Sexy/Boring and Building Your Business
It’s not often that I rant about something on this blog but I have to get this off my chest-I hate the term “rockstar” to describe someone who is not a musician! It’s ridiculous and robs the person of dignity and opportunity. Let’s face it-someone who has worked hard to develop, marketed their product or service and caught the imagination and desire of a lot of people deserves more than to be the flavor of the moment. There is a herd mentality that you have to score big and parade around like you are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Puh-leeze!
Okay, my rant is over.
Do you have to have to be the flavor of the moment to build a thriving business?
Social media can make any one of us a rockstar. Take a moment and think about when you founded your business. Maybe you have been developing, tweaking, and testing your product or service for a number of years. You’ve studied marketing strategies and current trends in your target market. You’ve put in the sweat equity and money to make your idea soar and now it is time to tell your story.
Marketing plans are necessary to keep focused on how to get the word out but there may be a missing ingredient to the whole of your business plan. Do you want your target market to discover you or your business? In social media, the trend is that a person gets noticed with their big idea (book, blog, product, service, etc.) and they are invited to speak at conferences, media interviews, and revenues increase. However, after a period of time, the novelty wears off. People want to be around you but they wonder if you got any other tricks up your sleeve or that you are really a one hit wonder. So many businesses bank on the idea that took off like wild fire that they neglect to build beyond that. Social media is a marvelous tool but it has a short attention span. There is always someone who is emerging with the next big thing. Outside of the online world, there are still traditional marketing channels to let your target market know about you and your business.
The real question-Do you have to be sexy or boring to build a successful business?
Maybe I’m being a curmudgeon about this. After all, it feels good to be sought after, quoted, and made much of. We desire to be successful with our businesses. After surviving the recent economic meltdown, many businesses of all sizes are evaluating their offerings and how to market them to the right people. So with things in so much flux, it becomes a question of focus and intention. It seems like a bad idea to avoid giving these questions some thought. Maybe they are not included explicitly in your strategic plan but taking stock of your personality style and your business fantasies seems a good way to know if you are going to develop a cult of personality or not.
Should the focus be on the founder or the business? Certainly it is sexy to be articulate and personable and this feeds the “know, like, and trust” factor which is drilled into us in marketing 101 advice. Obviously the more attention and visibility you have, the more people will want to buy your products/services. Does being sexy get you the right customers?
The boring way to build your business is to deflect the attention off of you and onto your organization and pursue more organic growth. Even if it is an organization of one, the ideas are paramount. The way your product or service will change the world is paramount. Keeping the focus on the idea may mean speaking at specific conferences or interviewing targeted media outlets. It may include smaller meetings with influencers or evangelists who will offer word-of-mouth recommendations. Does being boring get you the right customers?
What does sexy/boring mean to you as you grow your business?
Which is more important to creating a successful business-the person or the idea?
What would happen if you combined sexy and boring and avoided the flameout of rockstardom?
*Would you like to know what other people have to say about this in a live conversation? Join #kaizenblog on Twitter this Friday, May 21st at 12pm ET/4pm GMT for the live chat and discuss “Do You Need To Be Sexy Or Boring To Build a Successful Business?”
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6 Comments
Elli, great post. You are so right; at the end of the day terms like rockstar, guru, etc. don’t matter in the real business world. I think true “rockstars” are the unsung heroes in the trenches creating and implementing campaigns, talking to customers and making their insights actionable and focusing on building business around key things like generating revenue and satisfying customers need no buzzwords or flavor of the month.
At the same time, as marketers and/or business owners, it’s important we keep up on all the trends in the industry to educate ourselves and those around us.
Anna,
Thanks for the comment! You make such a powerful statement about the ones who are perhaps less glamorous but truly making an impact! I appreciate your pointing out how important it is to stay abreast of trends so we remain effective to our customers and to each other.
~Elli
Always challenging, Elli!
Isn’t it really all about continuously giving customers something to talk about? People like sharing a great discovery, or a remarkable buying experience with friends. In this day and age, that means that – more than ever – marketers can (and should) focus resources on giving customers more of what they want.
XOJA
Jon,
Yes, it certainly is always challenging! The really tough part for many marketers is that they didn’t start off as marketers. The leaders and managers of small businesses are being called to tangle with this question of how to engage with customers on multiple platforms while creating the experience that these customers crave. Very few of them identify themselves as marketers first. It seems that these SME leaders and managers must remember what makes their organization so marvelous (technical expertise, relationship skills, and the actual product/service).
~Elli
That’s why SME leaders and managers need marketing consultants, Elli.
. Just sayin’.
Jon,
This is true! It’s hard enough to invent the wheel and foolish to do so repeatedly. If you work with a marketing consultant who is willing to educate why and how a marketing plan is effective, you’ve struck gold! It is important for SME leaders and managers to recognize how to use own talents effectively and when to hire someone with needed but missing talents.
~Elli