One Trick Marketing Ponies.
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
We all have a lens that we look at things through. Things like philosophies, convictions, religion, politics, ethics, etc. and that’s what makes the well-rounded world go ’round. It’s the hodge-podge of thought, the situations that have brought us to how we think and see the sun that help shape the world. Sometimes, though, we get tunnel vision. One thing, and one thing only is, in our world, the only way. The only path to whatever, the only way to think, the only way others should think and when those ‘others’ don’t see it our way, they are obviously wrong. Dangerous for certain.
When it comes to digital marketing, one-sided thinking will lead to failure, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but without a doubt, soon. Dirty lenses or lenses that aren’t even capable of being cleaned to let the ‘light come in’ turn into archaic thinking, and ultimately, lead to a catastrophic failure. It’s ok to have theories, it’s ok to have philosophies, but in the marketing world, there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat and honestly, the best way to skin the cat is through utilizing a wide variety of methods, a holistic approach if you will.
Meet The One Trick Marketing Pony
The one trick digital marketing pony knew about one way to do things, fifteen glorious years ago. Back in the day, this worked or back in the day, our marketing team scored hits because we simply focused on one angle. Guess what? the Internet changes EVERY day. The methods, what works, what doesn’t work. The algorithms, the attention span of a hungry digital populous, the platforms that we as a society use to post cat photos and spread proud dad photos of our kiddos. Marketing folks who rely on the way we used to do it are destined to fail. Marketers who cannot clean their marketing lenses end up in a brand tail-spin and look for the next people to blame for its failure.
The one trick digital marketing pony can’t continue to grow. The digital marketing space is fluid, as fluid as can be and certain lenses just don’t work anymore, and will probably not work again in the future. As long as we as a society keep changing the way we pay attention to stimulus and outside influences, the marketing folks worth their salt will continue to adjust strategy on the fly. They remain committed to learning, they remain OPEN to new ideas and concepts. They try, they fail, they try again and win. They rely on multiple strategies in order to skin the cat properly and cover all of the bases. They simply continue to clean their lenses.
Thanks for reading, and for cleaning your lenses from time to time.
Take care and thanks for sharing.
@TomJelneck
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Nag, Nag, Nag.
“Instead of interrupting, work on attracting.” — Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-Founder, HubSpot
How to interrupt:
- Send crappy emails to people you don't know.
- Connect with them on LinkedIn and then instantly message them a sales pitch.
- Send copious text messages to people you don't know with HUGE savings and all kinds of other obnoxious sales messaging.
- Spam neighborhood apps with your sales pitch and cross your fingers.
How to attract:
- Inspire.
- Don't sell.
- Be remarkable.
- Elevate your team.
- Be kind.
- Be human.
- Create something different.
- Be authentic.
- Be a giver.
No one loves to be interrupted. At work, school, sleep, play, wherever, interrupting people while they are doing them is just plain rude, so why would anyone employ interruption as a marketing tactic?
Which brand are you more likely to buy from? The one that nags you or the one that makes you smile and stands out?
The Archer In The Fog.
I've been listening to a great book lately, The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib. Allan is basically laying out his approach to how businesses can create a remarkable easy to follow marketing plan that actually does something for your bottom line. One of my favorite analogies that he used to describe people who don't take the time to perform market research and profile out their target consumer is an Archer In The Fog.
The archer in the fog can't obviously see a damned thing when he's trying to hit his mark.
Successful marketers take the time to get to know their audience. They understand that not everyone is their intended client / customer. I've asked so many business marketing departments who their target audience is and the response that I often get sends shivers down my spine. "Everyone." We can sell to everyone. But can you? Can you realistically compete against Amazon? Can you compete with Wal Mart? Do you have the funds to compete with Apple who can spend millions upon millions to transmit their message over and over? You can not. So stop trying.
The Niche
Let's take for an example an aesthetic medical practice that performs botox and other cosmetic procedures. The ambitious doctor opens her practice and is out to rule the world. She decides she wants to market her services to EVERYONE within a 20 mile radius. She thinks to herself, "they all need my services." Here's the problem. No they don't. Here's the other problem. There are 500 OTHER aesthetic practices within the 20 mile radius all trying to do the same damned thing as her. She needs to niche. What if she targeted pregnant moms that are looking for cosmetic work? It's a solid niche filled with resources. There are plenty of newly pregnant moms. And even better, they ALL talk to each other and learn from each other. Why not create your marketing campaigns around THEM? Give them resources, support them, be there for them, and oh yeah, sell to them when they need your cosmetic services.
