I am guessing if you know me and that I own an Internet Marketing firm that you think I’ve either lost my mind or that I am planning on a career change very quickly.

I’d have to say I’m getting closer to losing my mind than EVER considering a career change.  The bottom line is I love marketing, I just hate the way companies and even some “marketing professionals” interpret what good marketing is.  I think these same companies and individuals either forgot why they started their business, or perhaps simply started it for the wrong reasons.

I believe the most successful companies in the world started their company with the intention of solving a problem that existed in the marketplace, and they had a focus on serving people who were experiencing that problem.

Hey, I’m not naive.  I know there are also far more people out there who simply jump into industries based on the obsession of chasing dollars and not because they are following their passion.  I have no problem with these people either as long as they remember their responsibility to serve the clients they gain along the way.

The following are three things that I believe give people a bad taste in their mouths about marketing.

Manipulation

There is a thin line between persuasion and manipulation and unfortunately I witness companies and “marketing professionals” crossing that line over and over again with absolutely zero shame.  It’s as though they are sitting around behind the scenes chuckling about how they peddled just enough BS to “convince” that new client to try them out.  It’s sad how integrity seems to be a fleeting quality among some companies.

The biggest challenge with this is the power we have to understand our buyers from the huge digital footprint each of us create through our online activities.  Heck, Google alone receives over 1 Billion searches every single day.  Every time a person conducts a search, they are raising their hand and saying, “This is what I am interested in!”

The challenge with this is all this data is discover-able by these ill-intention-ed companies and so called professionals, and unfortunately a technology hasn’t been created yet to sift through all the BS and identify the companies with the best of intentions.  Until this type of technology is created we’ll be forced to pay close attention to the rule of “buyer beware.”

Spin

This isn’t always a negative thing, but it is when you are utilizing it to deflect attention away from the weak  points of your products or services.  It’s “ok” for your product or service to not be the best in every area.  All you need to do is find out how your product is distinctly different in your area of the marketplace, and focus on those areas.  That doesn’t mean do it to the point where people miss out on seeing the potential flaws in your offering.

I’m all for complete transparency.

If “spinning” your offer to deflect focus on the flaws gets you a client today … how happy will that client be when they identify the flaws?  Why not point those out up front and let your customer make the decision on what’s most important to them, and if they can live with that flaw if they purchase from you.  I personally would rather gain a client that knows completely what they are getting themselves into, rather than try to “spin” my offer to trick them.

Lying

You may be thinking I am the head of the Department of Redundancy Department with this one, but I see it as different than “manipulation” and “spin.”  I agree that it is closely related, but this is far more blatant.

I find the biggest cases of this coming from people who seem to be the smartest, yet have chosen to utilize there skills in a far less than ethical manner.  These people find out who their specific “buyer” is.  They find out what is most important to them.  They identify the emotional triggers they’ll need to pull in order to get them to make the decision to buy from them, and then they say whatever is necessary to get them to buy.

The biggest problem with this is it’s the same process companies and marketing professionals with the correct intent follow as well.  The only difference is they make sure their company can deliver on the promise they’ve made, and if they can’t, they improve their product and company to make sure they can.

Although I’ve pointed out 3 reasons why marketing sucks, I can think of a million other reasons why marketing is a necessity to the health of a company.  I just wish the bottom feeders would choke on the same crap they are spewing and simply go away.

If you happen to be a marketing professional or someone who handles the marketing for your company, let’s all publicly make a pledge to utilize the intelligence we have at our grasp to create customer experiences that match up to the value proposition we are offering to our clients.  Let’s not be afraid of telling the truth, or focusing on the areas in which we are actively improving.  If nothing else, we’ll gain the respect of the customers who don’t choose us, and they’ll most likely feel comfortable checking back to see if we’ve made the improvements necessary to gain their business the next time.

I’d love for you to share your views on marketing, especially if you have a differing view.  Leave a comment whether you agree or disagree.  :)

If you are like me you’ve probably attended a number of social media seminars where the speakers guarantee you they’ll teach you exactly what it will take to succeed in Social Media.

The only problem is, once you get through the seminar you are left wondering …

How the heck do I apply this information to my B2B (Business to Business) company?

It seems to me the majority of the “Social Media Presenters” are focused more on how to build your personal brand, or how to sell your product using social media.  This isn’t all bad since there are many companies out there who can use this information.

But what about those B2B companies that are selling services?  Does this lack of education mean there simply isn’t a good application for social media in the B2B world?

Absolutely not!

There isn’t a week that goes by that I am not asked the question, “Does your company have any experience working with B2B organizations or are you simply focused on B2C (Business to Consumer)?”

I personally don’t feel there is as big of a difference between B2B and B2C as people try to make it.

If you are convinced that it’s an earth shattering difference and to succeed in B2B you need to have some crazy “ninja skills” that someone in the B2C world simply isn’t equipped with, I have a question for you…

If you have a B2B company, do you NOT have humans visiting your site?

Just because you can’t pinpoint your ideal customer as a married housewife, that typically lives in the suburbs, has 2.5 kids, a dog, and is between the ages of 29 and 35, doesn’t mean that social media isn’t relevant to your business.

In fact, I am here to tell you it can be even more relevant!

When looking at ANY marketing for a B2B organization you need to focus even more intently on the type of human that will be visiting your website.  The main difference is you’ll look less at the demographic makeup of the visitor and look closer at the profile of the visitor.

For example …

If you were selling a sales automation software you would be marketing to three distinctly different persona profiles.

• First you’d be marketing to a VP of Sales.  This persona would be most interested in gaining insight into how full the sales people’s funnels are, how many deals are about to be closed, and what activity the sales people are conducting each week.
• Secondly, you’d be marketing to the Sales Professional. This persona is going to be interested in how easy the software is to use and  if  they can easily automate the processes they go through each day so they can find more time to chase the golf ball around the course.
• You’d also be marketing to the Network Administrator.  This persona is going to be interested in the compatibility of the software to other systems that are in place, how much maintenance is going to be required, but most importantly they’ll want to know how “dummy proof” it is since they’ll want the least amount of stupid questions from the VP of Sales and the Sales Professionals as possible.  :)

When you look closely at the type of people who are deciding to do business with your company, it isn’t that difficult to begin to put them in very specific categories.  Once you’ve done that, it is easy to uncover intelligence on that particular persona and quickly identify the main problems they are turning to the Internet to solve.

I personally believe this is MUCH easier than marketing to B2C consumers.

If you are going after a particular demographic you’re forced to evaluate their specific thoughts and attitudes amidst every other thought and view they have on every thing else in their life.

When marketing to a particular persona it is much easier to uncover their professional objectives based on their position within an organization.  Once you have this information you can easily show how the solutions your company provides can assist them in achieving their objectives.

It’s easy to find out where these individuals hang out within the social media-sphere, and elsewhere online.  Once you’ve done that you have the ability to engage these people and find out exactly what they are looking for. Once you have that answer, it’s up to you to GIVE IT TO THEM!

If you are serious about tapping into the power of social media for your B2B organization, we will be showing you the exact tools and processes we use to not only identify these personas, but how to find out EXACLTY what they are looking for at our Internet Marketing Academy on January 27th and 28th in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If you’d like more information, simply click the link above.  I’d also love to hear any success you’ve had in using social media for your B2B organization.  Leave a comment below if you have something you’d like to share.