by Kirby Hasseman
This is an excerpt from the book Delivering Marketing Joy. You can find that here.
“The person that gives the value first has the leverage.” Gary Vaynerchuk
We are living in a “Give First” economy. That is my belief. I believe that the person, salesperson, entrepreneur or company that has the strength to provide value first, will win…long term. The Give First economy does NOT mean the good old boys network. It does not mean that just because we play golf together you have to buy from me. It’s about value. It’s about providing more than you are paid for. It’s about doing business “the right way.” Push vs. Pull: Why? Because times have changed! Since the beginning of marketing and advertising, we have lived in a “push” world. The company that pushed their message out the strongest and the loudest won. But with the onset of the internet (and social media) that has changed. Consumers have the ability to tune us out. They have the ability to shut us off. The power in the relationship has changed. So we need to pull customers in. We need to “give first.”
“Life is an echo. What you put out you get back. What you give you get.” Zig Ziglar
But here is the great news, when it comes to Promotional Products: this plays right into what our Promo is all about. This medium is built on the idea that we provide something of value first, so that we might be able to earn your business. “Okay,” you might be thinking, “I believe you. I need to give first. But what does that mean?” Great question. We are going to dig into some real things you can start to do today in order to impact your business. But be forewarned, these are going to seem like common sense. They will seem simple. But here is a very important secret: simple is not the same as easy.
“The greatest distance in the world is the distance between “I know” and “I do.”
So let’s dig into the steps for building a business that succeeds in the Give First Economy.
Give Joy: That’s right. Give out Joy. The world needs more of it. Studies will tell you that 89% of everything you see in the world is negative. With social media and the culture today, my guess is that number should be higher. We are a culture that is drowning in the negative. That’s the bad news. But the good news is, it’s pretty simple to stand out. Just be positive. Give out Joy. By being the person that spreads good into the world, you have the ability to not only stand out…but to be the kind of person someone WANTS to be around. You will be different. And in the mind of the customer, better is not better…different is better. Pro-Tip: Do an audit of your personal social media pages. Look at the last 10 posts. If 4 or more can be “perceived” as negative, then you are likely seen as negative. Be on the lookout for ways to push out joy!
Give Praise and Thanks: Here’s a scary statistic: 69% of customers that leave you will do so because of perceived indifference. They will leave because they don’t think you care. Yikes. But you can do something about that. Take the time to send real thank you notes. Stop by when you are not selling something just to say thanks. Be grateful for your clients business. You be pleasantly surprised by the response. Pro-Tip: The best organizations and sales professionals send thank you cards. Most don’t. If you are not, start there. If you have mastered that, gather your client’s birthdays. Send them a birthday card…they will not be expecting that!
Give More Than They Pay For: Seth Godin says that if you want to be remarkable, you need do something worth remarking about! This is a simple, but totally under-used way to make people appreciate and remember you. Simply provide more value than your customer is expecting. When you do this, consistently, your customers will find you remarkable. Pro-Tip: The next time you have a large order, add a little “something extra” to it. Maybe this becomes a future sale…maybe not. But you will have provided more than they paid for…and that WILL pay off.
Give Content: This is a very important piece of the Give First success plan. That is why I post a lot about content creation. Social media and content (creation and curation) are great tools to use to provide value up front to customers and prospects. What does this look like? It might be as simple as sharing an article that would be helpful to your client base. It might be a fun video about your staff. It might be pictures of your team having fun. There are tons of ways that content can help you provide your customers and prospects value. What it is not is selling first. Too many entrepreneurs, sales professionals and organizations try and use social media to “push” their message out. You have likely seen them. They simply say “buy from me, buy from me, buy from me” and never provide value.
Pro-Tip: Think of ways to tell your story and provide value through content. Are you a writer? Do you like to take pictures? Are you a talker? Think about what you most enjoy…and get ready to provide value there. The fact is, there are tons of ways to win in the Give First Economy.
But what about the most obvious? Give Promo Premiums: Are you using promo to help to grow your business? We have been preaching that you need to provide value to your customers and prospects first…and this is the perfect tool. So before you go any further, its time to think about how you will use promo to grow your business. Pro-Tip: Create a quarterly appreciation plan for your Top 20% of customers. This will give you an excuse to reach out and provide value every 3 months. It shows them you appreciate their business and (when done right) provides a long term advertising piece right where they are.
