January 25^th, 2010
Society Marketing and Social Marketing

This is an exciting time for a business referral group I belong to because we are taking the social marketing tools, many of us use individually, into a larger forum to market our business society (our referral group) socially. What I mean is this; the business referral group I belong to consists of several businesses who, individually, use their websites to list products and services and use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. to get people to their website. We are now embarking on putting a website together that features all the individual business after which we will engage in social media messaging modes that encourage people to visit that, and our own, websites. We are leaving the realm of the individual and entering into the ‘collective.’ STAR TREK fans may recognize that hive ideal, and get a snicker or two, but, in the nicest way, we are joining our collective business heads to raise our society’s profile and, with that, attract people to our individual business and society.

Raising the profile of a society is not a new idea; what’s different is how we are going about it. Right now in ‘business world’, many small and medium size businesses that don’t have the money to ‘brand’ themselves as high quality providers of some product or service, rely on other associations to transmit that message. That’s why you’ll see advertisements indicating associations with/to the Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau or any number of organizations who have already taken the time and energy to establish themselves. You will also see businesses and other organizations getting involved or ‘partnering’ with charitable organizations such as the United Way or Vernon’s own Hospital Foundation etc. for win-win marketing.  

Society Marketing has evolved over the years. Think about how the numerous cancer societies have differentiated themselves over the years, or tried to I might say, as they first embraced door to door solicitation (think March of Dimes), then the various organ & disease runs & walks (I’m still waiting for the Canadian Bladder Association 100 yard dash!), and now they  are turning to the new way, the social marketing way, of raising their profile in the community and across the nation.  Volunteers and staff (if they can afford it) are setting up Facebook groups and Tweeting about this or that.  

You might think I am writing about joining the bandwagon, but I’m not. I’m writing about a new way to incorporate the strengths of others, a new way to market individuals businesses as a conglomerate – the ‘whole’ being greater than the sum of it parts. Business referral groups aren’t new, what is new about our group is that we are becoming a virtual shopping mall for products and services; one stop shopping! That’s exciting!  

We all, as individual businesses in my business referral group, have a great respect for our local competitors. We strive to find ways to differentiate ourselves from others in significant ways, not just the blah blah throw away lines you see on business cards about service and integrity etc. Everyone ignores those lines now-a-days; or is it just me? I think we have found an excellent way, and reason, for other businesses and the public to come to us, our society members, rather than go elsewhere. We are offering a node into a product and service realm. Within or referral group of over 30 members, we have someone or know someone, that REALLY IS trustworthy and dependable – we already checked that out, we have rules about service, integrity and more. So, when the business group I belong to debuts our new website in February, and you start receiving messages about the ‘Business Okanagan Referral Group’ (the BORG) in the North Okanagan, make sure you visit us. We’ll have something for everyone and it would be futile to resist us!