The argument is always, well, I'm losing out on a huge market share by niching, but now you're the archer without the fog. You're targeting CLEARLY and acquiring your targets. Once you own this space, if you have the capacity, figure out another niche and market the crap out of that. FOCUS and you'll win.
The Human Factor
All too often marketing is all about the products that people sell. "We sell the best damned reciprocating saws," or, "Our computers are made with 90 gigowatt plasma induced gingerbread flux capacitors." Yes, this CAN be important to some, but the problem is, you're not solving anyone's problems by dwelling on the specs of your product. Have you ever heard Apple Computer tell you in a commercial how powerful their core processors are on their iMacs? They sell by being human. They sell by selling a lifestyle, an attitude, a sense of belonging to something larger and great. Take a look at your marketing, your ad copy, your website, your messaging. Is it product centric or people centric? If you find yourself always talking about how wonderful your company is, or just how awesome your products are, odds are, you're turning people away. Make it about them, and seize the day. Make it about them and come out of the fog. Shoot with clarity and reap the benefits down the road.
Get Niche. Get Rich.
“Everyone is NOT your customer.”
- Seth Godin
I'll always ask prospects this question: "Who is your market?" The response I get way more than I'd like: "EVERYONE, everyone is our market. We can sell this to everyone." Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Reality Check.
The Internet is hard. It's huge. It's getting bigger and bigger every day, which means that your target consumer of EVERYONE is getting distracted in such a way that you can't even imagine. There is no possible way that your business, UNLESS you are Pepsi, Apple, Amazon, etc., can reach out to effectively grab the attention of this audience and make a difference. The bottom line, your company and its marketing efforts will die way before you get any real traction and grab any market share.
You MUST Niche.
Take a look at your products and / or service. Sure, its possible that everyone could have a use for what you're flipping, but as we've discovered, you can't really market effectively to everyone. Choose a more niche audience, perhaps it's pregnant moms, maybe it's a segment of the population that's obsessed with Banjos or coffee, find a niche of people that would love your product or service and BE THERE. Connect with that target audience, show them how you know them, get to know their language and speak it, speak it well.
Stop Marketing Your Products.
Start marketing the essence of your company. If your company doesn't have a personality, get one. Be you. Bring it to life. People DON'T want to buy from a faceless, boring corporation. They want to buy from a company that speaks to them. A company with conviction and possibly even values, a company that isn't afraid to be creative and NOT speak corporate speak. A company that has balls. Stop being SAFE, start being alive and not afraid to push some boundaries. Don't, of course, be a schmuck, but be alive.
Getting Ready To Get Ready.
What are you waiting for? Waiting for your marketing messaging to be perfect? Good luck. The people who win at Marketing are the wins who go for it. They fail. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes they crush it right out of the gate. The point is, you'll NEVER FREAKING KNOW if you don't get going, NOW. Ready? GO. Sure, you have to plan, sure you have to create and YES, you have to measure, but I see so many companies getting ready to get ready and they NEVER pull the trigger.
Maybe it's fear of failure, maybe it's laziness, maybe it's simply not in their wheel-house. If you can't get your marketing rocking and rolling, call a pro who can help. In fact, if you know enough to be dangerous about social media, SEO, content marketing, etc., you SHOULD hire someone who does it for a living and knows WAY more than how to be dangerous. This is NOT an area to skimp on or attempt to do it yourself.
The Bottom Line.
You NEED to stand out. You need to be remarkable. You need to sending different vibes than all of your competitors. You need to be amazing in your own right and share that amazing with the rest of the NICHE that you've chosen.
Thanks for reading and sharing with a friend,
@TomJelneck
From Monks To Marketing : My Content Creating Journey
Catholic school was part of my life. It all started with knuckle smacking nuns at Saint Mary’s in New London, continued on at Bishop Moore Catholic High School here in Orlando and, for the ultimate in Catholicly things, a seminary in the VERY rural farming community of Saint Meinrad, Indiana.
