Blog by Julian Summerhayes. 419 words.
You create a plethora of Off-line material.
It has been the launchpad for the firm’s marketing in the past.
But in case you haven’t noticed, the Return on Investment has slowed to a point of no return. And in case you were wondering, more does abet more.
In many ways this is no different to mass advertising.
There is another way.
In Seth Godin’s latest book We Are All Weird he talks about amplifying your message:
“Publish a book or sell a painting or customize your car or design a house – whatever your passion, it’s easier to do it, it’s faster to do it, and it’s more likely that (part of) the world will notice what you do. The ability to reach and change those around you has been changed forever by the connection of the Internet and the fact that anyone, anywhere can publish to the world.”
Your Off-line and On-line material needs to coalesce around your message (providing you understand what it is you are trying to say and or convey). You will not reach the masses by promulgating the same message in the same medium as everyone else. The Internet opens up a window on your market that may be closed to others or at the very least it provides a new panorama on an area of work or people that might otherwise have remained obscured by their or your lack of connection.
If this feels slightly obscure then look at your On-line presence:
- Your website (www.blandfirm.com);
- YouTube (not many);
- Facebook;
- Twitter;
- LinkedIn;
- Flickr; and
- Third-party sites.
How do you: (a) make these remarkable and (b) integrate them with your Off-line material?
But before you close off the discussion you need to consider your business goals and whether your On-line functionality has the potential to meet the outcomes that you expect. I would certainly want to look at expanding the mix to include Scribd, Slideshare, Vimeo, Tumblr and Posterous or WordPress. It is not a case of covering all the bases but rather understanding the feature of your Off-line material and where it has the potential to integrate with your On-line material and syndicate one to the exclusion of the other.
Don’t forget the consistency of your branding and touch points generally. Make time to review all profiles at least once a month and make sure you have a proper calendar set up so that you don’t duplicate your effort.
Get this right and you may just surprise yourself with the outcome.
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