Mark my words, Mr. Internet Marketing Company CEO Man.

Mark my words, Mr. Internet Marketing Company CEO Man.
October 16, 2009, 11:02 PM by ROB
Posted in SOCIAL MEDIA, RANT | 825 views
Why now is the time to adapt

I lost a potential client today.

For the sake of anonymity, I can't tell you who he is, but I can tell you a little about the gentleman. As soon as I shook his hand, I had abandoned my sales pitch. The look in his eyes told me he didn't need the hard sell—he just needed to know how we could help one another. We took the time to connect—I learned about his background and the business degree he didn't bother using because of his passion for the culinary arts. I learned about his wife and the challenges they were having as business owners. I learned about how he started running the restaurant he loves so passionately and I learned how he's throwing marketing dollars out the window on a contract he's stuck with until March.

I left him two weeks ago with an overview of how I could help and the understanding I'd return this afternoon to follow up with him. Two weeks later, I met him at his venue, sat down, and heard his verdict.

Like I said, I lost a potential client today.

That didn't bother me. If he could have afforded my services, I'd be his go-to guy for social media. If I could afford to work with another pro-bono client, I'd leap on his business in a heartbeat. Instead of finding a client, I found a kindred spirit.

He told me, though, that he had a referral for me. He had mentioned me to his Internet marketing company—who must also remain unnamed—and his marketing guys told him to pass their contact info along to me. He gave me the CEO's card and I gave him a call this afternoon.

The conversation began pleasantly, but things quickly went awry. His tone became caustic, his position condescending. He threw numbers at me like, "150 clients" and "$2 million in yearly revenue." He told me that he would "take me seriously" when I sent him a brochure.

"If you're serious, I'd like to sit down with you and build a relationship," I said.

"I don't have time to sit down with people," he said. "You can send me a packet of information."

Really?

Most interestingly, I was told by this CEO of this Internet marketing firm that social media was too new a product—that they didn't have plans to hire a social media specialist for several years. He told me that his client—my prospect—didn't need social media work because "he already has a fan page." I was told that developing a social platform without a quality website was "putting the cart before the horse."

Ladies and gentlemen, I offer this not to admonish but to educate. Social media is not a fad, we just haven't yet learned to tap its full potential. For thousands of years, "marketing" has relied on relationships. For thousands of years, man has shared value with fellow man and for thousands of years, the core pillars of business relationships involved trust, value, and transparency.

Sixty years ago, this phenomenon called "advertising" found its golden age. Sure, the ancient Egyptians had presented announcements on scrolls of papyrus. Sure, the ancient Romans "hark, harked" about the town square. But once this pesky invention known as radio reached popularity, commercial exploitation became commonplace. Eat Corn Flakes! Drink Coca-Cola! Marketing messages swiftly and relentlessly took over our everyday lives. Billboards went up across the nation, television perpetuated sleazy car dealerships, and the Internet bolstered the pornography industry from an under-the-mattress affair to one of the most booming economies in the world.

Today, consumers are getting sick of it all. Those pay-per-click ads you see lining your search results in Google? They're designed to deceive and influence you. The ads you see on television? Marketing agencies invest millions of dollars in getting them to you, just so you can TiVo past them. The print newpaper industry is crumbling because ad sales are at an all-time low.

At the same time, there are some bloggers out there who are absolutely making a killing on the Web. Small business owners are reaching consumers that traditional ads couldn't even begin to touch. Brands like Best Buy and TGI Fridays are reaching out to consumers across the nation on a level more engaging and more personal than ever before possible and the technology that drives that engagement is 100% free of charge.

That technology is social media. Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. Brands are reaching their audiences and their audiences are reaching back. No longer are consumers settling for any old marketing message that gets spat at them—now consumers are telling the marketers what kind of content they want, where they're going to choose to listen, and what they're going to do with that message. Take heed, marketers. If you're not embracing social media, you're swiftly losing control.

So consider this, Mr. Successful Internet Marketing CEO Man, and mark my words. We are amidst a revolution—not to a new way of doing business, but back to an old way of doing business. The rules were changed once by the rise of your fancy search engine tactics and pay-per-click advertisements, but search engines can't index personality. Search results are no substitute for honest referrals from trusted friends. Learn it, live it, and love it before you even consider listing "social media" as a marketing service that you offer.

Friends (Romans, Countrymen), I beseech thee not to give up your traditional web marketing, but to embrace the power of relationships like our ancestors did once upon a time. Reach out to your customers and clients and tune into their needs, not what you think is important. Most importantly, support small business. I may have lost a potential client today, but I educated a friend.

Rob is a social media strategist and trainer. Learn more about how he can help you enhance your business relationships by visiting his website, http://www.connectiveinsights.com.

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