Tag Archives: marketing ideas
What Preschoolers Can Teach Marketers
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I’m kind of a contrarian when it comes to following the rules. Sometimes I just follow my instincts, and sometimes I listen to what my instincts have to say and then do exactly the opposite. Just because. But it has nothing to do with the rules.
The marketing world doesn’t like this. Business punishes those (like me) who fail to follow the rule book.
But I know that the same things that put business success out of reach also make me one blazing hell of a good parent. I take the ‘free range’ approach with my kids. We run and play every single day, rain or shine. I push them to limits that makes most parents turn white. At the playground, my kids are out-jumping and out-climbing kids three times their age. They’re already swimming. By the time they go to kindergarten, they will both have completed a Presidential traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Did I mention they are three?
Today my little girl was pushed by an eight-year-old at the park. It may have been on purpose, or maybe not. But she got right up and kept running after him. Sometimes the big kids let my little ones chase them, sometimes the big kids demand they stop. My kids are not the ones who cry for a half-hour after being pushed. They get up and keep going.
I teach them to keep playing. “The other kids say they don’t want to play with you,” I tell them, “but you keep playing with them anyway.”
That’s what the adult world is; a place where nobody wants to play with you. We’re taught to follow the rules. That means if somebody tells us what they want us to do, we do it. We go along to get along.
Screw that.
My kids know that when someone tries to tell them what to do (including me), it’s a test. To pass it, all they have to do is keep pushing. They know the big kid with the tennis ball will eventually start tossing it to them. They know the older kids on the balance beam will finally step aside and give them a turn.They know the kid who pushed them a few minutes before will help them up a few minutes later.
And because of this, I know that physically and socially, they are ahead. I’m not giving parental advice, but I am saying that if you loosen the reins a little, kids will do amazing things. The most important thing they’ve done for me is teach me to keep pushing. Keep trying. Keep advancing. Keep playing even if others have told you to stop.
So throw out the rule book, every day. The latest social media statistics do not matter. Pretty landing pages do not matter. The best email template ever designed does not matter. The words of the book-pimping prima donnas do not matter. Engagement does not matter. ‘Conversations’ do not matter. ‘Brand consistency’ does not matter.
I’m not well-liked by my colleagues or peers in the marketing world, but I am loved by my kids because I let them play and color outside the lines, and I let myself learn from them. And that’s what matters.
Cookie Cutter Social Media Strategies (For Cookies Only)
Look, I’m new to social media, so I won’t shovel you expert advice about building a huge following. Your Twitter mojo is probably a thousand times mine. If you rock the social media house, keep doing whatever you’re doing. I’m probably learning a lot from you.
(The truth is, I’ve never worked for someone who saw any value whatsoever in social media, and I wasn’t able to sell it to the boss. So my opportunity to jump on the social media bandwagon was spent doing old-school stuff; powerpoint decks, data sheets, press releases. I know, I know. That’s another post.)
But like everyone else, I do have an opinion on how best to use social media to grow your business. That’s what it is ultimately about, right? Growing your business? Building a base of people in your community, so that you have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on to help you deliver a finely-honed service or product to the people who are willing to pay you for it? Creating mind-share? Getting noticed?
I’m looking for all of that, too, and the advice I’ve found on how to use social media in my marketing strategy follows a massive bell curve. The range seems to break down like this:
The advice in the middle approaches a ‘best practices’ tactic for social media in marketing. Although I think we’re still a long way from that. If you are a thought-leader who publishes new material all the time, social media is exactly what you need it to be. You can gain a massive following and if you’re good, you can monetize that following.
But a cookie-cutter strategy won’t cover everyone. No more than a great cookie recipe will help you make a cheeseburger. If you’re selling air conditioner parts, the best social media model really isn’t there yet. If customers found out about you through Twitter, it’s a safe bet you’re a long way from a sale. You should use social media to build a community and get links, but not leads. And that reality will drive your strategy more than anything else. For the average B2B company, social media is still a luxury.
So if you’re not a constant online publisher, why worry about strategy? You’re still in the “Just Do It!” stage. Jump in.
Look at email marketing, which was the Wild West about ten years ago, but is now a (variably) respected marketing and communications tool that offers tracking, best practices, compliance guidelines, and an entire realm of best practices and expertise. Social media looks at email marketing the way email marketing looks at postcards. The strategy will come.
I’m not going to prescribe any specific approach, except to suggest that you take advice that works well for a publishing model with a grain of salt. In ten years it will be easy to know the best way to use social media, but today, despite all the hollering, we know nothing. I’m just saying; “Relax!”
