Here, there be dragons
What is it about the prospect of marketing that turns otherwise fearless business owners into foot-shuffling, hem-hawing procrastinators who suddenly remember that they have to be somewhere - anywhere - else?
Often times, a modern entrepreneur or small business owner will have a stunning business plan, complete with detailed flowcharts for product or service line development, complex pricing and distribution algorithms and scaffolding for scaling smoothly as they grow. There will be extensive appendices laying out the where’s and why-fors of their business model, alchemical formulae for generating profit-and-growth predictions and page after page of mission statements, branding USPs and tightly-printed paragraphs outlining their optimistic outlines for the future. The baby books of some first children aren’t as thoroughly well documented.
But turn the page to the “Marketing” section and likely as not, you’ll find a big, glaring void with the legend, “HERE THERE BE DRAGONS!” splashed across it in a shaky, blood-red scrawl.
It’s A Brave New World Out There
True, the world of business has become something almost entirely unrecognizable to someone 20 or even 10 years ago, when many of today’s business owners were getting started. Welcome to the world of Marketing 2.0: Some business experts call it permission marketing, conversation marketing or persuasion marketing. Still others call it by names best not repeated where children might be present. But whatever you call it, it’s everywhere, it’s unstoppable and, to hear some business owners talk, it’s tearing down the world of business as usual like the undead surging over the last stronghold in a zombie apocalypse movie, right before the cavalry arrives.
Or, in this case, doesn’t.
Because at this point, as the saying goes, resistance is futile. This is where the world is going, by its own choice and it’s own design. But still, humans are an adaptable lot. If they can go from picking lice off of each other while hanging upside-down from trees to walking upright and downloading American Idol updates on their cell phones while juggling a Starbucks venti mochachino and a 3-way client call, surely they can adapt to this?
Yeah, the new world of marketing can be a confusing and maybe even frightening place for a small business owner or entrepreneur. But the truth is, it can also be a hell of a lot of fun if you let it.
Try Looking At It Like A Playspace Rather Than A Death-Match Ring
Consider looking at the new world of marketing not as a bunch of scary new skills to learn, but rather as a new toy store that’s opened up down the road with an endless supply of fun new ways to do what you already love to do - build your business, meet the people who need what you’re offering and change their lives. After all, that’s a far more realistic viewpoint of what’s really going on out there, because all these new technologies, social systems and media aren’t being created by some evil cabal bent on global domination and destruction. They’re being designed by folks who are looking for new ways to explore, participate in and have fun with this strange new world.
When every new technology or medium is a new toy to play with, a new and exciting world to explore or a new way to connect with your target audience and revitalize your relationship, marketing transforms from a dark and scary place on the map full of unknown creatures and hidden dangers to your own personal playroom, complete with the latest dohickeys, gadgets and gizmos. It also means you’re more likely to engage with others in that same playroom as friends, playmates and collaborators, rather than enemies, competitors and prospects.
Sure, it means learning some new stuff and figuring out what will work for you and what won’t, and how to put it all together. And that’s what this site is here for. But if you’re going to be doing business anyway, you might as well learn to enjoy it.
After all, isn’t that why you started your business in the first place?
business, business owners, change, entrepreneur, marketing, permission marketing, small business owner