Business-Building Action from Terry Brock
[Special Note: Be sure to catch the audio MP3 that accompanies this written article for even more information you can use. Scroll down to the end of this article and you can listen to the audio streaming or download as an MP3 audio to your MP3 player of choice. Enjoy! Terry]
As a small business you want to find ways to add people to your tribe or community. This is not about just another tactic to increase your twitter followers or Facebook friends (yes, both of those are important). It is not about creating a nifty YouTube video that attracts a lot of views.
What you want to do is concentrate on building long-term, loyal business relationships. As you build relationships with people they will want to come to you for value regardless of how you deliver it. Too many people get locked into a technology. Yes, technology is nice but business is about relationships. It always has been. It always will be.
Somehow we like to seek the “shiny new object” that is going to grab our attention. I’ve seen it over and over through my years as a professional speaker and marketing coach. Someone will see me present about a new technology and they hire me to come in and speak for them.
I regularly speak for audiences and show them how they can boost their productivity — with some really cool results! Hey, building the bottom line is really good! Those who embrace the technology and — here’s the most important part — the fundamental principles of building relationships over time, are the most successful. If you focus only on the newest, coolest, shiny new objects, you’ll miss the point of what business is all about it.
Business and relationship marketing are about people. You create long-term success by creating an “add” campaign instead of just another “ad” campaign. Find ways you can add value to others. Find out how you can add that something special, that extra spizazz that makes people say “WOW!”
Promise a lot and then deliver more. This will add value to the lives of those who matter most.
Remember that the value you add must be considered valuable by those receiving it. I’ve seen many marketers attempt to add value by throwing in some irrelevant article, out of date do-dad or worthless piece of junk. They might throw in something they say is “valued” at an outrageous amount but nobody has purchased it at that amount nor are they likely to do so in the future. This is not adding value.
People are not dumb. When they know you are really adding value, they want to add you to their list of chosen resources. They’ll bookmark your site. They will follow you on Twitter. They’ll friend you on Facebook. They’ll remember you added value to their business and their lives and want to stay in touch. And yes, smart business people will seek you out. Only the shallow-minded want everything for free. You don’t want to add this kind of customers to your community. You want customers who believe in value for value as a way of living and doing business.
Create a new add campaign. Yes, it might include an ad (advertising) campaign but don’t rely on a one-trick pony ad that will run in a magazine, a quick squeeze page or some other shiny new object. Make your add campaign genuine, real and something that will help solve real-world problems in the lives of your prospects.
Running such an “add” campaign will help you add value to the lives of prospects, add them as customers to your business and add to your bottom line.
Sounds like a pretty good combination to me!
Copyright (c) 2010, Terry Brock and Achievement Systems, Inc. Terry Brock is an international marketing coach and professional speaker who works with businesses to generate profitable results. He can be reached by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com. Join the Twitter adventure with Terry through his Twitter address: @TerryBrock. Join Terry’s Facebook Fan Page at: http://www.facebook.com/SpeakerTerryBrock
