Network Strategies

Strategies for networking are key to survival in your business, especially given the weight and prominence that networking has achieved as a prime business tool.  So what are your network strategies?  How many networks will you develop or is one network sufficient to promote your business?  What is you goal in participating with any one given network?

Your Network Strategies Depend on Target Market

Your product or service will dictate the type of network strategies that you will employ.  Does your product or service cater to the generations 'X', 'Y', and the Millennial?  If so, your network strategy will take on an entirely different tact and complexion than if you’re developing network strategies targeted at the boomer generation.

Network strategies that target a younger generation can be more informal than those network strategies aimed at the boomer generation.  The younger generations have become more and more difficult to gear marketing campaigns toward.  They have learned to tune out the usual pitches and your network strategies have to be more oriented to their primary interests.

This younger class consumer group tends to be less individualistic than the preceding generations, so your network strategies should resonate with their collectivist instincts.  For instance, a network strategy amongst that age group of consumers could adopt a "green" dialog for those hooked into the global warming campaigns.  These age groups also respond well to pitches that emphasize community action or other current fads.

Network Strategies Targeting Boomers More Traditional

Network strategies targeting boomers must appeal to their self-image as the original revolutionaries while still appealing to their investment and retirement concerns.  Network strategies targeting this demographic can be more traditional in approach with less emphasis on any one social aspect and more of an emphasis of value and return on the dollar.  The boomer generation may not be as oriented to the internet as their younger counterparts but their numbers are steadily increasing.

MyFace and FaceBook have provided arenas for businesses with network strategies aimed at the younger consumer dollar.  However, a network strategy aimed at the boomer generation more closely resembles associations with private, “members only” professional associations as represented on Madison Who's Who.