Throughout the first half of the 20th century, entrepreneurs would start up their business by opening an office or a shopfront and mainly invest in newspaper adverts and printed announcements (what we today call traditional marketing) to promote their brand, product or service. The 60s saw the ‘coming of age’ of advertising. Once television sets were affordable to families, marketers worldwide were quick to see the potential of the moving screen and quickly exploited our living rooms via colourful commercials.
Business networking as we know it today took its roots after the industrial revolution, propelling transport and communication efficiency together with trade. Up until then, businessmen seldom had any client-base outside their country or even their village. Subsequently, the world moved from dominant local or national exchanges to a gradual global collaboration between different nations.
It would become relative to your business if you made partners or built strategic relations with individuals, in other parts of the continent or even in another continent; business networks grew as we witnessed the early birth of globalisation.
As much as these changes were overwhelming, it is difficult to compare them to today’s progress. We are probably witnessing even more turbulent times.
The digital age and the information revolution are achieving a far greater impact. Wi-Fi connection, household powerful user devices, instant communication, video calling, online data (cloud) storage and transfer have radically changed the way we lead our lives, from the small things to the cultural shifters. The future holds more surprises with augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
Labour-intensive manufacturing has now mutated into the production of apps, innovative software and websites, as well as self-commanding robots. Today’s connectivity infrastructure is synonymous with Wi-Fi connection and together with the use of the personal computer for both work and leisure, these have completely changed the way businesses work. Competition between service-providing companies and manufacturers, their ways of marketing, their communication methods – all these are undergoing radical changes to keep up with the trends in markets.
Some entrepreneurs have embraced this age and moved towards disrupting the way business is made and the way we consume, or invest. Take Airbnb, for example, which has forced itself upon rental markets around the world, breaking prices for short lets as it also influences our choice in next property to invest in.
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have a pool of at least two billion people
Another example is Uber, which adopted technology and tools enabling it to be simple, convenient, affordable and always improving. This is because of Uber’s mobile platforms using GPS technology, helping drivers to navigate, deemed to progress over time in terms of reliability, quality of service and availability without adding the fixed costs of owning cars and having an intermediary dispatch service. This has resulted in Uber’s total dislodgement on the long-standing incumbents: taxis.
With access to a broader customer base within minutes, companies have not only changed their goods and services to match rising markets but have also changed the way they work internally.
Marketing has become strategic in delivering brand content, with the use of online platforms and social media which have adopted sophisticated algorithms for particular reach.
Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have a pool of at least two billion people worldwide, to which marketers can aim advertisements at them with an accuracy that is unparalleled with analogue media. Instead of promoting an advert featuring on billboards, television and radio, businesses are producing different campaigns based on consumer characteristics and relevance, matching each to the category of consumers judged most likely to respond to it.
When it comes to networking, the trick is to know how to sift through the quantity of contacts that can be made. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Market-base offer a plethora of opportunities, but one has to learn to master making the right connections on which to rely. Then come blogging, SEO and content sharing within the formula to make an impact and capitalise on networks. Also, the old tricks of personal meet-ups, favours and active participation are essential to cultivating relationships.
In Malta, Quicklets and Zanzi Homes have created an effective technique for developing sales opportunities and contacts, based on referrals. Building a route market via our own Virtual Agent (VA) concept, which we developed from the ground up, we have created a network to boost our inventory of properties and the way we generate leads.
Simply enough, people create a VA account and can straight away send leads. ‘For sale’ and ‘to let’ signs anywhere provide the basis material, but also personal acquaintances. All owners and localities are considered, and once the contact is given to the company, agents take care of the work and any fruitful deal benefits the both the agency and the VA with a commission percentage.
Steve Mercieca is CEO of Quicklets and Zanzi Homes.