{"id":2743,"date":"2011-03-13T17:24:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-13T17:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=2743"},"modified":"2011-03-13T17:25:03","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T17:25:03","slug":"build-relationships-not-billboards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/build-relationships-not-billboards\/","title":{"rendered":"Build Relationships, Not Billboards!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The marketing paradigm is shifting with much greater \u201cpower to the people\u201d facilitated by social media.\u00a0 If you want to continue to reach your market, it’s not about advertising<\/em><\/strong> any more, but about building relationships<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Consider the following differences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Advertising<\/strong><\/td>\nBuilding Relationships<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Telling<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starts with \u201cme<\/strong>\u201d (the brand, the product, the service)<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focuses on \u201cwhat can you give me?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Goal:\u00a0 instant impact<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where\u2019s the money?<\/td>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Listening, hearing, empathizing, asking,<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starts with \u201cyou<\/strong>\u201d (the customer\u2019s needs, wants, interests and expectations)<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focuses on \u201chow can I serve you?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Goal: ongoing engagement<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Who are the people?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

1. <\/strong>Telling vs. Listening<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may sound counterintuitive, but if you truly want to be heard above the growing social media \u201cnoise,\u201d you need to listen<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Listen to what your consumers and potential consumers are saying before you even put one word out there:\u00a0 What are they saying, what are they feeling, what are their pain points, what solutions do they need?\u00a0\u00a0 Then when you do \u201cspeak\u201d (type), empathize with them and ask them questions.<\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>Me<\/em><\/strong> vs. You<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Adding on to #1 above, when you begin an interaction online with your consumers, do you come from a \u201cME\u201d perspective and speak first about your brand \/ product \/ service, or do you come from a \u201cYOU\u201d perspective and first address what matters most to your consumer<\/strong> (their needs, wants, interests and expectations)?\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever matters most to your consumer should become what matters most to you!<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat can you give me?<\/em>\u201d vs. \u201cHow can I serve you?<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taking the \u201cME\u201d mentality one step further, when we are advertising<\/em> instead of building relationships<\/em>, we are focused on what our consumers can give us instead of how we can best serve them.<\/p>\n

Your consumers will recognize in a heartbeat if you are simply out to get something from them.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that you aren\u2019t allowed to want anything from your consumers, it\u2019s that there must be a give to go along with every take.\u00a0\u00a0 If you truly want to make an impact, aim to always put more energy and attention in your \u201cgive\u201d column than in your \u201ctake\u201d column.\u00a0 It will<\/em> pay off.<\/p>\n

4. <\/strong>Instant Impact vs. Ongoing Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditional advertising is going for instant impact and hoping and praying you make an impression:\u00a0 splashy billboards, off-the-wall Super Bowl television ads, eye-catching graphics, even shock factor (images of gore, poverty, nudity, animal cruelty, etc.).\u00a0 While those methods are effective in catching a consumer\u2019s attention, they fall short of retaining<\/em> that attention.<\/p>\n

Building relationships, in contrast, is about starting meaningful dialogue (see #1-3 above) and taking the time to thoughtfully and genuinely engage in ongoing conversation.\u00a0 Relationships focus on getting to know your consumer and giving them reasons to stay engaged — not just getting them to react.<\/p>\n

5. <\/strong>Where is the Money? vs. Who are the People?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Short and simple:\u00a0 if you are only focused on the money, you risk completely overlooking the people.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make that mistake!\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know who your<\/em><\/strong> people are, you might as well toss your marketing money down the drain.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to re-focus ROI (Return on Investment<\/em>) to <\/strong>ROR (Return on Relationship<\/em>)<\/strong><\/a>: let your brand be bold and innovative enough to demote \u201cadvertising<\/em>\u201d and promote \u201c<\/strong>building relationships<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u201d! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ted Rubin<\/p>\n

Ted Rubin<\/a> Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics<\/a>, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, OpenSky<\/a>. Originally posted at SheSpeaks<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The marketing paradigm is shifting with much greater \u201cpower to the people\u201d facilitated by social media.\u00a0 If you want to continue to reach your market, it’s not about advertising any more, but about building relationships. Consider the following differences: Advertising Building Relationships 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Telling 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starts with \u201cme\u201d (the brand, the product, the service) 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,7],"tags":[42,33,548,32,1027,1116,120,479,958,30,1029,3],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-tedrubin","tag-advertising","tag-change","tag-innovation","tag-marketing","tag-online-communities","tag-return-on-relationships","tag-roi","tag-ror","tag-shespeaks","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-marketing","tag-ted-rubin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2746,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}