The stories we tell

Do you remember buying your first car? The stories you told yourself about what was important about that first car? Did you want a red car (because they go faster)? Was it important to have a bull-bar (because you drive on a road with kangaroos)? What stories did you tell yourself about what was important?

Back in 1995, when I bought my first car, this purchase was heavily influenced by my Dad. He told me that the best cars were Japanese cars. The top three (in his view) were Toyota, Mazda and Subaru. Although I trusted my Dad’s judgement on what made a good car, I bought a Honda. I liked it’s sleek sporty two door look. It suited the image story I told myself. The salesman, sensing my doubts over Dad’s list, reassured me that the Honda was also built in Japan.

In my view, based purely on the upbringing from my Dad, Japanese cars were built better, would last longer and be more reliable. That story didn’t help me when the clutch failed on my (new to me) Japanese built car after the first two weeks of owning it.

Changing stories

I needed that car to get myself to my job and I had to sort it out. The car dealer had the opportunity to contribute to the next part of the story. They wouldn’t admit it was a warranty issue. They implied that because I was a ‘girl’ I probably didn’t know what a clutch was meant to feel like. I was 24 at the time (yes, a late bloomer as far as buying first cars go) and had been driving manual cars since I was 16 or earlier. I’d used a clutch or two in my time…

I had to fight long and hard for the dealer to fix the clutch under warranty. I was without a car for months, and I had to tackle an inconvenient public transport system. The whole experience changed everything for me. For a good long while the story I told myself was that used car dealers were sexist and that they sucked at customer service. (I have since worked in retail car sales and I know a lot of very decent, honest, caring people in that industry. I would never want to tar them with this story brush. Others, though, I would paint in high-vis fluoro to alert people to the danger lying therein – pardon the pun. But I digress…)

We all have frames

Red cars go faster ... or is that just a story we tell ourselves?

Maybe the story is not that we want a red car because it goes faster, but what it is that the red car says about us.

Perhaps we tell ourselves that a red car allows us to be perceived as unique.

Maybe what is important about the bull-bar is not only about the Kangaroos, but about how we feel that extra bit protected with an extra lump of metal between us and the car in front.

The stories we tell ourselves frame our existence. If our view is that ALL used car sales people are jerks, we’re unlikely to go and buy a used car from any of them. Some of us believe the story that says we’ll get a better deal if we buy a car privately. Others hold the belief that a vehicle purchased with warranty is always a better risk.

When it comes to how we do our marketing, it doesn’t matter whether you agree with the story I believe. It only matters that you believe that my story matters to me. That you have empathy for what my experience is. You may not agree with it. It may not be your experience. But that you say “I see your story. It’s not my story. I don’t believe what you believe. And that is OK.”

Which frame will you choose?

The way I see it, there are two options:

“I have this product/service to sell, I’ve worked very hard to make it, I have a lot invested in it. You should buy it.”

“I see you. I realise that you may be nervous about this. How can I help you move past that fear so that you can know what I know and experience what I experience?”

We can appear over-eager, or even desperate. It can feel like all that matters is making the sale. Or we can make the choice to be kind, supportive helpful people who are here to serve rather than just to make a buck. Very few of us don’t need to make a buck, but it’s our choice whether we do it in a way that lifts others.

To do that, we have to see the need – those deeper, more hidden underlying stories that people tell themselves. It means having empathy for their perspective and determining how best to help them, to make the choice to serve with empathy.

If we choose the right frame our approach changes. It moves from being one of desperation and entitlement to one founded in kindness and generosity. The world needs more of both of those things.

What stories do your customers want YOU to know?

PS. If your customer stories seem more like a mystery novel, give me a yell. I’d love to help you see your customers in a whole new way.

What do people want?

It’s the age old question isn’t it? What do people want?

It can’t be summarised in any two word sentence or buzz phrase unfortunately. You’d like to hope ‘World Peace’ would be up there, but hey, even that is not for everyone. Sadly.

The truth is, if we want to start our expedition into the territories of what people want, it’s going to take a bit of time and some good tools. Pack a bag. We’re in for a hell of a trip.

Which people?

If we’re delving down into what people want, we’d better narrow down who we’re talking about. There are a lot of people out there and they all want different things.

