Leading with Value: The Currency of New Marketing
In my keynotes and workshops on internet marketing (which I am hereby referring to as “new marketing”), one of my key concepts is “leading with value.” For me, a key part of business in general is creating (and maintaining) relationships. Of course, business is about much more than just making money. But, in this culture, that’s easy to forget. My real bottom line is the fact that the quality of the relationships that I have created via my business are perhaps the greatest source of satisfaction that I have in my work (right up there with the creative satisfaction and opportunity to make a difference).
For this reason, I am particularly enthusiastic about the authentic aspects of social media that literally depend upon “leading with value.” Social media is about networking, which to me means “virtually meeting” new, interesting people and learning new things from them. And, likewise, being able to easily share what I consider to be valuable information with as many people as possible. I love that. I enjoy it so much that sometimes I even think, “I was born for social media” …and I’m not even a social media “big shot.”
So along these lines, I simply want to start my Monday morning by sharing a couple of insightful blog posts that to me do a great job of underscoring some important aspects of our new media world. Hopefully, they will provide sparks for you as they have for me, so we can all go out and (like the Beatles said) “make it better”:
- Focusing on Value: How I’m Changing How I Use Twitter
This is one of the most substantive blog posts I’ve read in some time, and I especially like it because it addresses, in a very real and pragmatic way, how best to deal with Twitter users who spam. Bottom line, don’t auto-follow everyone back; and most importantly, un-follow all those affiliate marketers who are only trying to “capture” your dollars.
- The Five Essential Pillars of a Social Media Campaign
This list of values provide a foundation for social media relationship building that are, as the author says, “essential.” They include “generosity” which is very close to my “Leading with Value” concept.
- ABC-TV News on “Marketing with Meaning”
Yes, marketing executives are actually writing books on how marketing campaigns are more effective when they have MEANING. What a concept! Nice to see it being covered in the so-called mainstream media.
Enjoy! And keep having fun out there.
Thanks for this. Steffan’s post says it all: “Everyone is broadcasting, and only a tiny percentage of people are paying attention and clicking through.” This sums up what’s been bothering me about social media of late. (It started with a seminar title I saw recently, “How to capitalize on the conversation.”) If we lead with value as you say, the currency is THE relationship. Maybe the money follows, maybe it doesn’t.
Thanks for the comment, Lee. Yes, the currency is the relationship, exactly. FYI, this concept is very consistent with books like Seth Godin’s “Tribes” or David Meerman Scott’s “World Wide Rave” for example. These are two books I’m planning to review soon. And, yes, I also agree that as you’ve probably heard elsewhere, “It’s not about the money.” 🙂
JL