Let's face it; almost all the advice you'll receive about networking these days has all boiled down to this: Social Media is King. While it's true that having a social media presence in today's mobile-technology driven world is absolutely crucial to your business' image, when you get down to the nitty gritty of it and do some serious research into it, you'd be surprised at how low impact social media can be. You'll find that doing some good old-fashioned traditional network marketing can really put your company on the map. What you'll really find is social media is not all it's cracked up to be.

Unless you break into the social media scene with some incredibly viral media campaign, social media will just be another stepping stone to keeping credibility within your business. Johnathan Black from Marketing Expansion wrote up a great article with examples of effective offline network marketing ideas and techniques that will surely give your company that extra boost that it deserves. Here's some of his ideas outlined:

1. Avoid Distractions: While it's easy to veer off into other ventures and projects or focus on something that isn't giving your business results, don't lose sight of what your business really needs; some TLC and focus on what's important. Think about how you can get more sponsoring, improve on your marketing, and get more sales.
2. Take Advantage of Workshops & Training Sessions: Why turn down a great opportunity to learn something new? Look and see what kind of local workshops are available in your area you can attend to better your networking techniques.
3. Be a Trade Show-er: If you haven't ventured into trade shows, now's a great opportunity for you to look into it. Trade shows can give you and your company a great opportunity to get your brochure, samples, and business cards into the hands of your target market. We recommend having a card that truly speaks about your business and leaves a huge impact on those you hand it out to.
4. Brand Yourself: It is important to have a super attitude to accompany your super product that's going to change the world. Make sure that you carry with you the excitement and energy you want others' to have when talking about your product.

These are just a few tips and tricks that are covered, so take a minute to look over the original article for some more ideas that you can use in your networking ventures. Check it out under the jump! Download over 75+ free business card designs from our design download gallery!