Making Noise? Or Making Connection?

Today’s marketplace has unprecedented opportunities for the savvy entrepreneur. Never before has new business had equal opportunity to be heard and to share their message, right along side the entrenched incumbent. When I think of all the possibilities to market online, I get giddy–like a kid in a candy store. But along with the ever-growing set of fancy new tools and tactics, there is both good news and bad news for the marketing department.

First the good news: The size of your business no longer affects your reach. The smallest of businesses can capture the attention of thousands in the blink of an eye. Social Media is an equal opportunity apparatus. Best of all? Anyone can take advantage of it for free.

But along with this fabulous opportunity, we also have some bad news: At the very moment your post goes live, thousands upon thousands of other businesses are attempting to capture the attention of that very same audience. Unfortunately, we are all talking at once.

Pure bedlam. No one is paying attention anymore. It is all white noise.

Add the candy store distraction to this white noise, and many entrepreneurs find themselves going in endless circles looking for customers in all the wrong places. Places where they will never be found.

So, technically, yes, social media allows us to blanket the world with messages. You can say it over and over, day after day if you like. But that is the Mad-Men-old-school methodology. Pelting people over the head with messages worked for a while–but that day is over. It does not take long for customers to weary of unwanted intrusion and pop-ups. With this method, you are not creating a following.

You are part of the noise.

The better way? Be someone worth listening to.

Last week, we encouraged you to begin business not with the product, but with the customer. When you know your customer's deepest desires and most pressing problems, you will have an opportunity to speak directly to them, and use their language. You can become relevant in their world.

We recognize relevance when we hear it. Without relevance, sales people have a hard time answering any question without delivering back some sort of self-serving blather, designed to wrangle the money out of your pocket and into their own. This kind of sales mumbo jumbo is chock full of features and benefits and blah, blah, blah. Anyone listening on the other end of the string will hear a distinct echo from the inside of the can. After a few moments, they will drop the can, and kick it down the road. 

Even if the general population is up to their eyeballs in blather, there is still a real market for the online course with the sole focus of helping you get more followers. A simple search yields your choice of at least one hundred and one different gurus who will help get more people to like your page. Sure, learning to use the tools at our disposal is a good idea, as change in social media is the only constant. But the biggest problem with any of these courses is the goal: it aims no higher than follower count, likes, and clicks. They promote the idea of “your customer as a digital tic mark”, rather than a real person. And they seem to overlook the small matter that you need to prepare something relevant to say in the first place. I am being facetious of course–pun fully intended.

To be relevant, Brand must come first. Your Brand is not your logo. Brand decides why you are in business in the first place, what it means to be your customer, and why any of it matters. Your customer needs you to fight for them, to solve their problems, and to give them something they can believe in. Brand does not hunt the customer down and pelt them over the head with messages with a 2x4, . . . (and if that does not work, try a 4x4!) Brand attracts the customer to you and empowers them to spread the word for you. 

Now. More bad news. I hate to tell you this, but you do not run your company. Your customers are running your company. You thought you were getting rid of your boss when you started your own company. But now you have traded that one for one hundred bosses. And you cannot control them. They do not have to listen to you. But what you can do, is change their lives for the better. You can become relevant by addressing their needs, and you can give them a reason to listen to you.

Building a brand is more than just finding a way to earn a living. The entrepreneur who strategically builds a Brand will find a useful filter through which every business decision she ever makes will flow. These decisions will improve the lives of your customers, and in turn, will bring an endless flow of customers through your door.

Manage your Brand, and the Brand will take care of your customer. Instead of feeding the machine, feed the reason you turn that machine on in the first place. Forget about getting more likes. Focus on something greater than accumulating more digital tic marks. Work to create a real relationship and accumulate a few real friends.

You will be amazed how much easier your marketing will be. 

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies? Because no matter the talent of your designer, your business graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your vision. The clearer your vision, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will make with your customer. We want to help you find the gold in your business. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace. Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer. 

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