My blogging / writing / marketing journey started at Bishop Moore. I was a pimply, socially awkward senior with lackluster grades, and frankly, not much confidence in my brain power at the time. Many things changed with ONE assignment. A new, really dynamic English teacher arrived on the scene. Suzanne Groth. Mrs. Groth, or Suzie as I was never allowed to call her, assigned the class a parody writing assignment. The assignment was to read A Separate Peace By John Knowles and construct a parody of the story. I got to work. I turned it in, and like most days, I was asked to stay after class. Waiting for a huge disappointment or, talking to, I slinked up to the front of the class to meet Suzie. She handed me my paper and at the very top right corner, my eyes gazed upon a foreign grade. A++++++. Not only did I get the additional + marks, she wrote in amazingly neat cursive, EXCELLENT WORK. I was beaming. This parody, this assignment, and this grade, literally changed the way I looked at writing. This assignment woke something within me and sparked an amazing journey.
Saint Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, Indiana
Discernment & Jedis.
Being influenced by so much Catholicly stuff growing up, I had an inkling that I might want to pursue the priesthood. A school from Southern Indiana started to court me and after a weekend of discovery, I signed on the dotted line. This place, far removed from ANYTHING, is nestled on a hill overlooking a sleepy farming town. This place was meant for seclusion, introspection, discernment, and sometimes medieval torture. Throughout the campus you’ll see crosses, a cemetery with simple stone markers, breathtaking structures constructed out of sand stone, this holy place became my home for 4 years.
The Benedictine Monks Of Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Saint Meinrad, Indiana
On the campus at Saint Meinrad was a working Archabbey. A gaggle of monks live, pray, teach, and work at Saint Meinrad. The community lives in unison and follow a simple rule of life set forth by Saint Benedict. Not only do the black robe wearing monks live here, they die here, and they are buried here on the property. Some of the monks labored at their own printing press, others had priestly duties, some worked at the college, some took care of the grounds and rolled around on lawnmowers. This community was one like I’ve never seen before, and one that helped to form me in many ways. Ora Et Labora, or Pray and Work is their mantra, and they live it daily.
Education at a seminary isn’t like the typical college experience. Sure, I dabbled with some Tequila and cheap beer (Rolling Rock), but this education didn’t simply consist of school books. Formation, spiritual guidance, workshops, a TON of Churchin’, and some pretty hard core philosophy and theology courses were a standard part of the day. Weekends ALSO consisted of service, some more Churchin’ and of course, homework. It was an experience like none other, but an experience that continued to build my passion for words and thought.
Plato, Emerson, & Words.
Throughout this ‘formation’ or education, I was introduced to so many amazing thinkers, writers, doers, and dreamers. This unique juxtaposition of medieval education, modern thought, romanticism, and ancient philosophy brewed just the right mix of deep thought. As I dug into Plato and became enthralled with Neoplatonism, Essence Vs. Existence, and Ontological arguments, my writing became more prolific. I remember grabbing a pad and a pen and going to remote areas of the campus that looked up at the Archabbey Church, I was never at a loss for inspiration there.
Hard Pass On The Collar.
After 4 long years at Saint Meinrad, I had made the determination that priestlly life wasn’t a great fit for me. I had other aspirations. I wanted to build something, create something, run something, BUT, what in the world does one do with an English / Communication degree? Bolt on two minors, Philosophy, and Theology, and you’ve got a less than stellar combo platter of opportunity when you graduate. I ended up working for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando at San Pedro Retreat Center, made a soul crushing $15,000 dollars a year, BUT, taught myself HTML, SEO, and HOW to attract people to the website, and started to put that English degree to work by composing content for the retreat center. It worked. More retreats. More bookings. More summer camp sign ups, the website, the content, and the SEO started to transform the ‘business’. I loved helping this organization win.
San Pedro Retreat Center In Winter Park, Florida
What A Long Strange Trip.
