Rick Kettner

Debunking “Thank You Economy” Myths

I just finished reading The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk.  Its an awesome book with lots of great insights and ideas for businesses.  If you aren’t considering the impact of social media on your business yet, you should be.

The purpose of this blog post is to address a few issues I’ve run into with Gary’s philosophy.  His message is important and absolutely worth reading, but I feel there are a few myths that need to be dispelled.  I’ll try to address these concerns here.

Myth #1 - Social Media Is About One-To-One Relationships

Many people think social media is all about reaching out to your audience and trying to build one-to-one relationships with customers.  They think social media is a complete game changer, but the game hasn’t changed.  The efficiency of communication has changed, but the goal is the same.  Focus on providing real value to your core audience, and allow them to spread that message.

A classic example of this was Conan O’Brien’s successful “Team Coco” campaign.  I discussed this in a YouTube video early last year and still feel strongly about this message.  The value of social media is in allowing your passionate customers to spread the message of your product or service within their existing social circles… not to try to build one-to-one relationships with every potential customer.

Not only are these one-to-one relationships un-scalable, but they are also un-natural and often disruptive.  The vast majority of B2C businesses simply cannot do this in a genuine and sustaining way.  Every example I’ve seen of this being attempted is very clearly disingenuous and, once the illusion wears off, will be widely identified as such (very similar to the “follow me on Twitter and I’ll donate to Haiti” campaigns that Gary himself condemns).  Whenever I see examples of this, I can’t help but think of Michael Scott and gift baskets.

I completely agree with Gary’s thoughts on listening to your customers, getting feedback, answering questions, and using that information to improve your products and services.  In my opinion, this is not one-to-one relationship building.  Instead, these ideas fall under the categories of market research, public relations, and customer service.

Myth #2 - Focus On Improving The Sales Experience

Its great to improve the sales experience for customers.  I don’t want to dispel that idea for a second, but I do want to clarify the order of importance here.  While reading The Thank You Economy, I couldn’t help but notice the huge focus on creating emotional experiences, not within the product itself, but in the sales process.

Customers want a better product experience - that’s why they came to you in the first place.  They didn’t come to have you sell them air in a creative/emotional way.  Unfortunately, for those that are selling a commodity or lack innovation within their product or service - improving the sales process is an easy fall-back.  So, instead of actually delivering a better product to the customer, businesses try to find new ways to attract and keep customers while their product stagnates.  Is this the key to long-term success?

True value is produced when innovation is applied to the actual product or service.  Sure, we will almost certainly sell more commodities when we dress them up and improve the sales experience, but this is a short sighted approach that doesn’t actually create lasting value.  You’ll get a few more customers in the short term, and you’ll have a few raving fans that forgot why they came to you in the first place, but that won’t last.  Their demonstrated ability to be emotionally sold by a sales gimmick shows how easily they will move on to the next business.

Look at how massive brands like Apple, Google, and even Conan O’Brien are using social media.  They focus on innovating within their products and services above anything else.  They understand that customer experience is built on top of product innovation.  That emotional experiences should be built around the use of the products and services.  Ask yourself, when is the last time you saw any of these brands trying to create one-to-one relationships as a core part of their social strategy?  Does Apple need to ask you to tell your friends about their products?  Could Motorola bribe you to go back to using a StarTAC phone?  How about Altavista bribing you to leave Google for their search engine?  Until and unless they innovate - no relationship building efforts will do them any good.

Gary may simply be assuming this is common knowledge, but I think it should be explained in the context of this book.  It is far more important to focus on delivering a better product than to manufacture a better sales experience.  Marketing is important, but as social media continues to take off - having the best product will become far more important.  Your loyal customers will naturally turn into your best marketers, so you can continue to focus on what you do best - listen, learn, and innovate.

Myth #3 - If You Aren’t Doing It All, You Will Fail

Gary is very passionate about his vision of the future - a vision I largely agree with.  However, I think he does his readers a disservice when suggesting they need to be doing it all… not so subtly suggesting anything less is just waiting to fail.  This is a dangerous thought process to go down, as trying to do it all is a good way to do nothing well (if you don’t go out of business first).

Its important to keep your ear to the ground and watch for shifting trends.  However, when it comes to real world application, it’s far better to focus on a few successful strategies and to do them well.  Gary gives examples of this in his book (restaurant owners focusing on foursquare, big brands using TV with Facebook, etc.), so I think he generally agrees with the premise.  That said, he seems to really drive home the message that if you aren’t doing it all - you are going to lose.  IMO, this is a dangerous message that could easily be misunderstood - even if Gary didn’t intend for that mis-interpretation.

