Travels In Networking: What Works Best?

Manchester is a brilliant hub for business. It’s got an electric social scene, co-working choices galore, and there’s always a tucked-away coffee bar within reach where you can grab a coffee with someone to learn more.

It’s little surprise, then, that networking in the city takes a range of forms. The Making You Content team are frequent faces in rooms where people mingle, trade stories and open new doors. We’ve learned a lot about what brings strangers together over the years, so we thought we’d share some of those lessons with you:

Cool concepts encourage discussion

As a content agency, our remit is extremely broad – practically anyone can use our business for their own. That means we don’t really have a limit on the type of networking we do. And in Manchester, that is a very good thing.

Josh, one of our copywriters, is a voracious sampler of the weird, wild and wonderful events spread cross the city’s networking groups. In the past four months, he’s been to a gin-tasting session at a bar in Spinningfields, a bowling alley where cards swapped hands between games, and a quiz night involving a plasticine modelling round. Each of them is unique enough to break the ice.

An ordinary room containing not much other than a coffee machine and a platter of sandwiches doesn’t really cut it anymore. We’re proud millennials. We want offbeat, cultural dates to look forward to. When attendees are surprised or delighted, they’re easier to talk to – it’s that simple.

Outdoor networking is a breeze (literally)

We love copywriting, but it often involves days spent at a desk, screen and keyboard.

Luckily there’s a long-running group called Freshwalks that we keep returning to. It’s a loose collection of 50 or 60 professionals, all of whom want to make contacts on the hiking trail. We’ve walked in some of the region’s finest countryside. You get to spend a whole day in the open air, which is fuel for conversations that can jump-start relationships and referrals.

There’s a city version too – so far, it’s taken us around the old banking district and bygone Mancunian music venues. What’s not to love? Networking can be therapeutic, as well as professionally worthwhile.

Stability is useful too

Of course there’s merit in dotting between events, rarely visiting the same group twice. Yet the converse is also true: the regular, planned attendance for a business lunch or breakfast, as exemplified by our Gareth’s Manchester Enterprise Group membership.

Every Thursday at 7am, he is there, bacon and coffee held in either hand as speakers deliver a presentation on their brand identity. Gareth’s taken his turn too. Every week, his network comes a little better into focus, making it easier to raise our copywriting services to those who need them. It’s a sustained, mutual pool of knowledge – something we can all benefit from.

What’s your networking routine? We’d love to find out. And remember you can contact our content agency for help growing your own business. We’re a bunch of award-winning copywriters, largely thanks to our willingness to speak to as many people as we can. Most of all, we love to talk wordy – so get in touch if you want to find out more!