yourself and your customers.

When people register to join my network, Black Business Women Online, I want to find out who they are and where they are coming from. I always ask them three important questions. How did you find BBWO? Because I want to keep track of what marketing is working best on my site. What are your favorite websites? Because I want to know what my members like and why. What are your favorite social networks? Because it’s important to frequent the spaces that target your audience.

Asking for feedback is great, but it’s not enough. You want to be creative about how you initiate conversation. Start a poll and ask customers which product they prefer. I recently logged onto twitter and saw that CeeCee was requesting suggestions on ‘names’ for new products, I loved her concept so of course I had to join in the conversation.

If you’d like to gage people’s interest in a particular topic host a free online chat or teleseminars. Give them tips, answer their questions and use their responses to answer your own questions. One of the reasons why Cold Calls are still an effective marketing strategy is because people like to talk. They want to know you are a real person with a real interest in who they are. Expanding your efforts to communicate with your target is a great way to expand your business.

Read all my Plan to Profit Strategies. Download my eBook: Plan to Profit, LaShanda’s Blueprint to Online Marketing Success