A few zigs, a few zags, and 14 years ago, I built On Target Web Solutions (now, On Target Digital Marketing). Sitting in a 10X12 suite by UCF, I spent days upon days building On Target’s website, crafting content, and attracting new customers. Over time we’ve grown, and over time, the SEO game has evolved, BUT, the one constant has been content. That degree from that monastery started to pay off in multiple ways. As On Target grew, I became the front person for the organization. I would craft content, write the social media, close deals, make the coffee, empty the trash, etc.. One day, it occurred to me, I’m pretty darned good at this stuff, I should add the word expert after my name when I craft content. Social Media Expert, SEO Expert, Marketing expert, etc..
The Phone Call.
On a warm, humid, swampy December’s day, I received a phone call from FOX. Terrified to answer, I picked up the call not knowing what lurked on the other end of the line. The well known reporter began asking me about a new Google marketing product that had just come out that day. She wanted to come in to On Target and interview me about it. I knew just enough about this new product to be dangerous, but was terrified to goof up and bring potential shame upon the On Target team if I messed up.
After turning down an amazing earned media opportunity, by the grace of God, The Daily Buzz called the following week and booked me for a live appearance on their nationally broadcasted morning show. This SECOND call started everything. Both media outlets found me by a Google search, seeking a Digital Marketing / Tech expert.
BECAUSE I put the word expert in my content, I've been blessed with 380+ television appearances on NBC, FOX, CBS, Spectrum & CCTV. My voice has lit up the airwaves with several radio interviews including NPR and WDBO. My expertise has been called upon by tech savvy reporters from USA Today and the Orlando Sentinel.
The Bottom Line.
Blogging and owning your space can transform your business and your life. If you can write, write some more. If you can talk, create a podcast and share your experiences and wisdom. If you’re good on camera, do it, and do it often. Content can transform organizations, and individuals, I’m living proof. My biggest piece of advice, just get to work. Write it. Voice it. Video it. DO IT.
Smells, Bells, Monks & Marketing. My Marketing Journey
“If you don’t get these grades up, College won’t be an option.” If I had a nickel for everytime my parents, teachers, deans, pets, and nuns said this to me, I’d be rolling in that shiny, new Range Rover Discovery Sport I’ve been lusting over.
High school was not my thing. I was a nerd. I was not popular. I was not an athlete. I was, as the kids say today, Meh. My grades hovered around lukewarm depending on the day. I had no passion in school, until, I met Mrs. Groth. A 40 something English teacher, Mrs. Groth seemed to get me. She understood my angst. She found something in me that I didn’t know existed, a love of words. Being in her class senior year changed my life and gave me confidence in a skill that bubbled to the surface as the year went on.
Saint Meinrad Archabbey, Saint Meinrad, Indiana
I did manage to graduate Bishop Moore High School and I did manage to get accepted into a college. I’m not going to lie, there was a lot of fingernail biting, but I finally got that acceptance letter and I was off to the corn-fields of Southern Indiana to discern whether or not I was called to be a Catholic Priest. I’ll never forget my first trip to Saint Meinrad. The winding, hilly, fertilizer-infused air, the cows, the soybeans, the tractors and around that last bend of road arose this majestic monastery. Hand constructed out of sandstone by toiling Monks that looked like Jedi knights, this place was something different.
Upon my arrival, the bells tolled. A junior/novitiate monk scurried down the sidewalk with his freshly shaved corona. This college was like none other. It wasn’t a party school. It wasn’t a place to sow your wild oats. It was a place to discern, and for me, a place to write.
Learning about Blake, Milton, Aquinas, Aristotle, and Ralph Waldo Emerson started to awaken more and more within me. I gravitated toward philosophy and the classics. I would read Plato’s symposium and digest countless volumes in the cold, quiet, sandstone-lined library. I would walk up and down those aisles craving more and more brain food. I was in a writer’s paradise.
I discerned that the Catholic Priesthood was not for me. After a shit-ton of introspection, counsel and gut feeling, I graduated that fine school with a BA in English, Communications and a minor in Philosophy. Now what? What in the hell does one do with an English degree?
I scored my first gig with the Catholic Diocese of Orlando at a Retreat Center I had been working summers camps while home from school. They needed help with their marketing. I figured it out. I built a website. I figured out how to get that website found on Google, Hotbot, AskJeeves, Excite and many other archaic, now defunct search engines. Everything started to change.