Always Focus On What Your Customers Want

In the end, it’s all about understanding your ideal customers and doing what you can to meet their needs.  Don’t try to please everybody.  Determine who you plan to serve, and focus on finding efficient ways to listen, learn, and innovate for that audience.  If you provide remarkable value - your core audience (read: raving fans) will use social media to promote your products and services based on their innovative merits.

My favorite examples of social media success is when raving fans use these new platforms to spread a message - often with the business being clueless as to what is going on.  I agree with Gary that we should be taking a more proactive approach to using social media, but we shouldn’t forget the organic way in which customers want to use these new platforms.  Make it easy for them to spread your message, but don’t disrupt the natural process by getting in on every conversation.  Listen, learn, and innovate.

Is Piracy Really Stealing? Is It That Simple?

For some reason, the idea that “piracy is stealing” has become a controversial subject online. Some people believe that there is a justification for taking other peoples work without paying for it.  In this short post, I hope to address two of the common excuses used by pirates.

Copying Isn’t Subtracting, It’s Re-Producing… Right?

One view is that copying isn’t a form of theft because it doesn’t directly cost the developer/artist any money.  The argument goes, “If I steal a car, that takes something of value from the original owner… but if I copy a file, nothing is lost - value is actually created!”.

Unfortunately, it isn’t this simple.  The business model used by most software, music, and video companies is based around volume. This is what allows a product, that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in development costs, to be sold at lost cost to consumers.  When someone pirates a copy - it affects two groups. First, it results in real customers having to pay more (especially if they want the company to stick around and continue to innovate).  Second, it results in the developer/artist making less money - providing less incentive/motivation for them to innovate or create a new product.  In some cases, they simply go out of business because it wasn’t profitable for them to create the product (even if it was so popular that people were willing to steal it).

My Favorite Band Promotes Piracy, So It Must Be Ok!

Some companies/artists have started to embrace piracy. The developer of MineCraft, a popular PC game, argues that piracy doesn’t cost them sales. Other mainstream artists have made this same claim with their music.

The businesses that embrace this idea seem to believe that a one-time marketing ploy is somehow a sustainable business model. Once the novelty of “this artist promotes piracy, we should pay anyway” wears off, people will still pirate and will no longer feel the need to pay the artist for their unique view. These businesses are trying to fight fire with fire, and are simply making the problem worse.

If You Could Pirate A Lamborghini, Would You?

I like to ask people this question…  “If there was a machine capable of “copying” a Lamborghini, would you think it’s ok to pirate one?”

“Of course!” they say, “why wouldn’t I?”  Well, unfortunately, nobody will ever spend millions or billions of dollars creating and innovating to build that machine… because there is no money in it.  If you were willing to even pay $5,000 for your new Lambo, maybe they would. This is a simple example of how piracy holds back innovation and subtly scares entrepreneurs away from creating new technologies and solutions.

Piracy is stealing - it really is that simple.  It is stealing from the developers, but more importantly, from society as a whole. The fact is, if everyone pirated - developers would no longer have the motivation to innovate.  While some companies may choose to use a business model of “free” - customers do not have a right to force this model on developers. If a business is selling something that you want, and you cannot afford it - that isn’t the developers fault.

It is this desire for the unattainable that drives innovation, competition, and the free market as a whole. Embrace the fact you cannot afford everything you want, and use that desire to fuel your own motivation and innovation. It will make the world a better place.

Aren’t You Glad Success Isn’t Easy?

When it comes right down to it, building a successful business is simple. However, there is a big difference between “simple” and “easy”. Simple means everyone can do it, but easy means everyone will do it. When everyone does something, the reward for doing it quickly disappears.

Climbing mount Everest, running a marathon, learning to play an instrument, getting into shape, starting your own business, reading for 30 minutes a day, following through on your goals, and working hard are all simple ideas. However, that doesn’t make them any easier to accomplish. The most rewarding things in life are never easy.

Easy is the road to mediocrity. It is the path of dreamers that are not ready to take real action. Don’t settle for easy. Instead, set simple goals and then choose to take action each and every day! 

When you run into a road block, don’t think “this is going to be difficult to overcome”. Instead, consider changing your perspective to think “getting over this is going to put me even further ahead of the wannabes”. Be grateful for life’s challenges as they make it far more rewarding. As Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

New Years Resolutions vs. 21-Day Habits

I am encouraged to see most of my friends and colleagues are skipping out on near years resolutions this year.  Everyone seems to be realizing that any day is a great day to make a positive change in their life, and that they can set goals on December 31st just as easily as they can on January 1st.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share the concept of 21-day habits (as taught by Strategic Coach). The basic idea is, anything you do on a daily basis for 21-days straight becomes a habit that is then easier to do than to skip.  In other words, if you hit the treadmill for 30 minutes each day for 21-days, it will actually feel more natural to run on the 22nd day than to skip it.

Using this simple strategy, you can focus on creating one new positive habit each month.  Try it, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results!