So, who do we choose? Or maybe a better way to think of it is, who chooses us? If we have a message to get out, we have to know who it it IS and ISN’T for. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. There are always going to be people who aren’t picking up what you’re putting down. And that’s OK. Everyone is different.

A great place to start is with your existing ‘best’ customer. You know the one. They LOVE your work. They talk about you to ALL their friends. They come back to you time and time again. And if they’re like my best customer, they pay their invoices on time. (And as your ‘super’ customer, you make sure you know how much they you value them. Right? Great!)

“But, woah up there,” I hear you say. “Aren’t we talking about new customers? You’re talking about one I already have.

Well, yes. And no.

Build your ‘dream customer’

The dream client/customer you already have is a great way to work out how to reach the others that are like them.

Your existing customers give you great insight into potential new ones. You already know how they like to operate, you know (or can find out) how they found you. You may even have had some in depth conversations with them about the things that matter to them. They may have shared some concerns with you. All this helps build your knowledge of who they are. Knowing who they are helps us understand what they want.

Demographics vs. Psychographics

Knowing our customer demography (age, gender, religion, ethnicity etc) gives us a small piece of the puzzle. Psychographics give us deeper insight. These allow us to see our customer’s WHY. (And we all know how important our WHY is, right?)

When we know our client/customer’s values, beliefs, behaviours and culture, we can better understand WHO they are.

If this still seems a bit vague, let’s get specific and talk about an old friend, Jolene.

Demographics	Psycho-graphics	Psycho-graphic Type
Female	Outgoing, cheeky	Personality
Aged 20-25	Doesn’t care what people think	Opinion
Red Hair	Believes flirting is harmless	Beliefs
Single	Loves getting her nails done	Interests
School Drop Out	Sneaks extra cigarette breaks	Behaviour
Bank Clerk	Loves Country Music	Passions

We know a lot more about Jolene by adding her psycho-graphic traits into the mix, than by merely understanding her demographic ones.

From these traits, we can make some assertions about what Jolene wants. It may well be way more than that she wants a man. She may want affection, belonging, control or fun. She might value health, good looks and luxury. She may desire power, romance or even revenge. (Maybe she had her eyes on Dolly’s man WAY before Dolly even knew him. )

The example may be a little wild, but the key thing is starting to understand what goes on for our customers and clients that makes them tick.

Meeting people’s needs

Once we can see the kind of people our customers really are, we can begin to understand what it is that drives them. From here it’s our opportunity – and some might say responsibility – as ethical business people and marketers to help our customers achieve what they want.

If we come to understand what matters to our ‘dream customer’ (and yeah, I know Jolene may not be IT for you), then our goal as marketers is making our customer’s dreams come true. If being skinny is what matters to your customer, understanding that it stems from longing to be accepted may change our stance on how we communicate to them.

A customer’s desire to have the most unique birthday cake for their child may be based on a desire to show or maintain perceived status amongst their friends or to feel that they have done a good job as a parent. A customer’s desire to start saving money might be because they want to buy a house – or it could be that they are looking for security, a sense of control, peace of mind or respect.

If we choose to see our customers as human beings with hearts and emotions, rather than a set of statistics, we’ll get to the heart of what people REALLY want. If we can fathom that, then the way we communicate to our customers is much more nuanced, more human and more caring.

This is marketing we can be proud of.

Everyone is a marketer

Wait! What?

Did I really say that?

Yes, everyone is a marketer.

If the idea of being a marketer makes you uncomfortable (or makes you want to procrastinate with a long list of other things) it’s time for a rethink.

Think of the marketing that’s been ‘done’ to you. Do any of these ring a bell? (Hopefully not a door bell..)

Unsolicited emails for pills you don’t need.
Ads on TV that you’re never interested in.
Cold calls from people trying to sell you something – how did they even get your number?
The well-meaning – but annoying – charity collectors who block your path and then try to guilt you into donating.
The skin care salesperson who stops you to ask what you’ve been using on your skin, as if they wish to have a conversation. You soon work out that their reason for stopping you is only to imply that whatever it is isn’t doing a very good job.

Most of those are quite unappealing, annoying and verging on rude.

So, of course, you don’t want to do that.

