You're putting me to sleep
by Joi Murugavell / Joi Design
How successful companies embrace web2.0 by peeling the banana to wake their clients up!
Are you putting your clients to sleep because you’re too busy acting like a business person? The moment you get to work you take off your personality and put on your business mask. Everyone knows it’s your business mask, but hey they won’t say a thing because they’ve got their business masks on too, doesn’t mean they like it though.
Last month I talked about the new web, coined web2.0. This month we'll take a closer look at the one thing that is consistent with businesses that have embraced the power of web2.0 (successfully) – they’ve pealed the banana, become transparent.
In almost all cases the reason you have a favourite restaurant or business that you deal with is you like someone there and have made a connection. We are seldom loyal just because a product is fantastic or the food tastes good, it’s always about people.
Transparency is one of the strongest web2.0 tools...
1) Peal the banana - stop being a business robot (all the time)
Be willing to shed a little bit of your business mask. If you’re worried people may find you a little strange, well there isn’t a single person who isn’t a little strange at some level. Anyone who relates to you, immediately forms a bond, people don’t bond with robots too well. A bond that is formed, is harder to break than any trick your competitors may come up with.
I'm launching a new online business next month called Oodlies, selling my paintings, objects and t-shirts online. I will send you my personal blog address in my next newsletter.
It would have been thought of as pretty crazy to reveal your personal blog to clients and potential clients. Infact many people still think its crazy, they're not the ones using the most powerful marketing tool web2.0 has given us - transparency.
(Paragraph inspired by an email conversation with Colin Frost also know as Mr Frosty).
2) Stop faking it - the new web is passionate
Very few people can fake it and still come off genuine. You must believe in what you do – or it will show. If you don't believe in what you do, you may still be making lots of money but you would make much more if people can feel that you are passionate about your products and services.
In circumstances where you are the brilliant business person who really doesn't care about the 'cosmetics' you sell, hire someone who is passionate and make them the face of your company. That one passionate person will make a huge difference. Write it in their contract that they blog on your website.
3) Stop using lack of time as an excuse - your first step towards transparency
We’ve all got 24 hours a day, yet there are some people who manage to maintain not 1 but 5 blogs and several businesses, successfully. So there are no excuses to only update your website twice a year, just like it's never really an excuse to shower once a month because you’re busy, you can’t expect to be trusted by being smelly.
If people don’t see movement or energy on your website that’s how they’ll perceive your business. Trend: Most people do a little research online before they call you. On average, they will look at a bunch of websites then call their top 3. We know this, as we’ve been asking nearly every client how they found us for the last 4 years and this was the general answer. Say something more than ‘these are our services’, everyone talks about their services – big deal.
Transparency sells. The key to making sure you update your website is good content management, don't rely on web designers to make little changes or it won't get done (cost+time). With good content management, you will be able to update a blog, add an article, maintain a news area in minutes - literally.
4) Is this guy cheesy-ly successful or what!
Meet Scott, who is world famous for wearing a nametag 24/7 since 2000. If I met a guy with a nametag that said hello I’m Scott I would think that’s a bit cheesy. However if I met him in a room full of business robots I would gravitate towards him, and that’s why Scott is so successful, he’s not afraid to be cheesy and genuine.
People may complain about cheese being fattening but most people like cheese. Infomercials are cheesy, they work. It's almost a knee-jerk reaction at times against anything that takes us out of our business robot comfort-zone, but the truth is, everyone is goofey at home, why not appeal to a side of that too. Scott has built a very profitable business out of teaching people how to be more approachable and brandable, some great free eBooks on his website on how to peal a banana. It's not just your logo that brands you - it's what you do, how you say it and how genuine you appear to be.
On the web what you don't say can really hurt you, especially since so many companies are talking to their audiences as if they knew them - peel the banana, it will be worth it and you'll have a lot of fun in the process. Fun isn't a side benefit btw (by the way). Somewhere out there, Matt is laughing at me spelling out btw again :)
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I may not have time for a long article next month, as there's lots of work to be done on Oodlies. I will still shower though and I'll send you a newsletter about a specific group of tools we've been using to help us remain transparent.
blog entry highlights
- Brave, simple changes click here
- Do people know what time it is? click here
- The human factor click here
Image Credits: Baby by Adrian and Kirsty Buchanan
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