Lazy marketers are everywhere.
\nSome lazy marketers are smart, some are not.
\nSome understand strategy, some do not.
\nBut they all have one thing in common: for lazy marketers, it’s all about the short cut.<\/p>\n

Hey, I’m all for time savers, working smart not harder, but let’s face it, when it comes to your brand, you shouldn’t be thinking short cut, you should be thinking long-range.<\/p>\n

Yet, this single marketing strategy I’m about to share with you is so simple, so basic, you’ll wonder why you’re not doing it already.<\/h2>\n

Before we go any further, let me ask you, which would you rather be:<\/strong>
\nA product or a movement?
\nA cause or a movement?
\nAn idea or a movement?<\/p>\n

If you don’t care, I’ll save you\u00a0 you can stop reading right now.
\nIf you want to be a movement, it’s time to re-frame your thinking.
\nIf you’re going to have a movement that matters, you’re going to need people to get on your side.
\nPEOPLE.
\nNot Twitter accounts, not Instagram followers, not Facebook likes.
\nThese are vanity metrics that provide little, if any, insight into the passion and interest people have in your brand, product or personality.<\/p>\n

Are You Really Ready?<\/h2>\n

If you’re ready, you’ll re-frame your thinking.
\nIf you re-frame your thinking, it will change everything.<\/p>\n

So get ready…
\nThe digital world is crowded now with marketers, messengers and “me, me, me.”
\nSome days it’s absolutely soul-sucking.
\nIt’s why everyone who uses social networking says marketers ruin everything.
\nAnd yet…people WANT to receive messages, they just want messages tailored to them.
\nOne of the reasons digital marketing is so powerful is that it creates a give and take in the relationship.
\nIt provides an opportunity for the customer, the reader to think about their favorite subject for a moment: them.<\/strong>
\nBut here’s the rub:
\nIt takes strategy, focus and creativity to create content that your consumer wants to see.<\/p>\n

So, please.
\nStop for one moment and think about the reader.
\nMake it about them.<\/strong>
\n That single phrase is the one that thing lazy marketers ignore.<\/strong>
\nWhy? Because it takes serious work to “Make it about them.”
\nIt means getting serious about audience identification.
\nIt means getting serious about your brand, it’s voice and how it relates to the audience.
\nIt means diving in on messaging and strategic choices in advertising.
\nIt means actually creating a digital relationship and even (GASP) an in person relationship with your customer or client.
\nIt means, digital marketing and branding for the long haul,\u00a0 not some flash-in-the-pan-make-it-go-viral-I-need-some-vanity-numbers-now kind of campaign.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And while we’re thinking about it, let’s consider language and what it says about our strategy.
\nIf you’re saying you’ll “use influencers,”\u00a0 do you think you’re thinking about it from the “All About Them” standpoint?
\nIf you’re talking about how you’ll “promote”\u00a0 your message, event or idea, does that sound like you’re getting ready to make it interesting to others?
\nIf you’re talking to a strategist or social media consultant who is using words like “promote” and “use” you’ll really need to ask yourself if you’ll have an opportunity for a customer relationship.<\/p>\n

I still see and hear this language every day on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, everywhere.
\nIt’s gotten to the point where my eyes glaze over.
\nGuess what?\u00a0 So does everyone else’s.<\/p>\n

Let’s step it up, together.
\nWe can do this.
\nWe can<\/em> make what you have to say interesting and relevant to the right people at the right time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now What?<\/h2>\n

Here’s my challenge to you.
\nGo check your last 10 social posts.
\nSee how many times you used the words “we, us, or I.”<\/p>\n

How much of your content was about the consumer?
\nHow much of your content was strategically shared to reinforce or create relationships<\/strong>?
\nIs there anything there that would make someone curious?
\nIs there anything at ALL that makes people feel ANYTHING?<\/p>\n

How do YOU make people feel?
\nIf you make them feel ANYTHING you’re miles ahead.
\nIf you make them feel stronger, smarter, special, you’re really hitting on something.
\nIf you made them terrified, scared, outraged, you’re really hitting on something.<\/p>\n

People rarely forget how you made them feel.
\n<\/strong>But YOU’RE utterly forgettable when you make them feel nothing.
\nDigital branding and marketing is a long game, with peaks at appropriate times.
\nBut always it surrounds emotion.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the movement your trying to start, start with the idea that “you” are not necessarily interesting.
\nWhat’s interesting to people is what they do with “you.”
\nHow you make them laugh or think.
\nHow you make their lives easier, better or richer.<\/p>\n

Here’s another reason to re-frame your thinking: it takes discipline and thought to create content that makes people pause.
\nThat’s why so few marketers do it.
\nSo while everyone else is “zigging” go ahead and “zag.” and watch how it changes the way people respond to your brand or product.<\/p>\n

That is all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lazy marketers are everywhere. Some lazy marketers are smart, some are not. Some understand strategy, some do not. But they all have one thing in common: for lazy marketers, it’s all about the short cut. Hey, I’m all for time savers, working smart not harder, but let’s face it, when it comes to your brand, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1013],"tags":[81],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/poodlemafia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/53.png","yoast_head":"\n