Because I Had To Change

I can't help my friends succeed anymore, at least not the way I used to help them.

My friends who own small businesses used to pay me to help them to succeed by airing ads that were highly effective on Pittsburgh's Christian radio station.  The audience felt like they personally knew my friends, and everyone enjoyed a relationship built upon trust.  It was the perfect win-win.  We treated the individuals in the audience with respect, as thoughtful, intelligent individuals.  We also got the message right, in an appealing way that touched the emotions and just plain made sense.  Believe it or not, we were more successful in helping small business owners than the nation's oldest radio station, the very first radio station in America. 

Then, the communications world shifted.  Just like newspaper circulation and other forms of broadcast media, radio audiences declined.  My personal inclination is to spend most of my internal thoughts on the future, which served me well in this situation.  Within one year of my departure, the stock of the corporation that owns the radio station for which I once worked declined 90%.  (I worked with a bunch of incredible people when I was there, and I sincerely hope they are doing well)

What About My Friends Who Own Small Businesses?   

In a recent blog (Directions To Paradise, August 4, 2011), I used the term push to describe how traditional media "pushes" people to your small business, rather than the term pull to describe how social media can be used to attract individuals to your small business.  How you treat prospects and customers, even at initial engagement, is vitally important to success in the social media environment.

Who enjoys a heavy handed sales pitch on a commercial that interrupts their favorite TV program?  Virtually no one, and that is why many use a variety of methods to record TV programs and fast-forward through commercials.  Who likes it when "a message from our sponsors" interrupts their music listening?  Again, virtually no one, and that is why people change stations on the radio, or buy music Cd's or an iPod.  These methods of communicating with the public by interrupting their entertainment no longer have the desired impact. 

When I read Permission Marketing  by Seth Godin in 1999, I could see that radio stations and other practitioners of "interruption marketing" that try to "push" people to businesses needed to change their strategy.  Recognizing the obvious, I (and others) had to change.  Successful business owners at the dawn of the social media era began asking people for permission to engage in the communication.   

Change  

Social media is growing at a rate faster than mature bamboo plants in part because people are naturally relational, and they want to control and manage information on their own terms.  They have grown weary of attempts to "push" them into business relationships by interrupting their entertainment.  Individuals among the millions engaged in social media will be attracted to your small business if you respectfully engage them. 

Again, the way that you treat your prospects and customers is vitally important to your success.  The wise small business owner will adhere to the words of The Great Teacher and "do unto others as you want them to do unto you".    

Change.  Change your thinking, change your approach.  Change from "pushing" to "pulling".  Change from what used to work to what is working and will work in the future.  This will require you to change more frequently and quickly than a super model has to change outfits for repetitive appearances at a fashion show, but it will be crucial to your business' survival and success.

Because you, too, have to change.

Thanks for sharing 179 seconds of your day,
Smitty