One of the posts I highlighted in my #30Thursday post yesterday was by @RickBakas. If you haven’t gone over to read his post comparing Social Media experts with Santa Claus, I would highly recommend you do so. In the meantime, I’ll tell you what struck me right away about the post. Rick talks about how various marketing folk try to pitch his business (winery). They come up to Rick with big promises, but it becomes clear right away that these “experts” don’t know a thing about the industry at large.Even more stunning, they don’t know a thing about the business they are about to pitch. What are these guys thinking? If you approach prospecting that way, what are YOU thinking?
It’s not like research is an endangered species
Have you seen commercials for eHarmony? (this is where everyone says, “oh uh, no, yes, whatever will be the least awkward”)? The whole site is based on the premise of meat market research, right? Take 2-3 hours to fill out a form that helps you psychoanalyze yourself. Find other people who have undertaken a similar task (already common ground). Look at peoples’ faces. See which of your personality characteristics match up. Start chatting. Start texting. Then get married. Right?
Think about the time people invest in research about cars, homes, fashion, health living, healthy eating, exercise. I mean, we are research fiends! And yet, in marketing, there is a hesitation these days to engage in research. Why? Here are some potential excuses.
“The world is just moving to fast. I need to jump on opportunities.”
“I’m such an expert that a business will willingly educate me about it when we start working together.”
“I just recommend Social Media and help people get 5,000 followers in 2 minutes. No research required.”
Now, let’s take each of those reasons and explain why they are dead wrong for today’s marketers.
“The world is just moving to fast. I need to jump on opportunities.”
The world is moving fast, and the uncertain economic times are creating a very competitive environment. For every huge firm that cuts jobs, there are that many more people trying to make it as an independent consultant. There are only so many companies in your particular niche. So how do you beat other people to the punch?
The thing is, in these kinds of situations, making yourself memorable just might be worth more than being quick. What do you think networking and engagement in Social Media is all about? I mean, yes it’s fun, but it’s also research. You talk to people you want to do business with. You say, “What’s going on with your business right now? What happened with that distributor that was mad because they thought you were underselling them? Did you ever get that fixed up?” You find out what is going on in the industry. You read things and discuss ideas with people. When someone in your network needs the type of service or product you offer, guess what? They’ve already been talking to you. You might be buddies, even. They know you know their business. You might not have been the hare, but you still won the race (Aesop must be weirded out that his fables are being utilized by marketers).
“I’m such an expert that a business will willingly educate me about it when we start working together.”
There are probably some people out there who could think this and maybe even be right. It’s probably not you. Unless it is. Hi!
Even if this is a truth or a semi-truth, you will put your “expert” status in jeopardy if you begin talking to a company without a clue about what they do. For example, I one day was talking to contact from a publication. They contacted me thinking that I was one of our clients, and they thought our client was the agency for another client of ours. I have no idea how the first client they referenced even got into their system, but it became apparent that they had not taken even a millisecond to check into things. At that point, there was nothing that person could have said that would have made me feel confident about their level of expertise.
It’s always best to go into a situation with a clear value add. If you call yourself an expert and then demonstrate that you took the time to customize your expertise, that will really blow people away. Worth the time? I would think so.
“I just recommend Social Media and help people get 5,000 followers in 2 minutes. No research required.”
I could tell you how to make tons of money in five seconds. None of those ways would be particularly reputable. The same holds true for fans, followers, leads, clicks, or other marketing metrics. Without research, there is no guarantee that those 5,000 followers will translate to business. It just means that you have a number, a lot of which would probably be spam bots.
There’s really not much more to say about this particular issue – I feel that if you are in this latter category, there’s a lot of other stuff you’re missing too.
But Research is Hard!
Yes, research can be hard. It can be time consuming. It can be hard to prove for sure that it was worthwhile, especially if your well-researched pitch results in a “thanks anyway.” However, it is the most sensible thing you can do. You wouldn’t jump into a marriage without research. You wouldn’t likely buy a car without research. When you pitch a company, you are asking, in essence, to build a partnership with them. Would you jump into that kind of relationship without research? Take the time. It’s the right thing to do.
1st Image by C O. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Hob_
2nd