Forget Facebook & Twitter-Small Canadian Businesses are still waiting for Google

Today is Google’s day! When I re-branded myself last fall (2010) as a SEARCH & SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST after 10 years as a Sales and Marketing Consultant with a background in New Media I thought long and hard about my offering and arrived at Search & Social Media. For me it was never an either/or scenario like so many of my peers….rather it was about helping small businesses with the Social media basics and working over time to develop an online marketing strategy that embraced both Search & Social Media.

Since then I have heard very little talk about Google in my discussions with clients about my services. Those who are savvy are fascinated by social media and then shocked that I would actually charge anything more than minimum wage for my services for engaging, listening and monitoring their social media pages. This of course following their confession that they have no time or inclination or skills to engage online themselves – but admit that there is “something happening there” that they need to pay attention to, but they cannot identify what. It is called a new way to communicate, people. IBM calls it Social Business – it requires experimentation, investment and williness to take a business risk and exhibit leadership. The banks call it Innovation – but will NEVER lend to you, so I feel your pain–they will continue to hoard their funds and look to small business to mortgage their house instead…. A real catch 22, eh??

No sense dilly dallying over the Economics of the old school media world — I then move on to talk about Twitter or Facebook and there is more shock when I tell them that Facebook is “the” space in which to build a community or customer service portal – but since one needs to drive potential clients (traffic) to the FB page and engage them to like it before you gain access to their news feed the suggestion that they invest in online advertising in the form of Google AdWords goes over like a lead balloon even though I tell them it is a great idea as the typical user is actively seeking information on select keywords and the potential for a good lead or purchase is much higher they clutch their hearts and ask how much THAT is going to cost? I say the more you spend the more leads you get. Sales 101. In the sales world we call this a qualified lead. I see their eyes glaze over as they long for the day when they could hire a sales rep based on commission only. It is a different game online – they call it Marketing something that small business never really did. So, even though Google ad leads are much warmer than Facebook ad leads – at least for now….they don’t get it…

Over the last few days Google has re-positioned itself. Now that Larry is at the helm announcing that they will embrace social media, synchronizing themselves with the consumer who are currently using Facebook and Twitter type tools to connect with friends, family and oh yeah — ambitious innovative businesses…. They will also reach out to specific markets in an attempt to meld Search & Social Media with a new product called Google PLUS one.

What really hit home for me today is the fact that they will focus on the Canadian market as they have long identified it as being underserved with respect to the number of small businesses who do not even have a website. Some 1.2 Million — who are doing what? — “waiting for Godot”….

Note: A Tragi/Comedy in 2 ACTS

Having worked as an Account Executive some 13 years ago selling the “concept” of having a website to small businesses I have been down this road before. After the tek crash of 2000 I had to sell a lot of stuff besides “technology” but it allowed me to hone my sales skills and learn the sales process like the back of my hand. So now here is the Sting – about a month ago Google ran an ad on Craigslist (for FREE) for Sales Reps and I applied cause hey small biz is simply NOT getting it in spite of my brilliant White Paper download entitled – A 21 C guide to Online Marketing for Canadian Business.

Living in the most expensive City in Canada while waiting for the Search & Social Media Boat to come in is no JOKE. I have been literally and figuratively treading water for 13 years!

Treading Water

Now I am going under and the only offer I have is to work for a Chinese Insurance Start Up company in a Management role….yes, Toronto is all about BAY Street. So I bit the bullet for the second, yes second time and applied to Google in the most creative manner I knew – I submitted my white paper as I never graduated with a MBA, a high GPA in the USA. I am Canajun, eh?
Did I hear back from Google? Of course not. Having a background in ART and Media and high-tech sales, excelling in B2B business skills that are very attractive to Chinese Entrepreneurs in Toronto is NOT what Google is looking for….

Pray tell, what might they be looking for? A piece of the Canadian small business market for sure. What could I possibly know about those 2.2 M small business owners mindsets? Google is proposing that they will assist small Canadian businesses set up their websites. Good Luck and Heads up guys as you will be competing with the high school kid who does it for fee in his basement….lol. But seriously, may the force be with you – because the sooner you get em set up the better for the both of us. In the meantime I am going to continue to educate and hold the hand of the small business owner who does not understand why they should pay a professional any money to set up their Social Media channels. AMEN.

Social Media Shapes Society

Thrilled to find an article today on the release of another of the One to One Marketing book series. I began my serious study of marketing back in the late 90′s when I read the book “The One to One Future” by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. It really inspired me and opened my eyes to the possiblities of a new way of marketing.

The title of their newest book is The Marketing Century: How Marketing Drives Business and Shapes Society. In the UK they are marking 100 years of Marketing. I am celebrating 100 years of McLuhan. If we place the two timelines side by each I am sure that we could see that it is Social Media that is the greatest force on shaping society today.

Watch the video below in which Martha speaks about the skill set of a top sales person in the age of relationship marketing where the skills of sales expertise, creative and analytics are big factors. What she says really resonates with my experience of the last decade as a Sales and Marketing consultant while touching on the new position that I have adopted.

Soical Media is Sustainability

After a couple of years of thinking, debating and discussing Search & Social Media and its relationship to small business one thing has become crystal clear – social media is sustainability. In fact, Social Media = Sustainability. This position, if adapted, of course changes the whole game plan for small business who continue to think that Social Media is some sort of…

A. Distraction
B. Add On
C. Time Waster
D. or “yet to be justified” expense…

Pick one, any one…I hear them all everyday….all day. For a moment visualize yourself manifesting your ideal lifestyle – and then, your ideal client. What does it look like? What does he or she look like? Is there a connection between the two??

Does the keyword “sustainability” enter into the picture at all? One in which you have finally realized that a system designed around the idea of PROFIT only at the expense of your health, the people who work for you and the resources that make up your product offering or service is no longer sustainable?

A realization that something is changing in the way that business is conducted in 2011 is growing in the mind of wise business owners. Those businesses who are taking into account the lifestyle choices of their clients have changed their business models and messaging accordingly. They focus on either being

1. User centric, connected – like Google and FB and Twitter i.e. Social media (aka- SOCIAL responsiblity, social entrepreneurial etc)
OR
2. Environmentally conscious – like Whole Foods for real and any number of “greenwashed” corporations that let you decide where you draw the line on what is good for the planet and what is not…(aka – ENVIRONMENT, environmentally aware, from food to home to health care to energy to office recycling)

What is the market price of “sustainability” on Google these days? Pretty cheap according to the Google search below making one wonder why the whining about green being more expensive is really all about? Is there a hidden strategy here? Are you missing a big opportunity? Remember the old school corporate business model is all about competition, deception and misinformation. Make sure you really know your numbers and act accordingly….

What happens when you put the two together? Whether you adopt green or social media as your platform for sustainability – one cannot grow to its full potential without the other. You need to connect to your ideal client, the one that is informed, healthy, educated and empowered by technology, (which means they have BUYING power) in order to communicate your offering.
HINT: the greener, more local and creative it is the longer you will stay in the “most interesting times” game, for if cheap is your only offering you are either buying from or competing with China. Good luck on that front.

Value added is either customer service (SOCIAL MEDIA) or green (QUALITY). Ironically both can be adopted as positions of sustainability for the long-term.

News Flash! – Old media is not where the new consumer lives. At the end of the day this big Q – quantum shift – is all about the consumer, (which includes yourself) — who is “ALWAYS ON”.

What is the market cost of key word "sustainabilty?"