Are You Educating or Alienating?
As marketers, we must embrace the task of also being educators to our clients. We must first give our customers what they expect; delivery of services and goods. But much of what ‘sells’ somebody is beyond your baseline of services. What you offer beyond expectations is what garnishes trust and establishment as an industry leader.
The Social Deficiency
It’s been interesting to watch the changing tone of Social Media conversations. “Isn’t this shiny object great?!” has changed to “Hey, this shiny object can help your business!” to now starting to identify ”here’s how you can use the shiny object.” Even still, I shutter to think that the majority of our customers are listening, let alone looking for us. The tone of the conversation is that of throwing darts in the dark.
Our customers and audiences need to be grown and harvested. We understand that attention is needed for this to happen, but have you found the right seeds? Are you laying the soil and preparing the area for these customers to grow? Without giving them a foundation, and understanding of the landscape of which they are to receive your messaging and nourishment, there’s nothing to establish roots.
Heidi Thorne, promotion products marketing expert, accurately points out that by staying “ahead of the curve” and running towards new strategies, we risk leaving our customers behind. What good does it do you to learn a new language that nobody speaks?
The emergence of Social Media has been a bit of a rat race. Much of its utilization from business has been to “stay ahead of the curve.” While there is certainly value in keeping an edge in your industry and establishing a thought leader role, who is aware of it if you’re alienating your customers in the process?
If a Social Media strategy grows in a forest and nobody is there to notice, does it ever make a sound?
Guidance = Maturation
Education goes beyond Social Media. Some customers know what they want and they simply want the fastest, most efficient and most economic way of getting it. But some simply think they know what they want. There are often opportunities of guidance for our customers that go beyond any immediate benefits of “upcharges” or added services. In fact, the quicker you can identify the problem and generate a solution, the faster you can incorporate its resolution into your baseline.
Nobody wants to be oversold on an idea beyond their original expectations. But providing a premium service when expectations are for a standard service is invaluable to your customer, and eventually, you.
You might be an Alienator….
If you incorporate a project strategy to benefit your needs and overshadow your customer needs….you might be an Alienator.
If your primary goals are to exceed competition….you might be an Alienator.
If your objectives differ from your customers…you might be an Alienator.
If your social audience consists of industry professionals, but little of your customers…you might be an Alienator.
If you listen more to the “next big trend” instead of listening to customer needs…you might be an Alienator.
What have you done to keep from alienating customers? What benefits have you seen from being an educator on top of your service to them?
(image by Phillie Casablanca via Flickr Creative Commons license)
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Web Site: http://www.echelondesigninc.com
Bio: Marketing director at Echelon Design. Social Media evangelist, marketing strategist, graphic artist and tech nerd.
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Great Post Eric! I think you nailed it. Two points in particular stood out to me.
Firstly, There will always be those within our industry who are first to the starting line with new technology. As those people who are there first we are usually very quick to take off and run with the technology. When we do that we definitely run the risk alienation.
Secondly, we don’t necessarily want to be the first to cross the finish line….we want to cross the finish line leading the largest possible crowd. The only way to do that is to educate our customers and community along the way. To be an evangelist for the technology and an educator who helps others feel at ease.
By striving to be an educator I have found that my relationships with my community have become stronger. Helping someone out is the easiest way to provide value. The more one provides value, the more they are trusted…and people with always do business with people they trust.
Thanks for the great post!
Some very good insight on not only social media, but what it really means to be an excellent salesperson.
For me, sales has always been about educating. Not just educating about your products and services, but educating your customers on how to be successful.
Thank you for your usual insight.. and for referencing one of my articles in your post!
Great post Eric. You’re right. We all can really get carried away with ourselves if we don’t constantly consider the viewpoint of potential clients. Education is VERY important. Every once in a while I try to step back and consider what information would be useful to someone who is new to social media. The more they learn about it, the easier it will be for me to communicate with them.
Also, as bloggers, we always need to keep that potential client in mind when we write. I see way too many audio visual blogs that are so full of geek jargon that it looks like another language. Now if these people are writing for their peers, that’s one thing. But you aren’t going to get clients by speaking a language clients can’t understand. The more they understand, the more likely they are to actually use your services.