by Joy Johnson on June 28, 2010
I usually get blog ideas from things from other blogs, LinkedIn discussions, and Facebook conversations. For instance, this blog by Seth Godin “On Finding Referral” which I posted to Facebook. One of my good Facebook friends – and no relation - Lori Johnson commented almost immediately that one needs to make referrals before one can expect to get them. I totally agree – but there is a catch.
In business, as in everything else in this interconnected world, you must give to get – but quite often the people you give to and the people you get from are different. The best know exemplification of this was contained in that great tearjerker movie, “Pay it Forward.” If you haven’t seen it, rent it. Lori and I make a great example of how this works. Lori works with another talented professional, phototgrapher Gretje Fergeson to produce great headshots. I learned about them through another friend’s Twitter feed (the miracles of social media) and got a new set of headshots of my own. Lori did my makeup perfectly, incorporating her knowledge of how the photography process changes the requirements to create great natural looking shots.
Since I was so greatly pleased, I repost their headship schedule and refer them both every opportunity I get. It is highly unlikely that either one of them will use any of the services I offer. That’s okay. They weren’t searching for services they needed and found me. I was searching for services I needed and found them. The fact that they did a fantastic job, and that I am now a fan of their work, make me refer them anyway.
On the other hand, I have clients who use my services and refer me, but I don’t use theirs. My clients, whose services I do not use, provide great services as well. Providing customers and clients with a great experience is a basic requirement for clients associated with The Inner Office, Inc. and Success Center USA businesses, of which Business Builder Marketing is one. We go to great lengths to network our clients. Networking precedes referrals. So, even though we do not use a specific client’s services, we always try to find other clients and contacts who might.
The moral of this story is that if your business isn’t worth referring; isn’t special; doesn’t do a great job; everything in that goes-around-comes-around circle comes to a screeching halt and it won’t start up again, let along gain speed, until you make your company referable. No matter how you turn it, no matter how much one wants to believe otherwise, having a successful business starts with a solid foundation, great principals, ethics, creativity, and more. Just be a great business!
by Joy Johnson on June 24, 2010
I’ve been reading a lot of blogs written lately that would seem to indicate, based on their titles, that Social Media is dead. It isn’t. Quite the opposite is true. One of the first, and the best of the lot, is the John Jantsch post titled “Why Social Media Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” The point these people are making is that Social Media has reached the tipping point. It’s pervasive; just there, in much the same way as the stove in our kitchen, or Google, is just there. [If you haven't read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, I highly recommend it.]
That’s true unless “there” is someplace where it just isn’t true.
Statistically, and historically, we here in NE CT, are behind the rest of the country in adopting any technology based tool and social media is no different. We’re probably two years behind what I saw in Kansas City last October. So, demographics will change the situation a bit. Facebook is the only SM tool being used here to any recognizable extent and I see that as Google Local without the Google. We are very much still experiencing the cache that comes with being an early adopter. It’s still novel here.
A great portion of the rest of the country is already moving on to mobile media. Yelp will now overlay the image on your I-Phone with information for nearby businesses. Foursquare declares you the Mayor of a location you visit more frequently than anyone else. The key component in marketing is understanding the people you want to market to. If they all have I-Phones, target media and applications they are most likely to enjoy using. If they’re just starting to set up camp on Facebook, that’s where you need to be. Some are still back with print and that’s ok too. Meet them where they want to spend their time.
I think the problem with social media is the problem one sees in any kind of marketing. It starts out as conversation between friends, grows to a medium of information exchange, then a bunch late adopters jump in, and whether through laziness or misinformation, jam the mailboxes with junk mail, the email boxes with spam, and Facebook with dozens of blatant self-promoting pieces that turn everybody off. It continues at that level for a period of time while late adopting newcomers and early adopting drop-outs cancel each other out. Effectiveness for any intended purpose drops through this period of time to nearly zero at the end. Finally something new takes over and the old method dies. Marketers leave, and once again, it’s just friends talking – old friends who haven’t adopted the new ways.
It’s the cycle of life of marketing vehicles. Saddle up the horses, we’re foursquare into yelping. Charge up those I-Phones and Androids! We’re going mobile – or at least the rest of the world will be! My horse is down and won’t be ready to ride until about 2012.
Erin Perry, Owner