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Networking is the personal side of arketing . It consists of interacting with prospective customers and other business leaders both inside and outside your field. You'll never reach as many people networking as you will with mass-media advertising, but networking allows you to actually look your prospects in the eyes, shake their hands, and personally give them your information. It gives your business or service a face - yours. And it's free, making it especially useful to very small or otherwise cash-strapped businesses.

The best and most common way to network is to attend business meetings. There are plenty is your area open to the public. Check your local newspaper and business paper, if there is one, to find where and when they meet. It's important that you don't spend your time schmoozing in unproductive places, though. Meeting with colleagues in your own field, as in trade organization meetings, might help you get new ideas, and it might be profitable if you're in a position to receive subcontracted work, but it won't get you the visibility and client base that proper networking is capable of. For that, you need to attend meetings populated by your customers. So if you run a brewery, go to the local small business association meetings, or better yet, a meeting of the Restaurateur's Association of wherever. Attending the West Coast Brewers Club meeting won't bring you much business.

When you find meetings to attend, be sure to bring plenty of business cards, and have a short spiel prepared, a brief introduction that elucidates your specific products or services and arouses interest in the listener. Brevity is key; you won't get anywhere by boring your prospects. Be careful not to come on too strong, too. You want to come across as a fellow businessperson with an interest in the local business community, not as a door-to-door salesman type. Get to know the contacts you meet. Take an interest in their businesses. Make recommendations and refer others to them, and someday they'll do the same for you. That's how the networking game operates.

Don't expect your phones to light up after your first couple of networking functions. You'll likely have to attend several, even dozens of these meetings before you start to see real results. But the more you attend, the better you'll get to know the other attendees, and the more entrenched you'll become in their heads as "the local shipping guy" or "my accountant friend." When you've reached this level, you've successfully networked.