I tell this story when I do talks/webinars, but I realised that it’s not in the book and I didn’t have it written down anywhere… so here I am, pen-to-paper (or keyboard-to-WordPress I guess).
In Anti-Sell, I talk about how running your own thing – whether that be an event, a webinar, a podcast, etc. – can be an especially good way to get known and to build your personal brand. Since 2016 I’ve run Cardiff SEO Meet, a – you’ve guessed it – meetup of SEOs in Cardiff.
I did it for a few reasons. Firstly, there wasn’t something like it in the area already. Secondly, I love running events… Before getting into SEO, I wanted to get into events management instead, so in a way, by running SEO events, I’ve combined my two passions into one. This is important because by being passionate about the thing that I’m doing, I’m more likely to do a better job of it and to stick with it. Thirdly, it was my way of ‘giving back’ to an industry that’d looked after me so much for so many years.
I guess you could say that getting clients through it was also a reason, but truth be told, it was more of a minor reason. It did lead to a fantastic household-name client though – so as a lead generation tactic, it definitely can work in that regard. But it’s quite funny (and also insightful) how that came about…
Around event #2 or #3, three guys started coming along regularly. It took a few events to get to know them properly; at first we’d chat briefly (they’d usually just thank me for putting on the event). A few more events down the line, one of them said: “You do freelance SEO, don’t you? We should really get you to do some work for us sometime.” At this point I didn’t even know who they worked for. Then they told me: it was a household-name company. I was floored – I didn’t even know they had an office in Cardiff (it turned out that that’s where their HQ is).
The three of them worked as part of the company’s marketing/web team. They set up a meeting for me to meet with their boss, the overall marketing manager. The most awesome thing about it was that it didn’t even feel like a sales meeting – it felt like a meet-and-greet, a “so when can you start?” type meeting. I think this was the case because the three attendees had already sold me internally to their boss, who was happy to bring me on-board as a result. It was one of the easiest sales meetings I’d ever been a part of.
The thing that makes me a little nervous about the sales process (even now, 7+ years into freelancing) is when you know you’re up against other freelancers or agencies who are all pitching and therefore competing for a piece of work. In this instance, I was the only SEO they were considering – simply because they’d met me at an event, liked who I was, liked what I did (i.e. running the event) and therefore wanted to get me involved. There was no second choice.
It just goes to show that as a networking tactic, it works well. Going along to events/webinars/whatever can be a good way to network – but running your own event/webinar/podcast/whatever takes it even further.
