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
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.
by Kirby Hasseman
This past week, I was recognized in a couple of different posts for online activity and influence. It was beyond humbling. The first was Dale Denham’s Online 18. Each year Dale puts together a list of the people he deems as the most influential online in the Promotional Products industry. He has his own criteria, which outlines at the top of the list, and he spends a lot of time putting it together. Other than me, it’s a veritable Who’s Who of online and content in the industry. Check it out here. Oh…and here is the podcast about this I did yesterday. The second post came from Commonsku. Commonsku is a service provider in the Promo World and created this list of their favorite Podcasts. It includes some newer podcasts and some old favorites…and we made that list too. That post can be found here. So why am I bringing this up (other than a blatant Humble Brag)? I mention this because it’s amazing how much recognition matters…to everyone. The Hasseman Marketing team and I create content on an every day basis. Our goal is to provide value. Our hope is that someone gets something out of each piece of content that either educates or inspires. And for the most part, it happens quietly. But when something like this happens, it’s hard not to take pride. It makes you want to puff up your chest. It is great to know that what you do matters…to someone. The lesson, I think goes back to this blog post about Fixing the Appreciation Gap. Recognition matters to everyone. Many of us would like to think we are above it. We “do the work” regardless of what anyone thinks. And maybe we do. But when we get called out for our good work…we take pride. Guess what? So do your employees. So do your customers. Make sure you are taking the time to “make a list” of the people doing great work in your life and your organization. Give them a chance to “puff up their chest.” And if you want to make sure you never miss any of this “recognized” content, feel free to sign up for our VIP newsletter. You can do that here! Or if you want to head to our site and shop for cool Promotional items to recognize your team, you can do that 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!
Today on the podcast we take a look at the recent Online 18 from Dale Denham. Dale recognizes his list of 18 Online Influencers (you can find the list here). This time on the Podcast I take a look at some lessons you can learn from the folks on this list…and how you can apply them.
Once again, special thanks to Dale Denham for putting together this list. It’s great for discussion…and pushes me to do more (and better) work. And congrats to my buddy Bill Petrie for being Numero Uno on the list this year! Awesome stuff. As always, make sure you never miss an update. We are posting new content every day. So sign up here for our VIP newsletter to make sure you get the best of the best!
by Kirby Hasseman
Everyone wants to create (or be) the “next big thing.” We want to start off with a #1 hit. Or at the very least, we want to have some level of success right away. But when it comes to sales, building a business or creating content, most of the time, it doesn’t work that way. It’s done by making small, almost unnoticed steps, each day. Seth Godin talks about this in this blog post “Two Simple Secrets to Good ideas.” Secret #1 is the biggest one: More bad ideas. The more bad ideas the better. If you work really hard on coming up with bad ideas, sooner or later, some good ideas are going to slip through. That’s how I feel about creating content and building an audience. You need to be willing to live through the times when it feels like nobody cares. You have to keep showing up. You have to keep providing value without getting anything in return. Oh, and as a side, note, I “keep” saying “keep.” Before you can keep doing anything, you have to start. So if you want to build a business or a personal brand, you have to actually start. Seth Godin would say you have to “Choose Yourself.” The bad news is, it will take time. Most of the time it takes a long time to create a real audience. But the good news is, that lack of audience gives you time to hone your craft and get better. It gives you time to make mistakes and not be perfect. You won’t be. But start. As Seth says, start creating a bunch of bad ideas. Sooner or later a great idea, video, podcast, blog, or business will come. Speaking of people who “chose themselves,” congratulations to the people recognized on the most recent Online 18. Dale Denham has created this list for the last several years. It recognizes people that put themselves out there online, hopefully, to the betterment of the marketing community. Keep it up! We will keep putting this “out there!” Make sure you never miss a podcast, video, blog or special. Sign up for our VIP Newsletter here.
