As many of you know Koogar are a member of BNI – Business Network International which is a large networking organisation started off in America by Ivan Misner. We meet every Tuesday morning at 6:30am until 8:30am in the Hard Days Night Hotel.

We were told by our Committee that it was “Beatles Theme” week and that our 60 second platform was the time to share anything Beatles or you should come in fancy dress. If neither of these were taken up then you would have to do a forfeit. The night before Koogar frantically wrote the following;

“Good Morning, Good Morning“!

“A day in the life” of Koogar; We are a Digital Marketing company based in Liverpool who build websites amongst other things. We are always asked for “Help” and being told “It’s all too much“.

“8 days a week” we live and breathe the Internet. Today I would like to talk to you about the Social Media “Revolution“. I want to “Hold your hand” with “All my loving” and help you get the most out of Twitter and Facebook.

People say; “How do you do it?“, “It’s all too much” and “Don’t pass me by“. Do I have to tweet, I have an “Octopus’s Garden“? But I say just “Act Naturally“.

Koogar can help you make it all “Come together” through a “Magical Mystery Tour“. Our next workshop is on 31st March 2011 in Liverpool City Centre.

I hope you passed my business card on “Yesterday“, so “Come and get it“!

Online we can help you make your mark “Across the universe“!

We would love to hear what you think of our 60 seconds… We had a laugh and business was passed and usual!

I am the Egg Mand… This is my wall post… kooKoogar Ka Choo!

Koogar are pleased to announce that in 2011 we are now working with NetworkShe. NetworkShe is a women’s only networking organisation based in North Wales. They hold events on a regular basis and also have their own magazine which is free; you can advertise in it and or have an editorial!

NetworkShe and Koogar got together and realised that there are still people out there that are unsure of Social Media. There are people who need a little help to get their profile up-to-date, need help to understand what the jargon means and which platform is suitable for them.

Please see our new training page for these hands-on Social Media Workshops.

We are very excited about working with NetworkShe. If you haven’t been to their events then your missing out! Check out their website www.networkshe.co.uk

MyWirralHub is having the last event for 2010 in Mr.Chows in Parkgate on the Wirral.

We have made some amendments to the structure of MyWirralHub for 2011. This means that we are:

• having evening and lunch time events
• getting great meal deals from our chosen venues
• attending the best venues we have used over the last 2 years
• holding “membership free” events – you don’t have to join, just come when you like
• have speakers who will educate the delegates on various business needs

As from this final event, you will now be able to buy your ticket online and pay for your place to attend MyWirralHub. We are looking forward to the new year and hope it will attract new and old businesses on the Wirral or even businesses who would like to trade on the Wirral.

Continuing our idea’s of “bringing local businesses together”!

Today has been an extremely busy day for both myself and Amanda, which wasn’t made any easier by the internet going down for the best part of an hour- stalling our work focus temporarily.

However, once it was up and running again I was able to crack on with my extensive list of tasks.  I started by doing a summary blog for MyWirralHub’s speed networking event on Monday and I’m pleased to say that it went swimmingly and raised £80 for The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation so well done to everyone who turned up and to Geoffrey, who delivered an enlightening talk about success!

I then created an email invite ready for when Amanda officially takes over as Chair for CEPN Business Forum, which is a huge job and responsibility, but great that Amanda was chosen so congratulations to her and good luck! (Although I’m sure Amanda won’t need any of this)!

I have updated the MyWirralHub website with two of the upcoming events and created the tickets for you to book online now.  Both events sound promising and worthwhile with two great speakers getting involved so definitely worth attending.  Unfortunately, we don’t know in enough detail what each speaker will be talking about, but don’t worry, once we’ve discussed it further we’ll let you know by updating the website.

I have also created some new pages on the CEPN website; AGM- what is it and Facebook & LinkedIn- what are they and how can they benefit your business, so for anyone involved in the CEPN forum or interested in it check out the website below where I’m sure you’ll find some great tips and useful business info!

http://www.cepnforum.org.uk

Finally, I have been working on an instruction/ training booklet for future users of the CEPN website (and probably anyone in the future who will be updating either Koogar, MyWirralHub or CEPN’s websites), which is proving to be a bigger task than at first anticipated.  However, I have managed to get half of it done today and will hopefully finish it by next week so it’s ready to go at Amanda’s first official meeting as Chair of CEPN Business Forum.

I have just about got enough time to post this up on the website before my day officially ends so hope you’ve enjoyed it and keep an eye out for updates on the May & June MyWirralHub networking events!

By spending time talking to people about your business you can raise your business’ profile and it may also refer clients your way.  Research the networking events in your local area and go along to generate business.

Remember! It is very important to research networking events and even go to a few (adopting a ‘try before you buy’ attitude) before deciding on which one(s) you feel is right for you and your business.

Each event is different in that some may require you to be in a certain area and others may ask you to pay a monthly or annual fee.  So remember – find one that suits you and will benefit your company!

It is possibly even more important that you don’t choose a networking event that has a lot of people from the same sector or industry as yourself as they are effectively your competition.

A useful tip when attending networking events is to have a particular product/service that you want to push that week/month rather than going in there and bombarding people with every aspect of what your business does.

Here are a few networking events to get you started:

• MyWirralHub – Wirral/ Don’t have to become a member/ Free or Pay for own Lunch/ Once a month/ Must be a business from local area.

http://www.mywirralhub.org.uk/

• CEPN Business Forum – Chester/ Need to become a member to join/ £60 a year if your business has been established for over 12 months and £30 if under 12 months/ Once a month.

http://www.cepnforum.org.uk/

Good luck and happy networking!