If you need help on any of these topics, let us know. We would love to help you talk through it. And make sure you never miss an update, sign up for our VIP newsletter here. Oh…and if you want to just jump to shopping, you can head here.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s July 4th and (in the United States) that means it’s Independence Day. For many of us that means cookouts, family get-togethers, fireworks and cold beverages. That is great. But as the halfway point of 2018 is here, Independence day also reminds me of a few more things. 1. Freedom to chase my dreams.2. Freedom to create my life intentionally.3. Freedom to give.4. Freedom to be happy. I find that halfway through the year is a great time for me to re-evaluate my goals for the year. How am I doing? Am I on track at all? This holiday in the middle of the week is going to serve as an opportunity for me to reflect on my goals…and how I am doing to create a happy life for me and the people I care about. My hope is, you are doing the same. So here’s to you! I hope you have a great holiday…and work to create real independence in your life. Good luck. Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our email newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
It started with a car ride to dinner. Several of our friends were driving together in a car for a night out. It was, unfortunately, after one of the many school shootings this year. It was a serious conversation, of course. And at one point, my friend Bill Potter said, “There has to be some thing we can do.” And after a lot more conversation, meetings and planning…we believe there is. P.A.S.S. is an organization we started to work with the schools to help make our children safer. Thankfully, our local school district (Coshocton City Schools) was already working hard to make the local high school safer. Principal Grant Fauver had a specific plan of action when we met with him. They were already poised to take some significant action (with significant cost). So we asked him: “What is the one thing you want to do, but don’t have the money to do right now?” Grant immediately replied, “Security cameras.” So that’s where we start. Our first project as P.A.S.S. will be to address those needs by adding 80 security cameras covering the inside and outside of the school. While this project is certainly on the radar for CHS, the funds to do this are not immediately available to them. We (P.A.S.S.) are committed to making this a reality as soon as possible through local support. The organization will be doing a formal fundraising campaign where we ask our community for funds to make this happen. As we have said, we feel that we have no greater responsibility than to keep our children safe. So we will be reaching out to major donors to help. But we want to give everyone a chance to participate. So we have started a GoFundMe page. You can give as much or as little as you want! If you feel the urging, please join the cause. Oh…and don’t forget about your chance to win a 55″ TV! My lovely bride Amy (and daughter Skylar) were on the Ellen show. You can see that below! While they were absolutely awesome on the Scary Go Round, they won this TV. Amy decided to donate it to the cause! You can buy tickets to win the TV AND support this cause as well! Buy some tickets. Give to the GoFundMe. Write a check. However you want to help, please do. Thanks for your consideration! Make sure you never miss an update! Most of the time we will NOT be asking you for money! We post new content here each day…so sign up for our VIP list here.
by Kirby Hasseman
The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast is back! Our goal here is to attack 2018 with a vengeance! The Delivering Marketing Joy Podcast will provide some inspiration, motivation and education to make it happen! Consider this your 10 minute “kick in the pants” to get your week started off right! This week on the podcast we tackle a topic that happens to all of us. Sometimes we are just “not feeling it.” That lack of motivation can keep us from starting…and that keeps us from finishing. So today I discuss this real issue and what to do when you “are not feeling it. Listen in here. So those are my tips. But what do you suggest? Do you have other “go to” moves when you lack motivation? Let me know! And keep coming back to the Hasseman Marketing blog each day. We are working to post a brand new piece of content every day. Make sure you never miss an update by signing up for our VIP newsletter here. We do a weekly update with content and specials!
by Kirby Hasseman
I preach the power of consistency. A lot. I talk about it content marketing, sales, building a business, fitness…and life. We need consistency and patience. Intuitively we all know it’s true. Sure…some people might take off like a phoenix to success. But most people have to “show up” over and over and over before an audience starts to notice. It makes sense and I know it’s true. But knowing it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Let me give you an example. I decided about a month ago that I needed to double down on my content marketing efforts for Hasseman Marketing. I even blogged about it (here) at the beginning of the journey. “We are a media company, and we are going to start acting like it.” I also decided that I wanted to be unreasonable and I talked about that here. So I did. I started to post a blog on the Hasseman Marketing website every day. One of my goals, as you might expect, was to increase traffic to our site. I looked at our web traffic for the year and took a snapshot to see what that looked like before the journey. We had had one month in the past year where we had the most traffic by far (it was because of one post) and the previous month (May) was our lowest traffic month of the year. I knew that if I posted every day, we could have a significant impact on our website traffic. I just knew it. Right? About 10 or 12 days into the month I decided to take my first look. I was on vacation and I had time. So I decided to check on the progress so I could brag about the difference I was making in our online presence. What did it look like? Well by posting each day, our traffic (at that point in the month) was lower than May. That’s right. The traffic was lower than our worst month for the previous year. I know…it was only 10 or 12 days in…but I would be lying if I said that didn’t hurt. At that point it would have been easy to say “screw it.” It’s not working. But instead I decided I wanted to see the experiment through. Spoiler alert…I was glad I did. By continuing to post each and every day, something cool happened. Though I did not have any “hits,” the cumulative effect of showing up, started to work. Each day the numbers started to climb. People on Linked in might comment on a post that I had put online a week ago. And with each passing day, there are more posts for them to find. Over the next few days the numbers went past our worst month and worked their way up the list. We continued to track up…slowly but surely. By the end of the month, the best month’s traffic was in range. Did we pass it? Yes. And we did it with no “viral hit.” It’s hard to see the progress and the impact of a goal while you are grinding toward it. That’s the reason to focus on the daily list of tasks. We all want a quick hit to the top. But in the end, it’s slow and steady that still wins the race. Make sure never miss an update (or any piece of content!). Sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
