A best practice on a website is to provide the visitor a clear call to action which engages them to further delve into your website and your business. This can be a contact form asking for more information, a white paper, to sign up for a newsletter, to view a video or blog post etc. The point is to make it clear to the visitor what you most want them to do next on your website.
Applies in Face to Face Marketing Too!
Last night I went to County Bar event as a section officer. My call to action was simple: ask people if they are interested in hearing about our section and learning about the benefits of joining. If that conversation led to a discussion about my business – great but my goal was to engage people about the section and not me. In the course of talking with other attorneys, a young lawyer walked by and I asked him what brought him to the Bar event. Only after 5-10 minutes of conversation was it clear that he was looking for a job.
A Different Approach
Of course looking for a job is a great reason to network. Vaguely alluding to that as a reason for attending isn’t helpful. One approach would be to tell people clearly that you are looking to do civil litigation for a firm of under 20 attorneys. This is a specific “call to action” and may result in the listener saying that he has a good contact at a law firm of 25 attorneys. Another approach would be ask people what they most get out of the Bar Association membership. Get them talking about their experience in such a way that begs an easy and clear transition to your reasons for coming to the event.
Strategize Beforehand
Its great to network but its even better to have a clear approach to what you want and how best to engage people when you go. Make it hard for yourself to stand in a corner and play with your phone.