The NEW marketer

When you talk about a subject that means a lot to you, you’re a marketer.

When you communicate with people, you’re a marketer.

Fundraising for a cause you care about is marketing.

If you’re coordinating a group of people, you’re a marketer.

When you create a product or service that meets the needs of another, you’re a marketer.

Supporting what you’ve provided is marketing.

If you’re spreading ideas, you’re a marketer.

Bringing hope to people is marketing.

Building relationships is marketing.

When you bring something you care deeply about to others, and share it with them, you’re a marketer.

If you relate stories to people who want to hear from you, you’re a marketer.

YOU are a marketer.

And so you need to know your purpose so you can best serve the people who need you. And you must be sure that what you share with them is both welcome and ethical.

You have the choice – and opportunity – to do your best marketing for those you seek to serve.

Let’s do it.

PS. I’m still keen to know how I can support you in your marketing, so head over to this post on Facebook and let me know.

I’m giving away a copy of Seth Godin’s book “This is Marketing – You can’t be seen until you learn to see” to someone who gives me great feedback.

Better marketing – first things first!

Ignore the ghost of marketing past

If we want to do better marketing – marketing we can be proud of – first we have to recognise what it is, and what it isn’t.

In the past we’ve been led to believe that our marketing has to reach the maximum number of people. They’ll just have to see what we’re offering so that they’ll take it. If we tell (or sell) them enough features or benefits, they are bound to snap it up, right?

For some people, that’s true… it will be right for them and they may relate and sign up or purchase what we’re offering. That’s normally a pretty small number if we’re mass marketing though, because we’re yelling our message out at a whole lot of people who aren’t ‘our’ people. The effort (and expense) is wasted, and actually rather annoying, making people even less likely to engage with us in the future.

We can do better marketing than interrupting people when they are watching their favourite TV show. — The way we were: outdated, interruption style marketing.

I first studied marketing more than twenty years ago. The “Four Ps” – Product, Price, Promotion and Place – were everything. If those things were ticked off on our ‘marketing plan’ then we were sorted. We shoved our message in front of as many people as we could and hoped that if we annoyed enough people our sales and (more recently) our click-through rates would cover a multitude of sins.

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto

Fortunately, in the era of technology and innovation we’re in, we don’t have to operate that way. With the resources we have, we are able to put our message in front of people we want to see it. More importantly, we can (and should) put it in front of the people who choose to see it.

If we continue to pursue the narrow definition of marketing we had in the past, we are relegating ourselves to the definition of crazy. You know the one “if we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve been getting”. Changing the flavour (or the tactic) used to annoy someone – no matter how new and shiny it is – will still annoy them. We’ll continue to be frustrated by our lack of results and have to live with marketing that we’re not proud of.

Marketing changes when we come to the realisation that we are here to serve others and to help them solve their problem (whatever that may be). To do that, we must know who they are, where to find them and then have their engagement and permission.

If we re-frame marketing starting with why we’re doing what we’re doing, it gives us a compass for what we do and how we do it. “Why am I providing the service that I am? Why am I selling what I’m selling?” What is it that truly drives you, gets you out of bed in the morning, or gets you the most fired up*?

If we know our ‘why’ and can define our ‘who’ then perhaps the new marketing mix starts with ‘Purpose’ followed closely by ‘People’ and what they give to us: ‘Permission’.

What’s it all about, Alfie?

Your purpose is to make an impact, you’re seeking to make change happen. It might be behavioural change (educating people to use less plastic, for example), it could be introducing a financial literacy curriculum into schools, or even changing the way a group interacts. That change might seem insignificant or it might be (literally) world changing, how big the change is doesn’t matter. Marketing is how that change can come about.

Marketing is the act of making change happen.
Seth Godin

If we want to do work we’re proud of, we have to understand the change we seek to make and find the people who want to take the journey with us.

Why, why, why…

If we really want to get back to ‘first things first’ then it’s about finding our reason why.

Before we can even start to think about marketing plans and reading the latest ‘how-to’ guides and getting our heads around what the next ‘quick fix’ of marketing is, we really have to understand the true reason we’re doing what we’re doing.

What is the change that you are seeking to make? Who can you help?

