Be seen everywhere

I was commissioned in December last year by global loyalty marketing agency ICLP to write an article for their January 2010 newsletter on how brands can perceive social networking as a threat or an opportunity. The newsletter is now on-line and you can read my piece here. Do read the other articles in the newsletter, too.

If you feel like exploring even more of my thoughts on the web and social media, my posts on the bpodr blog are still available. This was last updated in August of last year, just before I moved my blogging principally to this site.

This is just my way of reassuring you that I’m not new to all this. OK?

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Last night I watched the Jim Carrey film ‘Yes Man’. The premise is straightforward: a man haunted by a failed marriage and trapped in a job he hates is increasingly turning inward, avoiding all social events, and becoming ever distant from former friends. A chance encounter with an acquaintance from school leads him to a seminar by a ‘guru’ who espouses the value of accepting all opportunities that arise. The upshot is that Carrey agrees to say ‘Yes’ to anything asked of him from that moment.

This way to Yes

The film has elements of a good old-fashioned romantic comedy and Carrey makes it easy watching. The outcome is never quite predictable and, although the guru (played by Terence Stamp) is a figure of fun, his philosophy is shown to be slightly more subtle in a scene at the end. In effect, saying ‘Yes’ most of the time is really the message. Saying ‘Yes’ when it’s often easier to say ‘No’.

I thought of that again this morning as I headed off to a meeting of my local Business for Breakfast networking group. After visiting the group twice as a guest, I decided to say ‘Yes’ to becoming a member. I’m not a natural networker and saying ‘No’ would have been the easier option and left me more squarely in my comfort zone.

Needless to say, saying ‘Yes’ was the correct option.

Believe it or not, however, I don’t want to talk about me! I want to talk about small businesses and the internet and what saying ‘Yes’ means in this context.

The Bad News

Think what your business would look like if you had decided the phone was not for you. It might work for other companies, you thought, but it wasn’t something you could see making a big difference to your customers.

In a few years, the wry smile that sort of imagining raises will apply to the internet. And I don’t just mean having a web site that lists your products and contact details. I mean using the internet to engage with your customers.

The Good News

The tools are available and they’re relatively easy to put into action. The hardest part – you guessed it – is saying ‘Yes’.

There’s an easy test to see what lies behind a decision to say ‘No’. Listen for the excuses and the justifications. An example? A business refuses to start a blog because:

1. they believe they’ve nothing to say;
2. they don’t want competitors finding out what they’re doing;
3. they might say something they shouldn’t;
4. they don’t have time;
5. they don’t feel comfortable writing.

All of these might very well be true but they also indicate fear. Fear of taking things in a new direction. The internet has this effect on some businesses. These are companies who, at one time, made decisions on which their future depended. They probably started in business with little more than an idea and a passion.

Of course, discussing that passion would be one of the things that made their blog worth reading. Blogging regularly would also help make them feel more comfortable writing. And when they realised that their blog was read by both customers and prospects, they would probably find it even easier to find things to say.

In other words. all the reasons for ‘No’ can be overcome. Saying ‘Yes’ to the challenge of the web – whether blogging, email newsletters, Twitter, or something as simple as sharing files via an on-line service such as Dropbox – cuts out the justification process, gives you head start over your competitors, and helps bring your customers into a closer and, ultimately, more profitable relationship.

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