There’s one thing that people highly value and that’s being a part of the “in” crowd. Although I learned this in the nightclub business, I quickly found out how true it was in JV marketing.
In the early days of online marketing, we did not have a lot of money. We couldn’t really afford to offer lavish prizes in our launches so we had to figure something else out. We came up with an idea that made a huge impact on our business. We decided to throw a party.
This may not seem revolutionary now because it’s a common practice. But back then, no one was doing it and we pioneered a highly effective method of connecting with partners. You might be asking yourself what is so novel about hosting a party. That’s where the positioning came in. We went to our advanced marketing friends, of which there were only a few, and talked up the party. Then we publicized it in promotions. Every time someone else would confirm, we would talk about them and the list grew. Other people heard about it and in a very short time, everyone wanted to be there.
I leveraged the few relationships I had along with the people I knew and talked it up wherever I could. What most people don’t know is that I knew very few people before that. I was not a well-known person at all. I tapped into the two or three connections that I had made and leveraged those to make many more.
Here’s the key point. Anyone can do this. It’s nothing more than basic marketing. You create a cool event and people want to be on the invite list. You make it about the experience and the people who will be attending. Use whatever currency you have and it doesn’t have to be a drink-a-thon. Maybe it’s an afternoon at your house. Maybe you offer drinks by the pool. Sometimes it’s even cooler if you keep it intimate. The bottom line is that almost everyone wants to be part of the “in” crowd and you can use that to both build your existing relationships and to create new ones.
What happens at these “in” crowd events? A ton of networking and bonding. Even if you don’t directly discuss your current promotion or a launch, you still connect with the people who you later do business with. A glass of wine sparks new introductions. A quiet conversation turns into a new partnership. In the long run, those simple moments and that extra partnership could be worth a fortune.
