What Are They Afraid of?

When you use social media for communication you have to be open to all of it.

Recently I made my first entrance to an MLM venture. I loved the concept and the cutting edge marketing approach. The months of build up were exciting and the Efusjon Energy Club grew significantly. In July, the big day hit for the Facebook marketing app that was to be the cutting edge approach to product placement and marketing in social media. It was DOA.

The game RAD was BAD and the noise began from the distributors. The figure head (Derek Broes) who was the driving cult of personality fueling the growth and excitement suddenly disappeared from Facebook for the first two weeks of the application. Wild rumors began.

A notice was distributed, not addressing the most pressing question of what happened to RAD and Derek, rather stating that compensation plans were going to be negatively adjusted. The club was full of energy being released in Facebook posts. Some posts were very supportive of the company and some were viciously opposed to the changes and the over-promised and under-delivered Facebook game app that was supposed to be the driving marketing force in social media.

The big mistake happened when someone representing Efusjon told people in the Facebook media essentially, if they didn't like the club anymore please stop following them on Facebook and there was no need for the negative comments. Within a day that lengthy conversation string on Facebook was removed by efusjon.

What are they afraid of?

When an organization engages in social media for business purposes the concept is open communication and the worst thing you can do is attempt to censor that communication. Censorship of an open forum speaks of fear; it speaks of a company not savvy in the media they are only happy to use when it's all good news.

The town hall meetings are falling into the same category. People are using the public forums to sound off their concerns and opinions; something elected officials should and have been listening to for years. It is how they get in touch with their constituents, the people they represent. But, because of the volatility and the numbers showing up for the town hall meetings politicians are claiming rabble-rouser groups are stoking the flames of discontent or some politicians are not having the events at all.

What are they afraid of?

As a leader it is critical to stay in touch with your employees or followers not only when things are all running well, but when there are concerns. People want to hear from leadership they respect. They want to find someone they can trust and believe in. Leaders have the opportunity to gain better credibility in the tough times by how they respond to the problems and concerns they are responsible to correct.

Removing social media comment strings and blowing off intensely negative feedback in meetings doesn't build leadership -- it builds fear.

What are you building with your communications in your organization?

Are You Using Your Voice?

This morning I went to a meeting involving a small business owner who is running for a state house seat representing a nearby district in South Carolina. He isn't about party representation, he isn't about grinding an agenda, and he isn't about working for special groups. Ralph Norman, a Republican candidate for S.C. House Seat 48, is about thinking like a business owner at the state political level.

This got me to thinking about how critical it is for business owners to have a voice speaking for them on decisions that are important to small businesses. Think you are not involved in politics? Do you pay taxes? Are you impacted by government regulations? Do government decisions impact your competitive abilities? Your ability to secure financing? Your ability to operate a business in a business-friendly environment? Absolutely.

I have clients being adversely impacted by new federal legislation with the CARD bill. I see tax law changes and lending limitations that are crippling to small businesses. I see a government currently more interested in the underprivileged individual than in those who can create jobs and increase the tax base: the small business owner.

Do not fall into the trap of focusing only on your immediate bottom line and internal fires that need fighting. Without being involved or having representation at the state and federal levels looking out for your macro-needs, you are figuratively straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.

Get involved to make sure the voice of the small business owner is being heard to protect your rights to grow a successful business. We face enough obstacles to growth without our government bodies forcing us to act against all odds.

Three action steps you must prioritize:
1. List all of your local, state and federal representatives who speak on your behalf.
2. Find their voting records on issues pertaining to your business.
3. Let them know who you are with a simple letter thanking them for their decisions or letting them know you disagree and would like the opportunity to meet with them about it.

Business owners create success by taking action. Now is a critical time to ensure we have the support of our government entities or detect those who want to work against us. If you don't have government working with you, it is much tougher to grow your business.

The Work Culture that Works

The fallout from downsizing and knee-jerk reactions of corporations dumping labor costs to balance budgets will be detrimental to these companies. People in their 20's and younger have heard enough about parents and friends losing their jobs and believe they have found a better way: Entrepreneurship.

This generation has been encouraged to be self-confident and optimistic and they are now using that mindset to decide corporate America no longer fits their employment needs. Dress codes, standard hours, and high pressure demands for profitable months no longer fit a generation that wants to move at their own speed, with their own priorities and enjoy life at whatever level of lifestyle they can afford at the time.

Customization and individual expression have been available ever since theyve been alive so is it any wonder they want to do the same with their lives? With the technology available today an entrepreneur can raise venture capital, find a manufacturing facility in China and market online from the comfort of a small office suite staffed by a few friends with the skills to manage the technology.

This is a fun-loving generation. Baby Boomers also were a fun loving generation until the end of the college years, and then they felt it was time to take on responsibility and toe the line to climb that career ladder. As with every generation's desire to have something different than their parents, the Generation Y members are looking for the fun balance in life they heard their parents wishing they could have.

Could the resistance to changing the work environments to fit this lifestyle be jealousy on the part of Baby Boomers?

If large corporations want to continue operating and attract the right talent, they are going to need to rapidly mold their workforce culture to fit the needs of this generation.

Are you ready to build a work culture that encourages self-confidence, self-directed work teams, a high use of technology and individual-specific schedules? Are you ready to accept an office cubical with a TV on, music running through the computer and social networking all during work hours?

This is the work environment they prefer and can have on their own. What are you doing to make your workplace a preferable option?

Have No Regrets

Tiger Woods is the unbeatable, the dominator, and the standard of perfection. Yesterday Y. E. Yang stood toe to toe with the Goliath of the game and won in a significant major championship. How did this happen and what does this mean for your business? It means plenty.

So often I hear business owners and executives accept defeat when the economy is rocky, when a new player comes to town or when the industry has a significant shift. It's as if they want someone, anyone to make things change in their favor.

