In a recent article “Why Many Small Businesses Are Still Struggling,” I pointed out the many changes taking place in marketing. Due to the fact that I sometimes hear from entrepreneurs that Web 2.0 marketing does not work for business, I want to follow up with one of the major reasons it works so well for one and not for another.
Having all the latest Web 2.0 marketing tools does not ensure your marketing success if you use them incorrectly. Unfortunately, all too often entrepreneurs join social networks and associated groups and then immediately attempt to market to everyone the very same way they ran advertising in the past. Not only does this not work, it actually harms your credibility and thwarts your success.
I was searching for the best way to explain this scenario and then… one of my LinkedIn connections, Larry Beacham of StoneColdMillionaire.com, used an analogy that described it perfectly. See what you think. Here is his explanation.
Imagine, for one moment, someone wanting to go to the park and feed bread to the pigeons. This individual loads up his bread and heads to the park excited to spread the nourishment around to the hungry birds.
Upon stepping onto the grounds of the park, this individual starts to run full speed through the park yelling, “Bread! Bread! Bread!,” and waving his bread in the air. As you can imagine, the birds scatter.
Every day he attempts this approach knowing that the birds will be there, but he never seems to get any birds to take advantage of his offer. He knows that the birds are hungry for it, but he doesn’t understand why they won’t respond to his offer.
One day he decides to have a seat on one of the benches and he begins to quietly break off pieces of bread and toss them to the ground. The first couple of times he does this, no birds respond at all. But he decides to come back each day and do the same thing, and he notices that a few birds cautiously fly down to scoop up the bread and then quickly fly away.
Day after day he sits quietly on that same bench breaking off pieces of bread, and each day he notices that more and more birds are beginning to eat the bread.
After a few months of this same ritual, those same birds that scattered when he first entered the park are now literally sitting on his knee and shoulder eating the bread right out of the palm of his hand.
What’s the point? In his original attempt, this guy was the pushy salesman trying to penetrate his market with the wrong approach, and it was a total turnoff to his potential “clients.” So, instead of trying to sell them on what he had to offer with an “exciting presentation,” he simply sat down and gave his value away consistently. He was calm, non-threatening, unassuming and very generous.
Over time, his credibility was established because of his consistency and the birds began to see that he wasn’t there to hurt them. Those birds that wanted what he had would take advantage of it and they did it when THEY WERE READY, not when he was ready.
If you would like to contact Larry Beacham you can do so by emailing him at larrybeacham@yahoo.com or through his LinkedIn page.
So, stop trying to sell your stuff. Stop trying to convince people you have the greatest thing in the world. Nobody is listening. Show yourself as someone of value FIRST and give yourself time to establish your credibility. Once you do this from the heart, you won’t have to worry about getting business – the business will literally come to you. This is called “attraction marketing” and what social media is all about.
If you would like to contact me, you can do so by emailing me at mike.clough@bestbizpractices.org or visiting my LinkedIn page.
If you enjoyed this article, you should also enjoy:
Why Many Small Businesses Are Still Struggling
Web 2.0 Online Marketing Series – Overview
Posted by: Mike Clough