Helping passionate small business owners understand how to reach the people who need them and supporting those business owners to do better, more meaningful, ethical and welcome marketing, is mine.

What’s yours?

Write it down somewhere. Stick it up on your wall next to where you work. And please, if you would, let me know what it is – either here or on my Facebook page.

I’d love to know how I might support you to share your why.

*Simon Sinek explains this beautifully and simply in his “Starts with Why” TED Talk

12 months on

"This is marketing" bestselling book by Seth Godin — Seth Godin’s bestselling book, “THIS IS MARKETING” which was compiled based on the seminar I participated in. Feel so grateful to have been a part of it.

12 months ago, I commenced Seth Godin’s “The Marketing Seminar” and 120 or so days later, I finished it.

Except, that I didn’t really finish it… Getting to the end of the supplied content was somewhat aptly called ‘Commencement’ and there’s a good reason for that. It was just the beginning.

It was the start of me seeing things very differently. The most important thing for me to rediscover at the time was that marketing doesn’t have to suck the enthusiasm and life force out of you just to ‘make a buck’, and for me making a buck comes secondary to doing stuff that matters.

It doesn’t have to suck to make a buck.
Heather Smith

Although marketing is how I earn my living I felt like earning it was draining me of my will to live (metaphorically speaking, of course). Each day I felt less and less motivated to do it. I felt fake, insincere, and like I was doing things I really didn’t believe in (because, let’s face it, I probably was). My nasty inner voice kept saying to me “who am I to be telling people how to do this stuff “.

If people want to know, how can I NOT tell them?

The Marketing Seminar changed all that. I had several ‘ah ha’ moments during the seminar, one of which was about the true value of empathy (I’ll talk more on this another day – it’s several topics unto itself). The other most valuable insight was that I was doing people a disservice by NOT sharing what I know, and that by helping people do better marketing I can help them achieve their dreams. I’m not talking about airy fairy ‘buy more shit to fill up my house’ dreams. I mean the kind of dreams that change the world (even on a small scale) or even the kind of dreams that allow you to do your really fulfilling work for the people who need what you’re offering.

That nasty inner voice of mine is wrong, I’m the perfect person to share what I know with others who want to see their change happen. Not because I’m better than anyone else but because I want to help them know what I know. Finding out WHO you need to reach, what matters to those people and sharing your story with them is the way to see change happen.

And that is what marketing really is.

And I can help with that…

The only thing worse than starting something and failing, is not starting it in the first place.
Seth Godin

12 months on is better than never

So, it’s been 12 months since I did ‘The Marketing Seminar’ and this is where it starts, where the rubber hits the road. This is the first of (I hope) 52 blog posts for the year (and email communications if you’re on my email list) because it’s time for me (albeit 12 months late) to make a start on helping you reach the people you seek to serve.

But wait, there’s more…

Like the six free steak knives you never knew you needed, I’ve also got something to offer… I have a spare copy of “This is Marketing” by Seth Godin and I don’t need two of them.

Head on over to my Facebook page and tell me (in a comment on the post for this article) what your biggest frustration is with your marketing. I’ll post my spare copy to the person who I think it can help the most.

No comments to show.

Damage control

There’s a lot of damage control going on lately. Cambridge Analytica blames the media as they move towards bankruptcy.

Closer to home, AMP Limited is likely wishing they’d never heard of the Banking Royal Commission, whilst Executives ‘remove themselves’ from the scene.

Whether proven ‘guilty’ or not, the damage is done.

Damage to those businesses, but also to something I consider much greater.

Damage to trust.

It’s a long road back once trust is lost.

So, how can we ensure that we don’t end up losing trust?

Empathy.

Seeing the other side

If we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we view things from their position, it’s different. It’s perspective. It’s enlightening.

When we lose sight of how the people around us view things, that’s when things can get really tricky. We risk becoming insular. We take the risk that we only have input from our own (often limited) worldview. We can learn plenty from those around us.

Imagine being a customer of one of those big entities now – perhaps you are one – how does it feel?

