If you don’t know already, the three things you need to know about Charlie Sheen are that:
a) He has a famous Dad (Apocalypse Now, President Bartlett from the West Wing series)
b) He starred in a highly successful run-of-the-mill comedy sitcom on US TV
c) He had a very weird, very public meltdown (Winning!) on Twitter after being sacked from b)
So what did Charlie Sheen teach us?
He recorded the highest number of tweets in 24 hours, ever. Over 1 Million. He delivered a master class (possibly inadvertently - though he did have help) in the use of exploiting social media to maximum effect.
The lesson to learn is that there is nothing holding you back.
Think about these 5 marketing statements:
1. There is no “magic bullet”
As with all things success comes from hard work, good preparation and responding to an opportunity - in effect, working to a good plan.
With a good plan you know where you are going and how to measure your progress. Campaigns are created that have clear objectives. They integrate the appropriate marketing channels and make Sales and Marketing departments work together. Most of all they learn from experience and don’t rely on ad hoc strategies.
2. Your customers don’t care about you
They are only interested in what you can do for them. They won’t read your blog posts, watch your videos or respond to the calls to action on your website if it doesn't excite them. Don’t tell them how wonderful you are - tell them how wonderful they are and how you can deliver exactly what they want.
Until you find out what really matters to them they’ll continue to buy from someone - who does it better than you.
3. There is no effort without error or shortcoming
Theodore Roosevelt said this. Errors happen if you push the limits but you won’t get worthwhile success until you do. What makes marketing on the internet different is the ability to test and get instant, real time feedback from customers. Initial investment in testing can be minimal in cost but can deliver that quality information you need to push forwards, knowing that success is now much more likely. Your decisions are based on facts not on “running it up the flagpole....etc”.
4. Strategy comes first
Setting standard goals (lead volumes, gaining market share, etc) too early in the process can derail a campaign from the off.
It is more important to determine why customers spend money with you rather than merely generating numbers. This is the main goal to drive for. After that, you can begin to select the most appropriate marketing channels and metrics to show effective your campaign is.
You can’t dictate to your customers, so work smarter.
5. Serve the customer
Make their lives easier. How do they feel about your service? Are you satisfying their expectations? Your customers are more empowered than ever before.
So don’t over promise but do go that extra step.
Companies often blow their own trumpets so loudly that they can’t hear what customers are saying. The importance of your message is in creating a language that speaks to your audience to help them believe thay will get what they need - through their connection with you.
They don’t just need to read what you do - they need to "get" that you are their best bet in giving them what they want. But you need to say it in the shortest possible way because they won’t "get" it if your message is woolly or unfocused.
Charlie Sheen’s implosion was a lesson to us all. Reaching 1 Million tweets in 24 hours was a lesson too - it shows that anything is possible on the internet.
If you are interested in pushing your online marketing forward then you can easily make contact with us at: sem@e-xanthos.co.uk.