Less is More: The Power of Targeted Marketing at Networking Events

Hello and welcome to the show. Today is a freestyle session and it's me just reminiscing about something that happened a while ago, maybe 2-3 months back now. I was giving a live session on how to start your business in three easy steps. This was a partnership between me and Avon Tech Hub. It's one of these business incubators in Abuja. And so they were taking a couple of people from the e-mail list and then we're running them through how to start your business idea.

At least that was the whole point of the session. We assumed that there's still a couple of people out there who want to start a business but who don't know how. So that was the whole point of the training session. But something interesting happened. A lot of the people who showed up apparently already had businesses. There were like 3 or 4 people who were in the fishery space, which was quite a coincidence because that was after the time that I had made those podcast episodes about what to do if you're going to get into the fisheries business.

I mean like how I would have handled it if I was going to get into the fisheries business because during the Christmas holidays, my wife and I, the kids who are back home in Makudi, that's the capital of Benue State, and my wife is a fish person. My in laws are fish people, my mom is a fish person. I don't eat fish. And so they just turned out to be a fish fest. So today catfish dried, tomorrow catfish fried, next tomorrow catfish prepared, You know, that sort of thing turned out to be a fish fest.

And so I thought it would be a nice idea to use some of the principles that we talk about over here on the podcast and try and illustrate and show hard one would get into the business. So it turned out to be an interesting coincidence that the people in the fisheries space showed up. Then there was someone who wanted to start a business in what's it called? I think it's called no, not aquaculture. What's it called? Something agriculture.

That is where you. Well, because normally what happens is if you want to farm or you want to plant, you have to wait for rainy season. For some crops, you need to wait for the dry season and then things like that. But then in some parts of the country, particularly up north, OK, well, plateau is not N but you know, plateau and above. Now, some parts of the country where they're beginning to fool around with this sort of thing,

is it irrigation, farming or something? Well, the whole point is you set things up so that water, nutrients, everything is available all year round. So in your greenhouse or on your plot of land, you're going to be able to grow whatever it is you want to grow all year round. So somebody wanted to start that business. Then I think there were two or three other people in fashion, but you get the gist. All the people that were gathered there, let's say 90% of them already had their own businesses.

So it turned out to be an interesting session because I came there prepared to talk to people about how to start a business, but then only delving into business challenges for people who already had businesses. Now there's one person in particular who was there and I could tell that she wasn't there because she wanted to start a business or she already had a business. She looked like a marketer. And after you spend a while in these sorts of communities, you sort of figure out how you you just kind of figure out, you know, who is who.

You get a sense of who these people are. So she looked like a marketer. Well, of course, before the event began, I was engaging everyone, having conversations with everyone. It turned out that she indeed was a marketer, and I tried to ask about what she does. She told me about some of the services and I had already figured out that the reason why she was there was because she was trying to market our products and our services to people who are there.

And yes, I'm not going to fault her for what she did, because the truth is we need to look for ways to draw more business, no matter how we can. But I really think that when people come for business networking sessions, things like that, I really think it's the wrong kind of place to try and do a direct sell or a direct pitch for people because you find that when people come together for some sort of business engagement, they are there for another kind of purpose.

So the reason why in theory people were there nowaday was because they needed to learn how to start their own businesses. So you come in to sell your products and services to people who are concerned about starting their own businesses. I'm sure you can see how it's it's it's not a good job. It's going to be very hard for you to have those sorts of conversations. Now it turned out that most of those people are business owners, but the dynamic is still the same.

All the people are business owners who have come for a business seminar because they're trying to learn something or maybe because they're trying to sell their own goods or services. So you showing up and trying to hawk something on them. So excuse me, it's probably not a good idea. Sorry. Still recovering from these off road. OK. So that's one reason why I think it's not a good idea. So if you're one of those people, you're a marketer, you see that we're a bunch of business people are going to be gathered here, let me go to sell my product or my service.

That is why I don't think it's a good idea. The interest is probably not going to be there. Now another reason why I think you shouldn't be using these kinds of taxes is because it's probably not the best use of your time. Because let's face it, we were there for the event. The event was scheduled to be for two hours. I'm AQ and a kind of person. I like question and answers. I like when people challenge me on the ideas.

