The question do you network or do referral marketing is not so much because I’m interested whether you do or not. Its more about how you perceive others and they perceive you.
It came about at one of my networking meetings. I was having a chat with one of the attendees. I tend to think of myself as a networker, they felt they did referral marketing.
Personally I prefer to ‘network’ – I see this as a really positive thing to do. Building up great relationships with great people and making sure I keep in close contact.
My fellow ‘referral marketer’ held the opposite view. She felt that net workers were people who just did the rounds, met lots of people and didn’t have close relationships.
I’m not seeking your views here – at the end of the day they are just words. However it is for me a lesson in being aware about the words we use to describe ourselves, how we use them and how others interpret it. We could just be giving the wrong impression.
2 Responses
I would term it networking personally. I find ‘referral marketing’ a little bit pretentious! And I think that networkers put others in touch with each other and help promote local businesses to other local businesses. But as you say, it’s only our personal use of certain terms, and it’s more about what these mean in the individual’s mind. Interesting blog.
Thanks fro stopping by and commenting Fiona – I’m with you – Referal marketing puts me in mind of certain business models where the selling is quite fearce, however the lady with whom I had the conversation is a very switched on business woman. Makes you think