People were searching for the ‘stuff’ that we were offering and finding us. I was using my words. I was creating content. I was adjusting words on that website and constantly tweaking it to pull more and more people to our little slice of retreat center heaven.
A few years later, after a few stints as a marketing director at various and sundry places, I built my own company. On Target came to life. What began as an SEO centric agency has now blossomed into a place of words. A place of storytelling. An agency obsessed with telling amazing stories.
An agency obsessed with doing it differently and helping clients stand out above all of the noise that floods the Internet daily. It’s so amazing how one person can inspire so much. I’ve been blessed by Mrs. Groth’s encouragement back in that cinder block, musty-smelling classroom at Bishop Moore. She lit the spark that has created so much. I’m so grateful that she was part of my story.
Tom Jelneck owns On Target Digital Marketing, an agency located in Orlando, Florida. He offers digital marketing consulting and services to Catholic & Independent Schools across the United States. Tom can be reached at 866-998-6886 xt. 100
Status Level = EXPERT.
How To Attract Media Coverage Through Digital Marketing.
So many people ask me how I've managed to become a trusted media provider of Tech & Digital Marketing content. The simple answer? I'm an expert. The more complicated answer? It took me years to finally come to the realization that I have to tell my story. I have to be comfortable enough to tell the world that I'm an expert. Once I did that, everything changed.
I'll never forget... Looking down at the caller ID in my office and seeing the Daily Buzz calling me. The Daily Buzz was a Nationwide morning program filmed live here in Orlando. They had done a Google search and found me under a keyphrase like Social Media Expert. After a few appearances on the Daily Buzz, my phone rang under. This time, it was the local Orlando Fox affiliate. They came to my offices and shot a piece on Social Media. Not long after that, I was appearing in their studios, sometimes taping 2-3 segments at a time.
This earned media coverage has been a blessing, one that I NEVER take for granted, one that helps instill confidence in my prospects, one that helps me stay on top of the ever-changing tech and digital marketing space. I've had the great fortune to appear on TV now over 260 times. As a side effect, I've also been on other media outlets and channels, have been covered in the USA Today, have been on a global station, CCTV a few times, it's been amazing.
So, how can you become a trusted expert? Well first and foremost, you have to know your stuff. Read EVERYDAY, absorb your industry, go to the networking events and hang out with smarter people than you. Read industry publications, subscribe to every bit of information that you can in order to constantly improve yourself. Next, the hard part, TELL the world that you're an expert. People want to buy from experts, they want to know that you / or your company is the absolute best. No one wants to work with a novice, ever.
9 Ways To Help Build Your Expert Status Level
- Start a blog. Keep it up. Share your thoughts, share your wisdom, share your feelings about the state of your industry.
- Keep your social media on point. Tweet and post about your industry, share your insights with substance, remind people that you are the expert in your space.
- Build your tribe. I can't stress this enough, surround yourself on social media with influencers who believe in you and your expertise. Feed them, enlighten them, entertain them.
- Build a media list. Find the right people that you want coverage from on social media. Be a real human being, don't spam them, don't solicit them, but feed them and help to make their jobs easier. Reporters need your help, they need your expertise, make it available to them.
- Be gracious. If you do get a media hit or inquiry, be nice. I can't state that enough. Try to be as accommodating as you can to help the reporter get the information that they need.
- Be thankful. After a media hit, remember to thank the media outlet / reporter, etc.. Professional courtesy goes a long way.
- Market your media hit. Don't forget to post your media hit on social media, boost it on Facebook, upload it to your website / blog, it helps to attract other media outlets and builds credibility for your company / business.
- Google is your friend. Be certain that you are keeping your blog / social media channel / youtube channel current. The media USES Google to find experts like you.
- NEVER, EVER sell your products or promote yourself during any media hit. It's perfectly acceptable to say who you are and what you do, but, this is not an opportunity to sell, EVER.
Again, the hardest part of all of this is telling the world that you're an expert. I'm actually a very shy individual and don't thrive on telling people how awesome I am. It's hard, but it HAS to be done. No one will recognize you as an expert if you don't recognize yourself as one first.
Thanks for reading and good luck out there!
