A New Paradigm in Business Networking
I got a sales letter in the mail the other day. If you’re like most people, you probably refer to these as “junk mail”. I saw it as a business opportunity.
Why?
Well obviously as a copywriter, writing these types of letters is one of the things I do. There are some I still toss into the old recycle bin just like anyone else. But some I like to read. I like to see what other copywriters are doing. I also look for ones where I think I can do better.
Which brings me back to the letter that appeared in my mailbox the other day and how that relates to LinkedIn. The letter was from a nationally known company based in the region. I felt pretty sure that I could put together a better sales letter than the one they sent me.
The question was, how could I get in contact with someone in their marketing department to pitch my services to them?
Being local, I suppose I could have just driven over there and tried to smooth-talk my way in. It’s doubtful that approach would have worked but I certainly could have tried it. Of course if they weren’t local, that wouldn’t even have been an option.
Instead, I went to their website but they did not have any marketing contacts listed. Not even a generic department-level email address or phone number.
So I turned to LinkedIn. It turns out that they did have a LinkedIn corporate page with nearly 300 employees listed. Many were private listings with names and other details hidden. Most were not in the marketing department. Almost all of them were essentially random strangers to me.
I found a single listing, of someone relatively high up in the marketing department, who was friends with one of my friends. So I wrote to my friend, explaining what I was trying to do and asked for an introduction.
I’m sure by now you can see where this is going…