I imagine I’d be angry (class action kind of angry, perhaps)…

And on the other side of the coin, imagine participating in a meeting, office cram packed with staff, and being the one brave enough to put your hand up in front of all these people and say:

“Actually, no… We can’t do this to our customers – we can’t charge for stuff we don’t do, we have to find a better way to deal with it. Let’s stop charging them fees and let’s help them deal with this change in circumstances. Our integrity is on the line here…”

That sounds simple enough, but tough to do. It’s tough to have the courage to stand up to your peers and supervisors (over and over again).

That’s the person I want working for me though.

That’s probably the person that your customers want working for them too. The person who can see things from their point of view, who has empathy for their situation.

Taking the time to do this, working ethically, considering others, communicating even when it’s uncomfortable, building relationships that are valued, is hard work.

Building trust is hard work.

Losing it takes a lot less effort, so much so that it can happen without us even noticing.

The building of trust

To future proof our business, to protect our customers (who are, let’s face it, the reason we can be in business) we have to be deliberate about acting with integrity. Our marketing is an essential part of this. If we offer a service, that’s what we have to do. If things go wrong with those plans, we must be accountable for them and communicate openly and honestly. How would OUR customers feel if they were paying for a service they didn’t get…

We may be on a smaller scale than those in the news, but we are not so different as we might think. We face similar challenges, risks and everyday things that can go wrong, and it’s our choice to behave in a way that is deserving of our customer’s trust.

If we want to build a resilient business that serves our clients/customers and has them as its focus, it’s time to start damage control now.

Damage control starts at Day 1 by showing up and being worthy of trust, and it goes on every day until it’s natural.

Go, be inspired. And inspiring…

Heather x

Make it personal

To make a difference, make it personal…

If you want people to engage with what you’re sharing, build a connection to it.

If you’re sharing it, you are the connection.

So, if you’re connecting others to something (a story, a page, a cause, a fundraiser, a blog or a friend) tell them why you care enough to share.

If you don’t want to share your connection perhaps that’s an opportunity for reflection … why ARE you sharing it? Are you sharing out of obligation? Has sharing just become habitual? If you don’t want to be personally associated with it, why not? Why don’t you want to be connected to it? What has you feeling that you SHOULD share but you don’t want to commit your own words to it? Does it put you ‘on the hook’ for something, making you accountable? Perhaps it’s that you don’t really believe in it… The reasons are likely to be as unique as you are.

“Without strategy the content is just stuff, and the world has enough stuff.” *

Our strategy is our reason why… If we don’t have a reason for sharing something, should we? Isn’t the world already full of “stuff” … aren’t our news feeds and our emails already overfull with things we may not actually care about?

So, you’re saying Don’t Share?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not writing this to discourage you from sharing, I’m writing it to admonish you to make what you share meaningful in a trifecta of ways – to you, to the person you’re sharing for and to the rest of the world. Your personal connection may just be the difference between people scrolling on by or stopping to check it out.

If you’re not sure what to write when you’re sharing ask yourself: Why am I supporting this cause/friend/whatever? What is important to me about this? What is it about this thing I’m sharing that means something to me?

Chances are if it means something for you, it might also mean something significant for those who you are sharing with. Chances are people will care BECAUSE you care, and even if they don’t, that’s OK. It’s not for everyone.

Be generous. Make it personal.

I, for one, am always keen to know what’s important to you and why.

Heather x

PS. To clarify, I’m talking here about sharing other people’s posts, pages, causes etc, because I see so many of these pass me by without a note of explanation as to why people are sharing them. That said, it applies to whatever you write/post/share really… 🙂

*I’ve seen this quote attributed to many different people, and I don’t like using quotes without crediting the author, however I’ve not been able to pin down the true author. I’ve seen it credited to Arjun Basu, Seth Godin and others. I’ll thank each of them here.

It’s about trust

It’s a pretty big rule – in life, and in marketing, and it’s about establishing trust.

Do what you say you’re going to do.

Your words are your marketing.

If you offer to deliver 4 items, provide 4 and delight people with another one.

Don’t leave them wondering where the 4 are and whether they are ever going to get them.

Also, there’s no point delighting them with an extra, if they didn’t get the 4 you promised.

Marketing is a marathon

One thing I know.

Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

I was at the gym the other day – yeah, yeah, for those of you who know me … stop laughing now! I’m not a gym kind of person, but I’ve had one of those ‘awakenings’. You know the ones, where someone highly medically qualified told me I should lose some weight. Ouch! But whatever, the reality was, I knew it… I felt it… I was just stagnant (literally) and in denial about those clothes that must have shrunk in the wash! I was going nowhere but my clothing size was on the UP!

But I digress…

At the gym the other day, on my first day back after a good 4 weeks of relapse, and feeling like absolute sh*t, I saw THIS sign…

I realised that even if I only make it once a week (cos my life is hectic and the gym is a an hour round trip and therefore two hours out of my narrow child-free window) it’s better than what I was doing about my fitness before, which was a big fat hairy zero. Subsequently – unsurprisingly – it netted me exactly zero of my goals which I somehow magically wanted to have just happen without me lifting a finger, or a leg, or a weight.

Fitness is a marathon not a sprint (unfortunately I was always a sprinter in my younger days) and it’s going to take some time to get my head into the habit and my body out of bed when I don’t want to. But I will because a) I’ve just told all of you lot – eeek – and so I’m accountable and b) I need to do it. I have long term goals and these affect the rest of my life. This is serious, Mum! Bugger, bugger, someone forgot to Peter Pan me and keep me young forever!

Fitness and marketing – alike?

So this week it also became clear to me that marketing is also a marathon. I received an email from a friend, who was about to become a client. Paraphrasing her email, the gist was this:

“Our business has been very quiet since we spoke, so we’re not going to build our website now.”

This made me really sad, but I get it.

I SO totally get it.

It’s so HARD when cash flow is tight. It’s HARD when you’ve taken the MASSIVE leap of starting your own business and you don’t have a back up income any more. It’s SO difficult because sometimes even when your business has already established some regular income, doing something ‘extra’ means finding some ‘extra’, and finding ‘extra” means doing some more hard yards (mostly).

Chicken or Egg – what if it’s neither?

But then we get to marketing chicken and egg (to draw in another analogy).

You need some money to do some marketing. But you need the marketing to bring in the work to get some money.

It could go on forever, so it has to stop somewhere. There is no right or wrong, but what if it doesn’t have to be either. What if you just did something – rather than waiting for the ‘perfect’ website just build a ‘good enough’ one. Rather than relying on your money to pay for a website, why not try your own creativity instead and use some of the other talents you have… Like taking photos? How about Instagram? Like telling stories, start a Facebook page… Create a google listing… do something, but whatever you do, don’t give up on your dream.

Slow progress is better than no progress, right? A little bit done, is better than nothing, right?

This is not a sales pitch.

Now I don’t want to sound all sales-pitchy here – that’s not what prompted me to write this post. I’m not worried about the money for this job, I’m worried about my friend and the business she is running. This has truly made me sad. I want to help this special small business. We can do it. Slowly. Cost Effectively. Most importantly, we can do it together in a way that works for this particular business.

Like any good fitness plan – it starts with a plan. We need to have a conversation. We need to be open. Honest. Creative about how we might go about doing something new NOW even when finances are tight.

Whatever happens, please don’t stop everything… marketing IS a marathon, but if you’re sitting on the lounge waiting and hoping to lose weight – or waiting and hoping for leads, sales, bookings or whatever to turn up in your In Box – you’re going to miss the race.

Pete, Kate and I implore you… “Don’t give up!”

Onwords and upwords,

Heather x

Let’s start a conversation

Marketing - clock with stopping time quote Here’s another relevant quote/ analogy – attributed to many people, but based on my research, most likely to be Henry Ford. What does make me chuckle is it being attributed to Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America. I wonder what the advertising budgets and mediums were in the mid-late 1700s? 🙂

I digress – again – contact me!

Putting the Social into Social Media Marketing

Is your Social media really social?

My husband hates social media.

Thinks it is turning the world ‘anti-social’.

He’s right. To a point. (I couldn’t let him be fully right, that wouldn’t seem… right… 😉 )

If our only interactions with people become a ‘like’ and the obligatory birthday message, it’s hardly what I’d call social. If we spend all our time staring at our screens (yes, I can be guilty of this sometimes) then it could be perceived as anti-social. Six forty-something ladies sitting at a restaurant I was at the other night were all staring at their phones, taking selfies and posting updates. It was a strange thing to watch, and certainly seemed a bit anti-social.

