The Power of Personal Connection

I think some of you may wonder if I dropped off the face of the earth, with the time that has passed since my last blog entry. The truth is, I did take some time off this summer to go to Costa Rica to brush up on my Spanish and to shuttle my daughter around to various Vacation Bible Schools before she began kindergarten this fall. Then I was busy implementing my downstream energy client's PR program and getting them ready for their company rebranding, as they prepare to roll up their two service company brands under the one parent company brand of Quest Integrity Group. Look for a new Web site coming soon, compliments of my friends over at Griffin Creative and Captavi who have partnered up to help Quest roll out the Web portion of their communication strategy.

...But getting back to the point of this blog entry: personal connection. Back in January, I predicted that the social media "experiment" would continue through this year and that 2009 would determine whether this new way of marketing would live or die. I think everyone can agree at this point that it's here to stay. When I worked on Gittings' social media strategy six months ago, I could never have imagined just how important their Facebook presence would become. As I serve on the Board of InfraGard here in Houston, Twitter has become the predominant way to get critical information out to our members. And LinkedIn has become more than just a way to connect to other individuals in the business community for personal networking, but has become a collaborative communication hub for professional organizations such as The Houston Technology Center.

Why is social media so effective? It's because it is the one marketing methodology that finally does what we've been wanting to do for so long, and that is to join marketing with sales. It creates and fosters personal relationships, which ultimately is the core element that determines success in business-to-business marketing. Unlike in mass consumer marketing, where people buy brands from stores where they can find the best prices, B2B buyers buy from people where they have developed the best relationships. Yes, product is important and so is customer service, but personal connection is becoming just as critical.

An example of this is a story I heard the other day. A friend met the decision maker for her type of service at a marketing event and because the prospect was with a large, big-name company, she was bombarded by people talking to her about business. My friend decided that she would try a different approach and not talk to her about business at all. As it turned out, they had a conversation wherein they found they had some personal connections and commonalities, and the prospect decided she liked my friend and wanted to do business with her. In one or two conversations where a personal connection was made, my friend unseated her competition that had owned that major account for 15 years.

Likewise, I have known a number of people who have reconnected with long-lost friends and classmates through social media sites and ended up doing business together. I personally began working with a large account recently that I had been trying to get into for over six years, all because I had stayed connected with someone in my field over time who eventually ended up in a decision-making position at that firm.

So what does this mean to today's B2B marketing or public relations professional? Simply this: be out there, and be yourself. Don't leave it to your salespeople. Whether it is online through a social media outlet, or at your professional organizations, or even at the gym or your social club, strike up a conversation. You never know where it will lead.