Tom
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Contact Me
If I can help your business grow and thrive with expert Digital Marketing / SEO guidance, please call me. In Orlando, 407-830-4550, Nationwide: 866-998-6886.
#MarketingFail : Don't Hire An IT Guy To Do Your Marketing
Ever hear the expression set it and forget it? I think lots of folks think that SEO, Digital Marketing and Content Marketing are all technical. Some technician wearing a pocket protector sits behind a terminal and tweaks, makes some adjustments to your website and BAM, instant success. When I’m out speaking to organizations I often ask what they think an SEO guy or girl looks like and 9 times out of 10, they describe that tech geek.
Digital Marketing is ever evolving. It demands a strategy. It demands attention, it demands change and oftentimes, needs to rapidly be adjusted in order to work. Companies that rely on that tech geek to drive traffic to their website are failing. Why? Here’s a few reasons:
1.) The corporate web site sucks.
It doesn’t matter how much traffic you through at a bad website, it still won’t convert.
2.) Mismatch.
If you’re trying to get your tech geek to get you ranked under search terms that don’t make any sense to your consumers, when they land on your website, they are going to bounce straight off, because the search doesn’t match what they (the consumers) are after.
3.) Social Media Automation.
Scheduling a bunch of social media posts that are all about selling your products and services is a great way to fail at Digital Marketing. People on the Internet are NOT looking to be sold to. They will un-follow your business / brand quicker then crap through a goose if they feel like you’re trying to sell to them.
4.) BORING, automated content written for search engines and NOT humans.
This is probably one of the most common infractions on the web today. Search engines crave content, so do people. It is often VERY tempting to hire an off-shore company to create content in order to hyper-inflate your SEO. This MAY work for a bit, but as soon as one of your customers / prospects / website visitors reads this jumbled up nonsense, they hit the back button and move on to your competitor. Crappy content can do more harm to your brand then anything.
5.) PPC / SEM FAILS.
Believe it or not, running a successful pay per click or Gooogle Adwords campaign is NOT easy. I actually think that Google has done a disservice to small businesses by offering them the $50.00 coupons that they send out to new businesses. Business owners, hungry for their own piece of the Google real estate jump in, create a campaign and flip the switch. They often BURN through all of their money within 8 hours with oftentimes, ZERO leads, sales, results, etc.. There are many nuances of running a successful PPC campaign that experienced Digital Marketers know.
It’s like this.
The web changes daily. You need not only a strategy to reach your core demographic, you need a partner who understands how to execute, analyze, re-adjust and tweak constantly. If your digital marketing strategy isn’t changing frequently, odds are you’re doing it wrong.
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Content Strategies To DISRUPT Your Marketplace.
When is the last time you purchased something because you read a snooze fest of a blog? When’s the last time you shared a boring infographic with all of your friends on social media? Perhaps you saw a non-compelling video on youtube and decided to embed it on your website to make it that much more boring. You get the point. Life’s too short to read, share or create digital nonsense.
How is that some blogs spread like a virus? Why do some infographics get talked about and shared across the digital world? How is it that a cat video is being talked about so much on Facebook and shared on cat loving walls all across the planet? That’s easy. They are remarkable. They are NOT like the others. They are DISRUPTIVE to the digital world.
So many companies come to me and my companies asking us to create a viral video for them. Make it go viral they’ll say. We want 2 million shares on this one… This stuff simply can’t be forced. Things get shared online because they stand out like a sore thumb. They stand out because someone did something REAL and captured it on film. They weren’t trying to make something go viral, they were simply being real. People like real. People on the Internet like to see real, and share real and celebrate real.
Take the recent rant by Fox 35 anchor John Brown regarding the Kardashians. He had a bit of a Kardashian meltdown on live TV. It was humorous, it was lively, it was real… and it got shared, and shared again, and televised, and featured on Mashable and talked about by hundreds of thousands of people. He was real.
So, how can your social media, website, SEO, content and digital marketing in general stand out? Be a DISRUPTER. Do something to take your marketplace off center. Do something that no one expects or sees coming. I’ve compiled a few content strategies that can help your business DISRUPT your particular marketplace.
1.) BE REAL.