Likewise, when we’re using Facebook pages for business, if all we’re doing is promoting ourselves, and not truly communicating with our ‘network’ then that may not come across as very social either.

So, when it comes to social media marketing for small business, we come up against this hurdle.

How do we make sure our social media isn’t anti-social?

Firstly, I think one of the keys is going back to what social media used to be called. Social networks. Whether it is a personal ‘social network’ or a business ‘social network’ we all have them. The benefit comes in how we use them.

My hubby, being one of these non-social media types, rings up his mates when he wants to know where they bought something, or who they contacted for help about something. Social media allows us to do this same kind of thing in one post to many people, rather than several phone calls.

As businesses, we’re on the other side of this – hoping that when that ‘call for recommendation’ goes out, that we are the ones mentioned (in a good way) for who to contact. Which means amongst other things, that:

We need to do good work
We need to be human, and show that we care
We need ways to let people know that we do good work and that we care

Social media (or social networks) allow us to do this. Notice that nowhere on that list does it say “Sell your stuff”. It doesn’t mean you can’t use social media for that, you certainly can, if you do it right. Do too much of it, though, and you become like that friend who decides to sell Amway**, who people just slowly step away from and try not to make eye contact with for fear of getting the “I’ve got a business opportunity I want to talk to you about” speech.

Let’s step through it then..

Do good work

I reckon I pretty much need to leave this one to you, after all it’s your business. As a result, I’m sure you care enough to give it your best, but I’ll give you an example anyway.

If you’re a tradie, turn up when you say you’re going to, and if for some reason you can’t, call your customer out of courtesy and let them know when you will. When you do the job, do it properly the first time. Communicate with your customer and keep them updated. Clean up after yourself and leave your customer’s location looking better than when you turned up. In other words, treat people how you would expect to be treated.

It shouldn’t be that hard.

So – on to bullet point 2 –

Be human, show that you care

If we want to be part of a social network, it pays to contribute to that network. It doesn’t always mean money. Donate your time to a charity, be supportive of local events, share other people’s posts, encourage others, sponsor something – if you have the money, encourage your staff, share their fundraising efforts and help them reach their goals. Do something for others, this is your opportunity to invest in social karma.

And so then…

Let people know that you’re human and you care

There’s pretty much an untested*** rule which says your Facebook posts should be 80/20 as a ratio of “other stuff” to “sales generating”.. Subsequently, many struggle with how to come up with the 80%. If you treat social networks as ‘human networks’ that you care about, the result is a fair bit easier. If you’re posting something three times a week, finding three things that are about your staff, your community, your ideas, your ideals etc shouldn’t be so hard. Write them down. Schedule them. Make a calendar…

Talk to your audience on social media as you might talk to them if you were at a party, introducing them to other people, finding out about them, learning what drives them, what they love, who they love and what they’re involved with. Become interested and pass that interest on. Subsequently, you’ll find that your audience is also more interested in you.

If you don’t want to seem anti-social on social media, BE social.

Social media – whichever flavour you like of it – really works best when we remember it’s origins.

Social networks.

See you later, my friends.

Heather x

* * Not that there’s anything wrong with that, yada, yada and apologies to Seinfeld writers for paraphrasing and in advance to all MLM devotees!

*** Could be tested, probably has been, but finding a source for it specifically is tricky.

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Changing stories

We all have frames

Which frame will you choose?

Which people?

Build your ‘dream customer’

Demographics vs. Psychographics

Meeting people’s needs

The NEW marketer

Ignore the ghost of marketing past

We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto

What’s it all about, Alfie?

Why, why, why…

If people want to know, how can I NOT tell them?

12 months on is better than never

But wait, there’s more…

Seeing the other side

The building of trust

So, you’re saying Don’t Share?

Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Fitness and marketing – alike?

Chicken or Egg – what if it’s neither?

This is not a sales pitch.

Is your Social media really social?

How do we make sure our social media isn’t anti-social?

We need to do good work

We need to be human, and show that we care

We need ways to let people know that we do good work and that we care

Let’s step through it then..

Do good work

Be human, show that you care

Let people know that you’re human and you care