Everyone knows how important marketing is, but somehow it always falls to the bottom of our to-do lists. Here are some ideas for quickie marketing tactics that add up to just 30 minutes per day.

Make Some Calls: spend 10 minutes researching a potential new client and then take five minutes and give them a personalized call or e-mail to let them know about the services you provide. This is a modified cold call and is quite effective, especially if you are able to identify a way that you can immediately help the prospective client. TIME: 15 minutes/day

Pitch the Media: everyone knows that PR is a powerful tool, but we usually think of it in big, expensive terms. For a gradual approach, pick one publication and research it to get a feeling for the types of stories covered and who writes them. Then send a concise e-mail to the appropriate journalist, editor or assistant editor with your idea. Follow up with a phone call (you’ll usually have to leave a voice mail) and then move on to another publication. TIME: 4 hours/month

Attend Networking Events: research appropriate groups, and then during each meeting seek out just one or two potential customers or referral sources and focus on creating a relationship with them. This approach can have much higher results than spreading yourself thin and trying to connect with everyone in the room. TIME: 1 hour/month

When I first went into business for myself, I was confident that I had the marketing tactics my clients needed. I was also confident that I would learn to be a strategic advisor. What I didn’t realize was that I did not have confidence that I would be able to run my own business. The biggest challenge is that I didn’t even know it!

Nonetheless, I pounded the pavement and successfully landed several clients within just a few months. I was pleased with my progress, but couldn’t help but notice that at every networking event I attended, I was hit on by men. I even had several male clients who were hitting on me while we worked together. I was alarmed: I wanted to be taken seriously … as a serious professional! I immediately decided that I didn’t look “serious” or “professional” enough.

I made a list – How to look more professional:

• Buy some fake eyeglasses
• Learn how to style a classy chignon
• Buy some business suits that made me look frumpy

Needless to say, the above list did not actually solve my problem. Instead, I realized that the trouble was not in how I dressed on the outside, but how I felt about myself on the inside. As a business owner and a professional, I was not confident, and my clients and prospects (and the men at networking events) could sense my vulnerability.

In fact, I learned that most people in business will admit that their greatest fear is that they will be exposed for not being as smart/professional/sophisticated as other people think they are. This comes not from the fact that we are not smart/professional/sophisticated, but that we don’t believe that we are.

Thus, I created a new list – How to build confidence in my professional abilities:

• Keep a list of all of my professional successes – big and small
• Keep a list documenting anytime someone says something positive about my professional abilities
• Before any event or meeting at which I will meet clients or prospects, review the above lists and remember that I am in fact smart/professional/sophisticated
• Do my homework before meetings and events so that I know who will be there and what is important to them so that I can speak confidently about those subjects

It worked! I stopped getting hit upon at every networking event, and discovered that I can do more to impact how people perceive me by tweaking my inside than I can by tweaking the outside.

Of course, I must admit …when an optometrist found that I had a very slight vision problem, I still jumped at the opportunity to get glasses

Hosting your own event is a great way for you to connect your network.  There is great advantage to hosting private networking events for you and your network.  You want to make sure to make the most of these events.  Here are 5 tips to make sure you are successful.

people networking

1.  Find a good location.  You want to have a place to host your guest, this can be a restaurant with a private room, your home or another location where

2.  Make a list of the network member whom you want to invite.  I try to make sure that I am putting the right people in the room so that I can introduce them to one another.  I use Evite to send my invitations, this is an on-line invitation that takes your RSVP’s, allows you to read comments and send thank you notes.

3.  Food – this up to you.  What type of event are you having, a private sit down dinner for your guest, or a more casual networking event with finger foods and drinks.  Make sure you know your budget, these do not have to be expensive events.  They can be as simple as cheese & crackers with some wine and soft drinks.

4.  Connecting your members, make sure that you are connecting members to one another.  You are the host and you know who is in the room.  If you are hosting a great event there will be new people as well as some whom already know each other.  One of the things that I often do is tell my guest that their entry requires that they bring someone to the event that I have not met.  This allows new people to be in the room and I have the opportunity to meet some knew people.

5.  Make your event regular and by invitation only.  Soon you will have a buzz of people who will want to attend your events.  My events are once per quarter with the last event of the year being a private Christmas Party.   The purpose of the events that we host are to keep in front of our clients, introduce them to one another, and introduce new people into the group. 

Give some thought to whom you would like to have in the room.  The graduates of our Referral Institute Programs are always invited, then we give thought to whom else will be in the room.  Sometimes we will ask that attendees bring their best customer, bring someone from their network who has never attended before, their boss, or someone that I the hostess, has never met before.  Having a good mix of people who know each other and people who don’t makes for a great networking event.

These event will keep you in touch with your network, keep your network in touch with each other, and allow the network to meet new people whom they may be able to do business with.  So, next year, plan some private networking events for yourself and your network.

Hazel  owns and operates a franchisee of Referral Institute, a worldwide referral marketing training organization. As a Master Trainer, Hazel provides business-expansion expertise to entrepreneurs and corporations by teaching business professionals comprehensive referral marketing stratagem. In 2006, her franchise earned both the Top-Grossing Franchise award and the honor of hosting the Referral Institute International Conference.