"ideas through brainstorming"Last week I attended the South Florida Business Owners Group. It is a bi-monthly local networking group founded by Christina Rowe of Stand Out Media Group. It is filled with positive, uplifting  men and women in many different industries.  What I like about it is comraderie and willingness to share among the members. That and the valuable resources shared by Christina and several members of the group. In fact on many occasions, Christina will invite me to share a tip of the week or resource of the week.

Getting back to last week’s meeting – toward the end of every meeting Christina has us get into smaller groups of six or eight people and do a brainstorming session on a topic she has chosen.  Our task was to share the best marketing ideas ever used that produced the most dramatic results.  Here are the ideas our group came up with:

Luis said his best marketing is going to meetings and doing business showcases.

Connie, Melvin, Orit, Heidi, Luis, MaryAnn, Kathy and Pedro

Orit said her best idea so far has been calling on salons and businesses that would benefit from carrying her jewelry line. Orit also mentioned a new ad network she is involved in called YEXT which shows promise and I will be writing about on one of my other blogs as soon as I have had time to do some research.

Melvin (he’s a building contractor) said he finds potential clients on LinkedIn and then connects with them to set up a time to get together for a one-on-one. He also finds that giving referrals leads to getting more referrals.

Connie said worth-of-mouth is her best source to drive prospects to her Interior Design company.

Maryann said wearing her custom made jewelry and raffle give-aways were her best source of new business.

I talked about what I do in my retail business which is giving away roses everywhere I do. I wrap them,  tie a business card to the rose and hand them out at meetings, toll booths, grocery stores and more.  Great return on my investment.

Pedro (Lending) talked about using focus groups and masterminds to drive more business.

And Kathy talked about using Public Speaking to promote her business. And also joining associations.

With this list of ideas you could create a strategic marketing plan and have enough ideas and business to keep you in the black for as long as the ideas work.

At the end of the brainstorming the “team leaders” were asked to get up and share the group ideas. It is very powerful and the ideas the 30+ members came up with are enough to keep us all busy marketing our businesses offline (and online) for several years to come.

Brainstorming can be an essential part of any idea generating activity. If you need help with your small business, need to come up with specific ideas and strategies to market your small business offline, I suggest you give it a try.  Take your clients to lunch, ask people who’s opinion you trust and admire and come up with your own list of marketing ideas.

The possibilities are endless…

Note: if you are in South Florida and would like to attend the South Florida Business Owners Networking Group, visit: www.southfloridabusinessowners.com/ for more information.