You Have to Enter the Race to Finish It

Tools of the trade change often, and whether or not we like those tools, we need to understand them and use them because our clients and our readers expect us to advise them as to their uses, good and bad. That's why we are called consultants. Our job is to become as expert as possible on the use of strategies and tools that can be used to grow a business through marketing (including advertising, public relations and communications) and then to share our views with our clients and with you, our readers.

The world of business strategies and tactics applied to getting businesses noticed and in conversation with their customers is slowly but surely investing in learning about and employing the tools of social media. If you are a business consultant or a business owner and you are not using or investigating the use of what we often call Web 2.0 but to me a better term is social media, your future is not bright. These tools include but are not limited to blogs, podcasts, vlogs and sites such as Facebook. Those consultants who understand both the traditional as well as the evolutionary social media strategies and tactics (too early to describe them as revolutionary) will be the professionals who can offer the best and the most valuable advice to businesses as we adapt, adopt and change to meet the wants and needs of our customers. Those who cling to the past, consultants and businesses, are doomed to fade into the darkness of the past.

Here is but one real-life example of the changing interest in social media. Last week, CK attended an  event on Wall Street and Broad, where she joined C-level executives to discuss the topic of conversation. What she learned was, in her own words, the following:

"While most of the executives that I spoke with are either not yet leveraging social media or are just beginning to dip their toes into these waters, here's what I find most impressive: executives are not only curious about social media, they're very open to it. Most inspiring? These executives are altogether humble to the fact that they have quite a bit to learn."

Yes, executives in all industries and professions have lots to learn. That shouldn't surprise us. But don't miss the bigger message. Busy executives don't waste time learning something that they don't plan to invest in and employ in their own businesses. Are you ready to help them with their quest for information and are you ready to serve their wants and needs when they call you?

In a different take from CK on the same subject, Tangerine Toad writes the following at the Daily Fix today :

"The real digital revolution has nothing to do with advertising or marketing. In fact, it's the mortal enemy of advertising and marketing.

"Because the real digital revolution is about consumer empowerment, the ability to research and learn about products and services and make decisions independently from, and in spite of, any sort of marketing and advertising messages.

That’s what’s really changing the way we market. It’s not about our inability to control the conversation. It’s about our inability to even get in on it. “They” are talking about us and we can’t butt in. I mean Word of Mouth is wonderful and all, but it ain’t got nothing on a glowing review from CNET."

Toad's post is a necessary part of the equation to get us thinking about social media and our role in it. I disagree that it is the mortal enemy of marketing, as tools cannot be our enemies. (Toad is a good writer and a smart professional. He often uses headlines and phrases to be provocative. He did so with this article as well. The technique is useful to drive readership and to get our emotions up, a smart way to get us to think and to respond.)

New tools always come and go; our job is to learn how to use them so that we can advise our clients to employ them to grow their businesses. Furthermore, we need to be using those tools so that we can help our clients integrate them into their marketing mix in the smartest and most cost-effective ways.

Look, customers talking about products and services didn't just begin with social media. Today's difference is that the tools allow them to spread consumer messages in much easier and faster ways. We can either shrink from the conversations or engage in them. In the past, I chose to use word of mouth marketing as a way to grow both my business and my clients' businesses. Today, like the past, I embrace the new tools making up social media and see them as even better ways to do what I have always done with tools: Use them in the smartest and best ways to grow my business and my clients' businesses.

These tools are not our enemy; they are our friends. The best consultants have always listened to consumers, because at the end of the day our job comes down to helping our clients meet their customers wants and needs. We can't succeed if we don't know those wants and needs. Because of social media, it is easier than ever to understand what customers want, need and desire. How can that be a bad thing?

My advice to every business and consultant: Enter the race if you want to cross the finish line. Otherwise, plan to fade into the darkness of the past.