Yesterday, Laura pointed out a great post by MISTER Brian Clark over at Copyblogger about how to become a heroic business blogger. Long-time readers of this site know that I very man-love Brian, so any chance to point people his way is a great reason to write a post. So, go read Brian’s post, subscribe to Laura’s blog, and then come back here.
It’s all about them
There are two kinds of emails I receive when people are pitching me for my attention. The first kind are where someone throws something over the fence to me and says, “you should write about this. It’s really cool.” Sometimes, these emails come with fat paragraphs about why something is cool. Strangely, I never seem to get to those requests. That’s because these emails are all about the person looking for my attention / time / money (I’m broke, but they want other people’s money that I might influence).
The other kind of email starts with someone saying that based on my recent blog posts, and especially the one about Facebook, they wanted my thoughts and feedback on THEIR social network site (or whatever- this is an example). Now, they have just told me that they’ve read my blog, and cited a post, and suddenly, I’m thinking: they really do know me and want my time and attention. These emails are about ME, and often tell me why I think the product is really cool.
Two ways to pimp
Straight, open-faced marketing is one thing. It’s a blunt instrument. Hell, I sent out a spammy letter to people I want to have come attend Video on the Net, and because I didn’t parse my lists well, a lot of real-life friends got a very impersonal-sounding email. Oddly, the result is what you’d expect: a lot of people thinking, “That Chris is a bastard.”
But influence marketing is another thing. Getting someone like C.C. Chapman to talk about something passionately is much more valuable than getting one person to respond to a straight marketing campaign. Because C.C.’s a talker, an influencer, something of a troop multiplier. Smart marketers, the type who pay attention to guys like Mitch Joel and John Wall and Chris Penn, and Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz know that reaching influencers is the key.
And YOU have YOUR audience to consider
Write a blog post about you, or a twitter about you, or an email about you, and it’s about you. Write about them, and it’s about a relationship, something to consider, somewhere to take the energy and emotion brought forth by your effort.
This is the key to the message. You want to be influential? Tell people how much you love them, and then better still (here’s the biggest thing to learn), tell OTHERS why they should be in love with that person. I could list out why I love over a hundred people in the social media space without breaking a sweat. I know presenters and marketers and techies and professors in England and preachers and liquor store owners and librarians and rockstar entrepreneurs that I can easily explain why YOU should love them.
Write like that. Talk like that. Live like that. I promise you insofar as my promises are worth something that if you want to make a difference with what you’re doing, turn the magnifying glass around.
It’s all about them. It’s about your audience.
Right?
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