This doesn't make sense. How do you do this? How will this apply to my context? I love those sorts of things. So with the Q&A, people asking questions and us trying to flesh out things, especially around how you can use artificial intelligence to help start your business. So in the midst of all that, the program ended up spending three hours. Now, let's face it, as a marketer, your time is limited. Are you truly going to come to an event, sit down there for three hours and only hand out your Flyers to maybe 30 or 40

people? That is not a good use of your time. I think you're better off walking into the streets, going to the car park or the bank. You look at all the expensive cars and you put your Flyers only on the expensive cars. I think that'd be a better way to spend your time, at least. If you do that within three hours, you probably would have distributed about maybe 200 Flyers. 300 Flyers. I mean, who knows how many banks that you can visit.

So for those of you who are based in Lagos where banks are close by, that might not be a bad idea. In Abuja, banks are little. How was that word? Is it interspaced or whatever? You know, really spread out. So trying to get to all the banks to be a problem. So I think coming as a marketer trying to disguise yourself in this sort of thing to sell your wares, to drop your Flyers, probably not a good idea. Your time could better off be spent elsewhere.

So if you're someone who uses uses these kinds of tactics, I these are the reasons why I think you should try something else, optimize your time. Now there's one more thing, and I think it's the key thing, why I wanted to make this podcast episode. When we started talking about the services that she was representing, it turned out that she was a marketer for a what's the word? Should I say conglomerate? You know, when you have one business person or one business company having a portfolio of companies and products or services.

So was that kind of situation. So technically speaking, it was all one name, like Dangote, for instance. Yeah, Dangote, But on that Dangote, there's Dangote Cement, there's Dangote Spaghetti, There's Dangote juice, there's Dangote transportation, there's Dangote and you get the point. These are all desperate things. So if you're a marketer and you're trying to use a short run approach to market your Dangote products and you want to talk about transportation and talk about spaghetti and then cement,

you know the the the customer base is wide and too varied. You're not going to be able to have very focused conversation. And when it comes to these sorts of things, if at all you want to sell in these sorts of things, you have to be extremely targeted about what you're trying to sell, the message that you have and who it is that you're going to talk to. So this lady came for this event. She was going to market her products or services, but then she started talking about photography.

Then she spoke about videography, then she spoke about event planning, then after that she spoke about dispatch skills. And then after that there was a little bit of was it cryptocurrency or something like that. Then there was also interviews, documentaries, commercials, then there was also drone coverage, Then there was also 360° booth. That is that thing where, you know, you're standing, you're looking fly and the camera spins around you and captures you from every single angle.

Now some of you might be confused, wondering that, you know, I might just making stuff up, you know, really I'm not. I'm actually holding the Flyers right now and looking through them and we're not done. So there's a list of OK, OK, so turns out we're done. But you see what it is that I'm trying to say. You're coming to the event, you want to market some products or services, but then you don't even have a clear idea of who it is you're going to talk to or what it is that you're going to sell.

Instead, when you engage someone, you're going to try and talk about photo photography, videography, dispatch, skills, cryptocurrency documentaries, commercials, drone coverage, 360° booth. Now let's face it, when you have that kind of marketing message that is garbled, how do you think you are going to be effective in getting someone to buy? You've just gone there with a shopping list and telling everybody this is what is on my shopping list and you expect to make a sale.

That's not how it's not going to work that way. You're better off coming sitting at the event. Try and read the room, OK? Is this mostly a singles crowd or is this mostly a a crypto crowd or whatever? You read the room and then you blend accordingly. So if you came for the business seminar, you're a marketer, you want to market your products or services and it looks like everybody here is a tech bro or a Texas or a cryptocurrency bunch, Then what you do is you forget all these other things and only and start the conversation on the crypto Flyers and then see how things go.

In fact, I actually think that the best thing to have the lady should have done actually was to show up and to try and use this as a lead gathering exercise. So she should have showed up, maybe been a part of the seminar or maybe not. But she should have engaged in conversation with as many people as possible and collected the phone numbers of as many people as possible so that the day after she can now follow up in much more detailed business conversations.

And I think that that's a better way to go about it. That way, in the phone conversations or the SMSS or the WhatsApp messages that will follow with people the day after the event, she's going to be able to extremely be extremely targeted for the crypto person. She will talk about crypto products for the lady who is single. She will talk about wedding photography for the guy who is just engaged. She will talk about videography,

what else? For the person who's looking for extra income. She will talk about dispatch driving opportunities and then on and on and on. So bottom line, the reason why I'm trying, why I'm making this episode is we're still fresh in 2024. OK, Well, not fresh. We are in April. OK, So that's four months. OK. It's it's becoming stale, but there's still those of you who are interested in business education, those sorts of things.

