MySpace. Twitter. Flickr. Digg.
Who I am. What I’m doing. What I saw. What I Found.
Self-centered sounds a little harsh, but isn’t that what it really is?
Monthly Archive for June, 2007Page 2 of 3
What do you see here?
Is it a vase or two face?
How about here?
Is it a girl or an old lady?
Now try this one…
Is it a search engine or a powerhouse in the information business?
It doesn’t matter what you show people. What matters is what they see.
Seth Godin is remarkable. Check out this post.
My first reaction to great ideas like this from Godin is usually “Wow. I should start doing this right now.” But the problem is that this idea isn’t a hot tip I got from him at a dinner party or on the train or in a meeting. I read it on his blog, just like thousands of others people. There goes my edge…
But is that really the case? How many people take great ideas that come from the musings of Godin and other bloggers and actually set them into motion. Is it because we’re lazy? Is it because (like me) we think someone else will get there first or do it better?
Today, hesitation equals giving up. Sometimes the best thing is just to go for it and figure out the details on the way.
My guess is that most adults don’t get it either. Sure they might understand that the intent was to go over your head, but does that make you want to get Verizon FiOS? I don’t think so.
Which brings me to my next question:
Can your marketing be explained to a 10 year old? Hopefully it can.
With all the noise in peoples lives today, the last thing they want to deal with is complicated marketing. Ideas that are simple, clear, and actionable - win.
So try it. Ask a 10 year old (hopefully one you know or are related to) what they think of your plan. Kids don’t understand concepts like branding or search engine optimization, they see things on a more fundamental level. Think Got Milk? or Just Do It or any iPod advertising.
When the goal is to get people talking about your product, hopefully you give them more to say than “Nice truck.”
Ryan Howard doesn’t head to the plate with a whiffle ball bat. Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t drive a 1989 Toyota Camry. Stephen Spielberg doesn’t make his movies with a HI-8 camcorder.
So why are you still using a free domain name?
If you’re serious about what you’re doing, then make sure you do it right. A www._______.com/yourdomain screams “I don’t care enough about my buisness/blog/image to spend six dollars on my own domain!”
If your website is a conversation (and it should be), then your domain name is part of your introduction. So be careful, because you know what they say about first impressions…
Due to the positive response that I’ve received from The 4 C’s - The New Marketing Mix, I’ve decided to take it a bit further.
So I ask: how do you feel about the 4 C’s? What do they mean to you? Would you interpret them differently or change them completely? How can you apply them to what you’re doing?
I’m opening this up as a group writing project and inviting you all to join The 4C Cooperative. As I receive submissions, I’ll begin compiling an e-book that will be released.
Guidelines
You write an original article pertaining to the 4C’s in any way you seem fit. Linking back to this post isn’t a requirement (but it would be a nice gesture). Email me with the title “The 4C Cooperative” and include your name and a link to your post. As I receive articles I will post links to them in batches. After I’ve received enough I’ll start compiling the e-book.
Please feel free to be creative and spread the word to your friends. The more input we get the better the end result will be.
Look forward to hearing from you.
If you haven’t already, check out this great post on speaking as an art from Guy Kawasaki. Sometimes talking to people, either one-to-one, or one-to-many can do things that even the best marketing efforts can’t. Make sure to do it right.
Well I’m back. Thanks for sticking around everyone and please excuse my last couple posts, the quality of which was due to very little time sleeping and a lot of time spent riding in a bus. Anyway…back to business marketing.
Presence is a strange thing. It used to be that if you wanted presence in people’s lives, you had to pay for it. Most likely, you had to pay a lot. This notion is changing. Establishing a solid presence online is one of the cheapest and easiest things you can do, and increasingly it’s become more accepted and effective than other media. Let’s look at some calls to action from personal and organizational standpoints.
Personal - Developing a great online presence is not only easy, but can be fun too. Here are the individual presence calls to action.
CTA 1 - Join every possible social networking site. Get out there and make yourself visible. It’s easy and free.
CTA 2 - Be consistent every time. Your presence is your image/brand. Put out a solid message and the rest will follow. (for more on this see Neil Patel’s QuickSprout)
CTA 3 - Add something. Post on message boards, comment on blogs, edit wikipedia, enter contests, etc. Do whatever you can to add to the universal discussion that’s going on. If you make an impact, people will notice.
CTA 4 - Get a website. Hosting is cheap and blogger and wordpress are free. It’s never to late to make a home for yourself on the web.
Organizational - Just having a website isn’t enough anymore. Being an active and engaging part of the community works much better than being an immovable monolithic wall.
CTA 1 - Open up. Just like Connect (of the 4 C’s), you must find a way to interact with your customers. You will be much more of a presence if people see you as a living organization that responds to what is going around you.
CTA 2 - Diversify your presence. Just because a you have a website doesn’t mean you’re done. Why shouldn’t you have a MySpace page or a Squidoo Lens for your company? If having a web site makes it easy for people to find you online, then having other pages that point to that site should make it even easier, right?
CTA 3 - Less is more. Are you over-advertising? Presence does not equal bombarding the marketplace with advertisements and endorsements. Think about other approaches and you’ll find a way to get your name out there with out all the noise.
Hey There! My name is Matt J McDonald and I'm a new marketer & Social Media Consultant based in Charleston, SC.
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