Sure, there's a lot of noise and clutter on the web. As well as Google pushes cream up to the top, rarely does the move innovative and creatively brilliant work make it into daylight. It's always some corporation's website that's already got a huge following. And it's that following that buzzes in Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
So the rich get richer.
That brings us to the Million Dollar Question. How do you market a small business against the tide of huge corporate budgets with solidified fan bases?
It's actually simpler than you think if you know the anatomy of the web. There are pressure points and hinge joints just waiting to tip to the other side. It's just like Aikido. A tiny high school girl can, using just the right angle, tension, torsion, and leverage, break a big Harley Davidson dude's wrist.
On the web, there are two types of consumers no matter what your market.
There are influencers and there are followers.
This is saying the same thing as "there are early adopters and there are stragglers."
It's those early adopters who will swing from Apple iPhone 5 to Samsung Galaxy 4 without ever looking back in the blink of an eye. There's no loyalty. In doing so, they blog, they Tweet, they Facebook, They Pin and RePin. It's this group that also pulls the purse strings of the stragglers. Win them over and you just plain win. Now comes the grand master Kata, Poom Sae, the Drill.
How do you tear these guys out of the huge corporate claws that have them now? You don't have to. You don't have to compete against corporate marketing budgets. You'd lose anyway.
You see, I lied. There IS loyalty. These early adopters ARE loyal. But not in the way you think. They are NOT loyal to a brand. And when you win them over, you've got to remember that. They won't be loyal to your brand either. What they ARE loyal to is "amazement."
If you've got something amazing, they've been waiting for the next amazing thing. They are not caught in the claws of your corporate competitor. They are just hanging out until they find the next amazing thing.
So if you're competing against huge corporations, you've got the wrong target in your sights. You're fighting a phantom. Your real competition is your target market's expectations. Beat their expectations to a bloody, sinewy, gnarly pulp and you've got the head of the dragon feeding out of your palm.
AMAZE.
Now that you know WHAT to do, HOW do you do it?
Simple. One human being at a time.
These early adopters are online using public social media profiles saying things like,
"just bought a new Harley."
"my Harley broke down."
"I want a new Harley."
1. Find them. Create search filters in Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and even for blogs.
2, Engage them. Talk to them. Be a good neighbor.
3. Don't sell. When's the last time you WANTED to buy from a salesman.
4. Be supportive and valuable. Answer their questions. Help in every way you can.
5. Make sure you clearly state what you do and sell. Be super clear in your social media profile name. In Alex's case, i'd go with something like @harleyleather for Twitter.
6. If you make your products overt in your profiles but never sell, you'll win the respect of target market. Yes, there is a personal vetting process.
How many times do you have to see that slick, good looking rich guy strike out with the prettiest girl in school? How many times do you have to see the prettiest girl in school fall in love with the normal guy who was just there for her and again.
7. Remember, trying to get someone to do something makes them defensive.
Overcoming the Stats Leveraging Miracle Power
Yes, you've got to talk to thousands of people. In reality, statistically, you're going to have talk to 1,500 before any one of them buys from you. By the time you talk to about 9,000 people, you'll have about 4 sales. It's linear up to this point. Knowing this, most people especially if you have rent to pay and TV shows to watch, give up. But at 10,000 people, something quantum happens. They start taking your place.
At about 10,000 people, you've created a self sustaining current. You've become that drop of water that broke a hole through a boulder. Miracles happen. Miracles happen predictably, constantly, and dependably.
A trained woman's voice will break a wine glass every time. An icicle focuses sunrise sunlight and sparks a winter forest fire every time.
If a chubby Korean man can make the world dance funny, you can get other people to rave about your products.
ReCapped...
1. To Beat The Major Corporations, Don't Try to Beat Them. Just Make Amazing Stuff
2. Be a Good Friend to Early Adopters
3. Repeat #2 about 10,000 times (for how to speed this process up, see http://sparkah.com/private )
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