Social media isn’t just about Facebook and Twitter, though they both have proven to be among some of the best tools to carry out your internet networking fantasies. Opportunities will pass you by if you are not monitoring what others are saying about you and your organization and engaging them in a conversation. Communication on the internet is only increasing in speed, if you choose to ignore it, you may lose.
Could you imagine if the next time you took your car in for an oil change, they told you about their customer comments section on their website; where if you leave a comment about how the service was, you get 10% off your next oil change? Would you leave a comment? Would you read what others have said? Please let me know below
What if we could hold companies accountable when they provide an unsatisfactory product or service? What if you could look up what others are saying about the restaurant you’re going to tonight? What if you looked up a new hair salon and this came up: (click on the picture to make it larger, this is what actually came up in a Google search for this hair studio)
People are going to talk about your company whether you like it or not, it’s up to you to decide what you’re going to ignore or engage them.
The Flynn effect states that since the 20th century, IQ test scores on average increase by 3 points every decade. A person taking an IQ test in 1930, scoring in the average, would be considered mentally handicap compared to today’s IQ standards. As civilization progresses, so does our average intelligence level. When the knowledge base increases across the board, strange things begin happening. We get smarter.
Something I’ve noticed as of late is that pyramid schemes as business models are still around. In the past month, two friends have been invited to “recruitment” seminars, which I am proud to say they both, within minutes discovered the pyramid business model and left in disgust.
Now the proper term is “multi-level marketing” (MLM) but it’s the same theme, you make commissions on your sales and on the sales of the people you’ve recruited as sales people. You can already begin to see the problem. If I’m selling, then I get you to sell, we are now competing for future sales. Doesn’t make sense does it. Not anymore, but it did for a very long time. What surprises me more is that their is actually a list of companies still around using this as a business model.
As communication worldwide increases over the internet, so do conversations. Within three minutes of researching MLM I came across a startling figure that 99.9% of all participants end up losing money by joining the organization. When in history have we been able to verify a businesses legitimacy within five minutes?
Maybe we’re smarter (our IQ’s would say so), maybe we’re just better at finding information which make us seem smarter. Either way this new generation isn’t dumb, business models such as these are now a joke around the water cooler. There will always be people who join for unknown reasons, I just hope that if you are ever proposed on a seemingly to good to be true scheme you’ll Google first before signing up.
My roommate went out the other day and came back with an expensive pair of snowboard boots. When I asked the price, it took me back a bit so I inquired if he had shopped around at all, he said, “No I just went to Offaxis, why would I shop around?”
He could have purchased snowboard boots online for a quarter of the price. He still could have shopped around Regina and found a better deal. He could have saved up to $200 somewhere else on a different pair but didn’t. I believe I would call this a loyal customer.
At first it surprised me, but when you think of Offaxis and their business model it makes perfect sense. Build a store that sells merchandise for snow, wake and skateboarding then host events that celebrate those sports in an extreme fashion (Summer Invasion, JibFest).
It’s not a regular business model and that’s why it works. They don’t tell us to like them, they give us a reason to like them and be a part of the sports we already love. They started a “tribe” of their own. Offaxis puts the time and effort into events that showcase their business, in return they get the trust of anyone who’s directly involved with them and that creates a loyal customer.
Sometimes the best marketing plan is a great business strategy.
If your job wasn’t to market your company anymore but to market a Super Hero instead, what would you change? What would you do differently? Try for a minute as a thought exercise to put yourself in the shoes of a Super Hero marketer.
Pick one, Batman, Ironman, Superman, Wonder-women or Wolverine, which ever you like, you are now their marketing manager. What does the super hero want out of this? (What is their goal?) Who’s your target? How can you get to them? How do you tell people about a Super Hero?
This shouldn’t be that difficult; after all it is a Super Hero right? The storey’s already “sticky” all you have to do is encourage it, right?
If all businesses were like this then we wouldn’t need to market them to the extent we do today. If the story’s good enough it will spread won’t it? Thus saving money on advertising. One could come to a conclusion that maybe you shouldn’t be focusing your efforts on marketing so much but on transforming your business into a Super Hero.
on 