I talked about this above, but being real is oftentimes very unexpected. Share real life stories in your blog content and how they relate to your customers, products or services. Don’t be afraid to show frustration, joy and other real emotions through your content. It’s imperative that you add a personality to your brand. The bottom line, your marketplace doesn’t expect your content to be real, make it that way and you’ll stand out and shine.
2.) BE THE EXPERT.
I’ve had the great fortune and have been blessed to be featured on Fox 35, CCTV, USA TODAY, CFNEWS13, NBC and more because I constantly present myself as an expert. The media wants experts. Your customers want to buy from experts. Your social media tribe wants to follow experts. As you create your blog, infographic, video, etc., do so with authority. Create as if you and your business are the LEADERS of your industry. We don’t all like to brag about ourselves and our accomplishments, but, I encourage you to make your expertise known.
3.) BE DIFFERENT.
If you aren’t be different online, why bother? Why post that snooze fest of a blog? Is that infographic you are posting of your ordering flowchart really going to take the Internet by storm? Create the unexpected. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of not playing it safe. Sometimes it’s simple doing something no one saw coming. Sometimes it’s as simple as creating a value add for your clients, a tool, a gizmo, a new report, a weekly tweet about the office dog, a story about that one time that your factory worker rescued a bird from the warehouse. Be different and stop talking about the same ole, same ole. Be that purple cow standing out from all of the NORMAL cows.
4.) ONE LAST THING.
Proceed with some type of boundaries. I’m not encouraging you to create anything that doesn’t represent your brand well. I’m not encouraging you to go out and be a jackass. I’m simply encouraging you to start creating stuff that no one in your industry would see coming. I’m encouraging you to build value by providing your prospects, clients, website visitors, social media followers with an expert insight that no one else is sharing. I’m encouraging you to INTERRUPT the current way that your industry is doing business. If you can’t be different, why bother at all?
Now, go forth and DISRUPT.
Thanks for reading and sharing.
@TomJelneck
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Outside Marketing Reality VS. Inside Reality
I was visiting an organization the other day and meeting with the executive director. It was the first time I had ever been to their office, so wasn’t really sure what to expect. We were going to discuss an ongoing content marketing strategy in order to help connect this nonprofit with their volunteers in some neato, cool ways. I loved their website, their executive director was passionate and very hospitable, so I was excited to visit.
Until… I walked in the door. I walked into a waiting room type area with multiple chairs. There was an unmanned receptionist desk, but their were signs of life on the desk, including a really moldy coffee cup and some crumbled up, presumably used kleenex. I waited a few moments and could see some cubicle dwellers in the wings. They were busy, doing their thing and none had even looked up to see me standing there. So 3 minutes has gone by and I finally did the throat clear thing, you know, to get someone’s attention and acknowledge that their was a new human being in the office. One gentleman in a bright sweater walked by, looked at me and turned his back on me to help a cubicle dweller. He was literally 5 feet away from. He saw me standing, saw me make eye contact and chose to do nothing. No head nod, no 1 minute signal, no nothing. Cold.
Finally, I decided to walk around the corner and flag someone down to get our meeting started. Hospitality Fail. I’ve been thinking about this awkward encounter a lot. This great online presence, this shiny website that is very welcoming, this organization that serves people in such a profound way and then within their organization, their people, their team have no sense of carrying that mission out internally. Maybe this was an isolated issue, maybe it was just a crazy busy day, but maybe, just maybe, the interior culture isn’t matching the outbound messaging.
How does your business address culture? Do you hold days of retreat and reflect upon the organizations’ mission? Do you hire only certain folks that seem to fit within? Do you send them daily quotes of inspiration and instill in them the mission of the organization? Do you let Mike with the Yellow sweater ignore guests? Do you let Sally behind the cubicle not acknowledge people walking in the door? Now granted, I’m just a consultant. But what if I was a new potential community partner or donor meeting to discuss a large gift? What if I was a volunteer who had just donated weeks of their time organizing the last fundraising event?
Our outside marketing needs to match our inside reality and vice versa. That rings true for businesses, for nonprofits, for churches, for city governments. The next chance you get, reflect upon how people perceive the good work that you do and how you’ve built a culture to bolster and build that up.
Thanks for reading and sharing.
@TomJelneck