I don’t know about you, but I do a lot of networking as this is how I get business for Koogar. Meeting new people at different events and locations around the Northwest is a great way to speak to and find potential clients.

In the tail end of last year I met a person who says “I do the same thing as you…“.

Have you ever met people who say that to you?

How can another company do the same thing as your company as all businesses are different:

• different way of producing work
• different quality of work
• different experience within their field
• use different products/software
• are able to sell to different types of people/businesses
• have different products
• and so on…

There are a lot of factors that are not the same… and most importantly Koogar’s USP is different.

I feel at Koogar we walk the talk and deliver what our clients need and want to attract new clients/customers.

However recently we have been subject to what is called a Professional Business Stalker. Its a bit of a grand name for what this person actually does…

Just wondered… Have you ever experienced this? If you have what have you done to deal with the person involved… If you haven’t what would you do in my shoes?

Passing yourself off as another company must be illegal… surely…

When networking, don’t tell people you do the same thing as someone else as you probably don’t. You should have your own USP, target clients and pricing structure… but what cant be helped is if your a step ahead of your competition.

We would love to hear from you and your thoughts.

Today has been a very busy, but very productive day for me!

I’m pleased to say that I have finalised the wording on another marketing campaign, which will hopefully be produced and ready in the next few weeks so I can finally talk to you in detail about some of the things I’m doing.

I have also updated some details on MyWirralHub for one of its upcoming events in March.  Although this sounds relatively simple and mundane I’m excited because now I am able to log into the site and update anything or create anything that the site needs, which is great- another string to my bow sort of thing!

I have proofread a couple of client case studies, which I spent a couple of hours on , but I love proofreading and editing anything so was in my element for these two hours.  Koogar has now created two new pages on the website – one dedicated to client testimonials and the other case studies.  I have introduced these two subjects with a small blurb and the case studies page now has a case study from a client on there, which is great and should hopefully be posted on the website (as it’s only been saved at the moment) within the next couple of days.

The testimonials look quite exciting and I know I know…how exciting can they be??? Well from my point of view…very! I came across some different styles of presenting your client testimonials which Amanda saw me looking at and now she is designing our own Koogar style testimonials for our new page!

I have finally started to look at prospective client questionnaires, which I am going to be re-wording in the near future so future clients…watch out for this!

Although it’s been a hectic day, especially for Amanda, it’s been very interesting.  I am looking into Koogar becoming part of an online magazine in order to raise our profile, but everything looks promising and Amanda is excited too, which is a great sign!

The site and tweetup was inspired by a a group of people asking Koogar and Cromwells when we where going to put on a @WirralTweetUp, so Koogar and Cromwells got together and have set a date as well as some other surprises for the people, businesses and charities who will be attending!

Its about time the Wirral had their own TweetUp so the first event is going to be held on Monday 7th December at 5:30pm – 8:30pm at Cromwells Restaurant in Irby.

If you would like more information, please visit: http://www.wirraltweetup.co.uk

This week Koogar attended the Business Northwest Event in Manchester’s G-Mex.

We started quite early as we got the train and got to the venue about 9am.

I met a business colleague on the train on the way and before we made a start, we went and found a full English breakfast at a little cafe called “Bowlers”. Once we had finished and set ourselves up for the day, we then proceeded to be in the first group of speed networking of the day.

There were 50 businesses lined up in what they called “cots” ready to deliver their 60 second pitch, pass business cards and potentially do business. I saw this as a great opportunity to practise Koogar’s new 60 second proposition to new people and businesses. Obviously the more you practise the better and more confident you become in delivering it to others.

So, why did we go to this event knowing we have a lot of work on at the moment and spend time away from the business?

Well, we ask ourselves this question every time we are not in the office. As we all know, you need to spend and use your time effectively! Our goal for the day was to maybe find new clients, practise our new 60 second pitch, but more importantly come up with some new ideas for the business.

On Thursday we met a new PR company that we would like to do businesses with, an online magazine and also got re-aquainted with Business Link.

It is worth going to there events to take you away from the business and the day to day work for a while to:

• Reflect
• Talk to people who are in the similar position to yourself
• Have time to come up with new ideas for your business and your clients!

If you went along, please let us know what you thought and what you got out of it… We look forward to hearing from you!

Today I cancelled a few things we needed to attend for Koogar (working on the business) and concentrated on doing some actual work, but I’m still planning on networking tonight in Chester. The reason I cancelled is sometimes you just go a long to things for the sake of it without looking at the schedule and working out your deadlines and other things like admin that need to be done.

Anyway, I was running a little late due to unforeseen circumstances, but still got the the networking event 20 minutes late (and hadn’t missed the speaker). I had to attend this event as I have been asked to speak in a few months with regards to Social Media and how it can help your business, so I wanted to go to see the facilities and make some notes so I am prepared for when its my turn.

The speaker this evening was Chrissie [PAUSE] Chrissie Gibson, a lady who is very knowledgeable when it comes to networking and who I have met and seen speak many times before. (Chrissie has also spoken at a MyWirralHub event).

Even though I have heard Chrissie speak many times, I still pick up little nuggets of information on networking best practises. Since this event I have decided to attend a workshop put on by Chrissie so I don’t miss anything out and polish my networking skills.

Have you attended one of Chrissie’s courses? If yes, do you recommend it and what was the best thing you took away from it?