Howard Kang

Here are the facts that marketers have been dealing with in the past few years:

1. Interruption no longer works (the 6% who remembered your ad before are less likely to even see your ad now)
2. Buyers have more power and choice than ever before and focused on their needs
3. The barrier of entry for entry is seemingly non-existent when it comes to the internet

So what’s key here? Marketers have been adjusting and pushing out great strategies; highly targeted content, engagement, listening, etc. The common theme with the organizations who are winning and crushing it? They’re reaching out.

I remember listening to a speaker when I was younger who stood in front of the audience and asked, “Who wants $20?” Hands everywhere shot up. People shouted, hollered, jumped, and stood on their chairs, but one kid in front ran up to the stage and asked for it. He got the $20.But what happens when the same kid has ten people standing in front of him with $20 bills and he can only choose one? That’s where we’re at today.

“The Web is the biggest haystack in the history of mankind, and you’re just a tiny little needle. You might be sharp and you might be shiny, but without help, no one will ever see your Web page, listen to your podcast, or watch your video.” – Seth Godin

It’s more than simply getting involved in the new web tools and sitting around. Reach out and give people a reason to talk about you and with you. Take the time to find them. Seek the people out that don’t know you exist, but are dying to interact with you. Build relationships and convert people into Trust Agents. It’s a buyer’s market and consumers have tons of power, but with a human push and word of mouth, so do you.

There’s been a huge growth in Twitter over the past couple of months and with that there’s been an influx of social media marketers, gurus, and consultants touting Twitter as a panacea for customer service issues, an easy way to boost traffic, and a simple pathway into possessing a strong web-presence. While I agree that Twitter is great, I don’t think it cuts it.

Symsomos & Hubspot just put out some Twitter data and here are some statistics that really stood out to me:

• 55.50% of users aren’t following anyone
• 54.88% have never tweets
• 5% of users account for 75% of activity
• 93.6% of users have less than 100 followers, while 92.4% follow less than 100 people

These numbers show that this grand marketing solution experts have been focusing on still only reaches a small population. I’m not saying this population isn’t important or can’t have an impact (the Twitter community is comprised of many thought leaders and influencers whom I respect), but nonetheless the numbers show that for most brands a central focus on Twitter is an extremely myopic approach.

Just for fun and out of my own curiosity I walked around downtown Portland the other day and did an extremely non-scientific survey to catch the pulse of the general public. I stopped 25 people and asked them a few questions about Twitter. Here’s what I came up with:

• 4/25 (16%) currently had a Twitter account
• 3/25 (12%) had some kind of interest in Twitter
• 7/25 (28%) responded in some sort of disgust (“Oh God, not Twitter again.”)
• 11/25 (44%) didn’t really care

I think this may be representative of many different areas as well. I’m not saying that Twitter isn’t great for engagement, virality, and a lot of other things, but I’m trying to show that Twitter simply doesn’t cut it. I have no doubt that if I did a similar survey regarding Facebook, 85% or more would’ve had a Facebook account or heard of it.

The principles of customer service haven’t changed. It’s always been about adding value and meeting customer needs. There’s no short-cutting that. The kicker is that through the evolution of word of mouth and social media great customer service is now great marketing too. The best marketing has always been about building relationships, connecting with people, and drawing them in. There’s no short-cutting that!

My advice? Have a presence on Twitter, it’s wonderful, but don’t stop there. My friend and mentor Brad J Ward has some great advice when it comes to choosing which technologies to focus on when crafting a strategy. “Think AND not OR.” There are people out there in a multitude of other outlets wanting to engage that may not know you’re there or know you’re listening. Reach out to them and make it easier. Continue to listen. Don’t respond to @replies in 10 seconds and let e-mails linger for days. Find out where the people you’re targeting are congregating and meet them there. Your community will thank you for it.

My thoughts on this question. Please comment up and let me know what you think!

Links Mentioned:

Kami Huyse – @kamichat - http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com
Chris Brogan – @chrisbrogan – http://chrisbrogan.com
Gary Vaynerchuk – @garyvee – http://garyvaynerchuk.com (http://tv.winelibrary.com)

*A Kodak family favorite:

Todd Sanders – @tsand – http://utodd.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA69dFMAfPY)

(*Note: I just used family stuff to help illustrate “sharing life” along with content. Other stuff is awesome too! Anything to help us get to know you.)

About an hour ago I read a great post by Kami Huyse that spoke my heart.

A topic that has been coming up quite a bit in conversations with my friends lately has been centered around the idea of interdependence. It started when my friend Nick Millar talked to me about his positive impression of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Two chapters in, the idea of interdependence spoke to him the most. That excited me. It actually amped me to the point of being unable to sleep because another person started to believe what I want to shout on the rooftops. We’re nothing without community! It’s the belief that has shaped my life.

Kami said something great in her post I want to highlight: “If we are completely honest with ourselves we will readily admit that we need others to succeed.”

I hope you believe that. Some people can be successful alone, it’s true, but I believe it’s those that lean on others and give back that make up the exceptional people in this world. Michael Phelps has talent, but he didn’t win eight golds solely because he worked hard by himself. His work ethic and talent could’ve gotten him far, but not as far as he got with his coaches pushing him to his limits and a community challenging him, believing in him to be great, and encouraging him.

I’ll take an example from my own life. All my life I skidded by on natural talent and going to one of the most prestigious and academically challenging schools in my area, it finally bit me in the butt. I didn’t even graduate in the top 50% of my class. The Vice Principal of Academics even had a meeting with me my Senior year to tell that he was disappointed, explaining that upon admittance it was expected that I would graduate within the top 10% and that I had the lowest GPA among those taking honors classes. One of my biggest fears coming to college was that my lack of work ethic would carry over and it did. Even with all the “Survive Your Freshman Year” college books or me getting down on myself about finally shaping up and trying in school, I got nowhere. I ended up with a 3.0 while only taking 8 hours. I believed that I had the aptitude and vision to be successful, but I began to doubt it more and more. I needed help and my community responded. When I didn’t believe in myself, they did. When I needed to hear the truth, they told me. When I wanted to give up, they made sure I didn’t quit. I could’ve continued to underachieve, but they didn’t let me. I’ll never forget an e-mail I received from one of my favorite high school teachers, Dr. Gorman. Mark Twain has a quote that says he can “live on a compliment for two months,” but his has been in my heart for four years. It’s been a huge learning process and I’m still learning, but I’m proud to say that last semester I got a 3.78 and on Dean’s List because of my community.

I surround myself with passionate people because I love learning from them. Whether it’s Jeremy Wilburn inspiring me to pursue photography while sharing his heart with me and teaching me everything he knows or Aaron Valentine taking a moment when I was in Louisiana to teach me guitar or John Kelly who introduced me to what true community looks like, my community has made me who I am.

Kami concluded her post by challenging anybody reading to say thanks to their mentors, so here is a video thanks to some of my mentors and my community (twitter community shout-out included):