Even yesterday golfers were interviewed before the final round of the PGA and to a man they were imploring someone to step up and beat Tiger in these situations. Obviously, they were waiting on someone else to do it.

Don't Wait on Someone Else

When I hear business leaders tell me "We have to wait and see what the economy does." Or, "Once the government stimulus package breaks us out of this situation we are in." Or, "Once things turn around in this industry, we'll be able to go back to how we used to do things." Each of these are direct quotes from people who supposedly are business leaders.

Y. E. Yang didn't wait for someone else to beat Tiger; he didn't wait for someone to tell him Tiger was ready to be beat. He didn't wait for someone else to intervene to "level the playing field" of talent.

He took his best game, and as he told reporters, he plays with no regrets. He knew he had to take risky shots to win and he knew sometimes that means it could go badly if he makes a mistake.

No regrets

When was the last time you hung it all out for the win and played your best knowing you had to take risks? Play with no regrets. Often the best decisions, the best efforts, and the greatest positive shifts happen when the decision maker has no regrets in going for it, regardless of outcome.

Have no regrets, and go for the win.

10 Important Questions for Kick Ass Friday

1. How can you revamp your web copy to incorporate the F-shaped reading patterns of your visitors? (See Thursdays post for more information.)
2. How will your customer buying behaviors be different in 12 months than they are today? Are you ready?
3. What are the desired product characteristics that will speak to your customer in 12 months? Get developing those now.
4. What could you create that would tilt the marketplace in your favor?
5. What type of permission marketing approach will reach my customers?
6. How can you create more agility in your organization to make changes fast enough to stay in front of customer demands and expectations?
7. What new products are you creating for the shift in your customer buying habits that will emerge in 12 months?
8. What are the new methods for product delivery that will get your prospects attention?
9. How can you inspire your customers right here, right now?
10. What products do you offer that customers demand to own? How fast can you create one, because you don't currently have customers lined out the door for your products?

The Eyes Reveal Winning Marketing Copy

What if you knew the viewing habits of your website visitors? Eye tracking research is finding fascinating results of what marketing copy grabs attention and where is should be placed.

We all know for proper exposure we need to have an active website that generates the right attention. But how do you know what is working?

Do you know how is your website is viewed by your visitors? So often we get caught up in the number of how many hits and page views our blog or website gets, but what does that really tell us?

Eye tracking reveals higher validity in data compared to conventional marketing research methods. Eye-tracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe.
According to Jacob Nielsen's research, of the 322 people he studied, although not everyone had the exact F-pattern they all resembled the quick read pattern of two horizontals scans and then a long vertical scan. So what does this research tell you about your web writing for maximum marketing exposure?

1. Users will not read your text as written.

Writers tend to fall in love with their words and spend hours working on the correct prose of their articles, marketing pieces and web information. The fact is, we have such an unlimited access of information and such a limited time to take it all in, people don't read web copy as if they were reading a novel. (Come to think of it, I wonder how novel reading habits have changed in the information age as well?)

2. The lead is really the lead.

Readers are going to read your first paragraph most likely word for word so your most important information must be right up front. A mistake many copy writers make in web marketing is "burying the lead." Get to the point of what you want to say and say it -- fast.

3. Start bullet points with information-carrying words.

The research found that viewers will notice information words when scanning down the left side of your copy; therefore, all of your marketing copy bullets, subheadings and highlighted information must jump with information. If you can make the reader stop they are more apt to scan a few words beyond what catches their attention. Otherwise, the scan of the marketing copy on your website may last less than five seconds.

Have someone outside of your organization do a quick look at your web information and see what jumps off the page at them. What specifically pops? What grabs their attention? Did they lose interest quickly? One caution I will add: too much of a good thing is a bad thing. If you revamp your copy to be so busy with grab words, icons and "hit me" buttons you will only confuse the reader into thinking they just walked into an arcade and went on input overload.

Make your words count where they need to be located.

Get a Hammer and Beat Your Head with It

Customers are probably the most informed, savvy and intolerant of BS than customers have ever been in the history of customers! So why are most companies taking the same products and giving them different names to try to appeal to the current times. You should be ashamed.

This year's car is the same as last year's car. The big development in your beer product is the can turned blue when it's cold -- as if I couldn't tell it was cold by touching the can! The discount you used to give all the time is now the "stimulus discount." Why doncha just get a hammer and beat yourself over the head if that is the best you can come up with.

Come on people. If you want customers you need to act like it. Hundreds of companies all over this country are having great years financially. Many of my clients are showing significant growth this year, the year of recession, depression, and suppression.

So what gives?

Where are your new products and new delivery systems that will get the cynical consumer to sit up and take notice and say to themselves, "I gotta have one of those!"

Do you think a car with 100 MPG capability is going to get the consumers attention when gas stays at the $4 a gallon mark? Do you think the technology exists to make that a reality? Count on it.

Where is the WOW in your products and services? Where is the WOW in your marketing? Where is the WOW in your approach to kicking the competition's ass?

Consumers have very high expectations and feel they have seen it all. Why else do amateur YouTube videos go viral into the millions? Because people want to see something they haven't seen before. They want something that reaches them. They want to be inspired.

What are you doing to inspire your customers with products and services that hit them where they live? That speaks to them? That makes them want to but it right away?

Try this question on for size:

What products do you offer that customers are demanding to own? The products they will eagerly wait in line to get?

If you don't have this -- you need it. If you can't think of what that could be -- find someone who can. If you want to dominate your marketplace, grow your business and have customers demanding your product you need to get off your ass and THINK what would it take to make that happen?!

Cash for Clunkers did it. Concert tickets do it. Every Christmas there is a toy that does it. Now what are you going to do about it?