You're going to be going to events. But please, I'm just trying to let you guys know you want to be effective at sales and marketing. I really don't think when people show up for a networking session or business sessions, things like that. I really don't think that's the best time for you to go around trying to sell your products or your services. And then plus, let's face it, your city, it's a small city. I mean, no matter how big it is,

it's a small city. So Abuja is big, roughly. Well, they say 30 million people. I don't know how true that is, but let's face it, there are not too many tech UPS in Abuja and tech up people kind of hang out in the same circles. If this is what you do, go for the seminar, try and steal contact sheets or try and market or whatever. After a while, you know, people know you and they avoid you. It's like, oh, that Lady that came last time.

Oh, she has come again. OK, is that crypto girl. She has come again. And there might be some venues where they might actually deny you. What's the word? Deny you entry. So it's a small crowd. Don't poison your reputation. If you want to sell, you want to do your marketing gig. You know we can't begrudge you because you have to make a living. That's the reason why your boss pays you as a marketer. Sit down. Give it some thought.

Don't just approach every single crowd. Approach the crowds that you think gives you the best opportunity to find people who might be interested in what it is that you have to sell and what it is in your product or your services. Try and figure out the right crowd, show up in front of them and try and maximize your time and your opportunities. But sitting down in a three hour, 4 hour seminar only to hand out 40 or 50 pamphlets?

That's not the the best way to use your time. But even if you still want to try these tactics, please don't show up and then start talking about photography, videography, dispatch, driving, cryptocurrency, documentaries, commercials, drone coverage, 360° booth. It it's it's a bit much, you know. Try and be smart and pick one, have a little conversations or another thing. I'm at the end of it. On one of the Flyers there were 121234.

This is 4567. Are these different phone numbers? OK, seven. I'm counting the phone numbers here. So these are 7 phone numbers. Then let's see 48748, nine, 8-9 and then three more. Is this 89? OK, yes, nine. So you are 9 phone numbers on it. Whenever we have a call to action and we're trying to get people to take the next step, please and please and please limit the number of options that you have. Chances are studies have shown in America and in the US anyway,

chances are that if you also want to take an action and you give them too many options, people are not likely to take either one. So if your call to action is. If you're interested in any of these, here are these nine phone numbers. Call any of these nine phone numbers. That is not a good call to action. The most likely saying yeah you're probably better off. Look if your if your business orga the person who paid your your salary has nine phone numbers then you know it is what it is.

It has nine phone numbers. But in that case ask the person what line do you use. OK, here are two Econet. I'm sorry, not Econet. Econet no longer exists 9 mobile. Here are two nine mobile numbers. You can call either of these ones if you're interested or you can call to book an appointment or whatever you hand the person. 2 phone numbers, 1234 numbers, That's OK Don't wrap up these conversations and then hand people the list of nine phone numbers and say and pick whatever it is that you want.

So for call to actions, limit them. So this whole thing of multiple Flyers, total 9 phone numbers and all that. Please don't do that. Just the more tailored you can, the better. So she was having a conversation with me. A couple of people were also listening. It wouldn't have been a problem to say are you interested in finding more, finding out more. And if I said yes, I was It's not a problem asking or what line do you use?

OK, MTN, OK, why don't you call this number? You take a viral and you draw a line underneath it. Trap, say this is an MTN number, Call it. Somebody will respond to you right away. You have made it easier. There is going to be no decision fatigue because the next day after the seminar, if I'm curious about crypto and I want to call, all I have to do is pick up that flyer. There are 9 phone numbers there, but the phone number I'm supposed to call, she underlined it sharply and I will call that number.

So that's how it works. So thank you very much for your time and attention. Sorry this episode was a little bit rambly. I know there was a lot that we had to touch up and touch on, but I just want to let you guys know because I see people coming and trying to sell like this. I hope you're not. But if you still decide that you must sell that these sorts of things, then sure, no problem. Just rewind this episode, start from the beginning, make some notes, and then adopt your process accordingly.

So thanks for your time and attention. Connect with me on WhatsApp. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and my e-mail address from the link We're currently listening to this episode. Also, connect with me on WhatsApp. I'd love to hear from you guys, especially when you have questions or you want to say I agree with this, I disagree with this. Can you explain this some more or how do you apply this to my own context?

I like getting those kinds of questions. So the phone number is 08064662140. The country code is +234 if you're not Nigerian, so I prefer WhatsApp. I'm still on Telegram, but to be honest, I check my Telegram maybe once every two weeks. But if you send me a WhatsApp today, I definitely will respond. You know, latest tomorrow evening, so thanks for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.