I just got a note from a partner thanking us for introducing him to social media.
How cool is that?
Actually, I can tell you exactly how cool it is: Very. Totally. Super. Way. It’s actually Ice Cold.
Here’s why: I spend part of my day reading the biggest and best marketing blogs. These are posts written by brilliant folks who have defined digital marketing in some way.
They are the game changers. It’s fascinating to have at my fingertips the tools, the tips, and (most importantly) the thinking that goes into what they do. I constantly try to steal as much as I can from them.
I’m not one of those guys.
At least, not yet. I’ve got some great ideas about digital marketing, mainly the content side of things. But it’s going to be a while before the book comes out (titles, anyone?).
One of the advantages, as I see it, to being one of “those guys” is this: you don’t have to convince anyone to listen to you. People are either interested, or they’re not. (Disclaimer: Those people work their asses off saying things worth listening to. There’s a difference.)
In other words, game changers aren’t getting the call unless businesses are, in a big way, already on board. CEOs like the tune, and want the whole album. Or MP3. Or insert your own metaphor that doesn’t suck as bad as mine.
Not so with a lot of small businesses.
As marketing changes, small business owners are (correctly) suspicious of the Next Big Thing. They don’t have teams of marketers doing research for them; they’re running most of the business by themselves, keeping all the plates spinning at once (that metaphor’s a little better).
And people hate change. That’s a given. Change in business is an efficiency vs. value equation. Is it more efficient to stay the course, or is the value of the coming change worth the struggle of getting on board?
I got to ask Chris Brogan a question about this on an online radio show not long ago. It was something like, “Hey, Chris. Thanks for taking my question. You’re brilliant. (I didn’t actually put that stuff in, but it was implied.) What do you do when you work with a company that you have to work to convince about the value of social media?”
Honestly, he was stumped. He good natured-ly said something like, “That doesn’t really happen.” And I know what he meant. But it was a case of same planet, different worlds.
Because that happens all the time. Just because we work in digital marketing doesn’t mean we don’t have to sell the idea of digital marketing, social media, content strategy, and the rest. And in order to do that, there’s a lot of education that goes on. Both ways.
So, when I get a note like I did this morning, it means there’s one more business that’s joining the conversion. One more business that’s listening to what its customers have to say.
Another business that’s being more than its marketing.
Man, that’s a great feeling.
Have any notes like that one to share?
Tags: Ben Curnett, business relationships, Digital Marketing, marketing strategy, partnerships, Social Media