Referral Strategy

@Meet_Meme Fun Business Cards and/or Personal Branding Tools

March 23, 2011 by Raul Colon

I am not a big fan of exchanging business cards since most of them end up in a trash can or in someone’s desk collecting dust. One of the things that was very difficult for me while attending SXSW was making sure I kept track of all the people I was meeting.

There are a few apps that can help with keeping track of who you meet but it sometimes can break up the flow of a conversation. While you are grabbing your phone, getting your phone ready, logging into the application, searching for the area to add the person, requesting their contact info, and finally entering them into the application. When you have precious seconds to invest in knowing a bit more about what the person you just met is all about this can be very detrimental to keeping the conversation going.

Being able to meet @houseofbrew at SXSW was a great opportunity to finally find a solution to this challenge. What a more perfect place than SXSW where you meet so many people in such a short period of time for him to be handing out a very practical and fun contact card by the name of Meet-Meme (affiliate),

Meet-Meme as stated in their website “helps you bring online persona to the offline world, allowing you to further your networking efforts with an engaging extension of your personal brand.”

I was handed my first Meet-Meme card by @houseofbrew and he ran me through how useful this card was in connecting offline with online. If you see below it includes his Name, email, blog url, company website, and the most interesting part of the trading card the QR code that connects you from offline card to online profiles.

IMG_0781-764x1024 @Meet_Meme Fun Business Cards and/or Personal Branding Tools

Once you get the QR Code or visit the link provided under the QR Code http://mtme.me/efdc59 you will see the following screen on your mobile phone the second image belongs to the browser version. On the mobile version you can see three tabs Card, Connect, Share. The version that appears once you have entered either the url or used the QR code is the card.

Mobile Version

Browser Version

Screen-shot-2011-03-22-at-10.00.04-AM-300x239 @Meet_Meme Fun Business Cards and/or Personal Branding Tools

On the Connect tab you get the user’s profiles so you can add or follow them right from the options you have available. This was one of the most useful features I found on the card.

IMG_0779 @Meet_Meme Fun Business Cards and/or Personal Branding Tools

The Share tab provides the opportunity for you to share the card via Twitter or on Facebook.

IMG_0780 @Meet_Meme Fun Business Cards and/or Personal Branding Tools

I really think that what I have seen these cards do really helps in the process of connecting and cutting all the hassle of hunting down people on multiple networks. I see many business uses for these cards and will probably be sharing a few with you on future posts.

Can you see how to implement this to an event or to extend your personal branding? In the mean time I will be working on updating my avatar and getting a good pic to order my first batch.

Get Your Cards

Are You Ignoring the Fastest Growing Population in the U.S.?

January 5, 2011 by Raul Colon

Browsing around fellow #Latism blogger @louispagan’s Latino Rebranded blog, I found this fascinating video with stats regarding the Hispanic Population.

The video sends a great message which many brands should be aware of.

Do you know of any brands who focus significantly on the Hispanic market? Are there any that don’t care about the Hispanic population?

What type of brand would most benefit from these stats?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments area.

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Abundance

January 1, 2011 by Raul Colon

I ended 2010 giving thanks to people who really made 2010 a great year.

I am not a big fan of creating resolutions and sticking with them so I will be working on prioritizing tasks during 2011.

I want to make sure all of you who read my blog and mean a lot to me have Abundance.

I will be working in 2011 on creating Abudance for everyone including myself. I think many people focus to much on finding what they need and a priority for them. The people I consider successful and great human beings are always making sure people have abudance.

How can we Create Abundance for others?

I think Giving is the keyword for creating abundance. A while back I read one of the many great posts by @chrisbrogan HOW YOU COULD HELP and it really had me thinking for the last two months of the year. I recommend you to visit his list and see the great and creative ways he has been able to motivate me in giving.

Ways of Giving

Creating Awareness is the most powerful way of creating abundance and giving. By using your network to help others and letting others know about great charities, great resources, and other great things we really see value in you are making a difference Not only are you giving to the person running the effort but you are also helping the person in need of the resource. (example: I am a Fan of these great charities on twitter @sasfapr, @invisiblepeople, @serpuertorico, and @skip1 feel free to follow them and let others know about their efforts, if you want to be more special feel free to donate). This is my favorite way of giving because by creating awareness you are empowering people and/or groups.

Referring Opportunities to people who need it. If you are offered a job, project, work, or even a free lunch and you are not able to take it try to pass it along to the great people in your community. Or even better to someone who really needs it.

Sharing information so many people give to me daily via their blogs, online, and offline interactions. You can give someone advice that might be useful for them to make a decision, set up a business plan, improve their strategy, or just be a better person.

Buying a meal, book, bus ticket, or even socks for a homeless person (like @hardlynormal does with many of his efforts including Invisiblepeople.tv) can make a persons life change. I have been in line when someone who in my appearance is struggling left their wallet and did not have enough to pay for gas (I always look for a way to make it comfortable for the other person) and I paid for it without even them knowing I did that for them. Just random acts of kindness will bring better things in the near future I can almost guarantee it.

So start of this year thinking of Abundance by giving a little something of what you already have. Sometimes just by letting someone know you care makes a big difference!

How do you define abundance?

How do you plan to create abundance for your family, friends, and community?

If by any chance you think you might not have enough to give look at how @hardlynormal with just handing a pair of socks makes Elizabeth’s day.

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Start of the Referral Engine…

October 10, 2010 by Raul Colon

Great Knowledge for Any Business

Managing referrals!

During my attendance at the Inbound Marketing Summit (#IMS10) I had the opportunity to listen to John Jantsch and his presentation “The Realities of Referral – How and why companies really generate referrals“.

His presentation was really refreshing information and a perspective of Social Media and marketing that many people forget or have not heard of.

Most of you might have heard of John from one of his earlier books called Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business (<—Affiliate Link) Marketing Guide he is also known on Twitter as @ducttape.

He was one of the speaker who kicked-off the Inbound Marketing Summit (#IMS10) with some great and refreshing insight. Not only did he share great information I also had the privilege of getting an autographed and dedicated copy of his latest book “The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself (<—Affiliate Link)”.

There is no Better Gift than getting a book to read.

By opening the book I confirmed once again how dedicated he is to spreading his message @ducttape did not only give me a complimentary copy but he also dedicated his book to the following:

“To all the brave, smart, dedicated, adventurous, passionate, creative, and adaptive small business owners making the world a better place to live, work, and grow.”

I have always been addicted to reading from when I started collecting comic books, to when I use to help my dad at 12 years old at a Book and Magazine store where I use to read everything from comics, sports magazines, biographies, history books, to even the cosmopolitan magazines (not recommended reading for a 12 year old) as a last option when I had read everything that looked interesting to me. But I had never started a book with a dedication written in such a way.

I started reading the book as we took off from JFK Airport heading back home after an intense month of traveling with my #AYCJ pass which expired on October 6, 2010. During take off I can’t have my I-Pad on which made it great that I was carrying a hard copy of The Referral Engine).

By reading the first chapters I was able to capture the following key points:

Creating Positive Buzz
Importance of Becoming a Source of Good Information
Our tendency to refer to help not get any gains
General Risks involved in a referral.
Importance of a Surprise Factor
Long–Term Commitment towards Referrals

Just by reading these first few pages I am motivated to continue and you can count on me sharing my experience reading “The Referral Engine”.

Other Books by John Jantsch – (Amazson Affiliate Links)

Do you have a plan on how to manage your referrals?

Had you ever thought of managing referrals?