Chickens vs. Eggs

I recently had a lengthy debate with my youngest daughter about the eternal question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As it turns out, it was a good warm-up for a business discussion.

Remember when you were a teenager and you argued everything with a passion worthy of death row appeal? That’s how it was with my high schooler after watching Jurassic Park. I made the mistake of quoting some article I read that said a T-Rex is more closely akin to a chicken than a lizard. Darwin aside, we launched jaw first into the classic Chicken and Egg argument. When you’re fifteen, there is no “agree to disagree,” there is only ”I win, you lose!”

What does this have to do with business? Well, it wasn’t too many days afterward that a request came across my desk from a prospective client wanting a social media marketing (SMM) campaign to help drive revenue.

ME: “Do you have any research that shows how your ideal customer uses social media?”

THEM: “No.”

ME: “Do you have a profile of their Web habits?”

THEM: “No.”

ME: “Then why do you believe a social media marketing campaign will be successful?”

THEM: “Because we were told social media is less expensive and we want to try it to win new customers.”

This was a discussion as timeless (and endless) as the chicken/egg debate. What comes first, the strategy or the tactic? Social media marketing is the new toy that everyone wants to play with, but even toys come with warning labels about appropriate use.

Not all social media techniques are effective in every situation. It takes research and planning before making the decision if, and, if so, which SMM tool is appropriate for your organization. Not to mention, you have to make sure your goal is appropriate and realistic.

Take the time to develop an appropriate strategy before assuming SMM is the right thing for you. Otherwise you may end up with egg (not chicken) on your face.

Working in a Data Mine

I’ll admit it. I can’t get the old Divo version of the song “Working in a Coal Mine” out of my head while I write this. Bet you can’t either, now.

But there is a serious point to this analogy. Data mining is as important, if not more so, than ever. How you do it is, too.

I was reminded of this by a new client who wants to find business prospects with a very specific profile. I mentioned these businesses are easy to find, just pull permit records from local government agencies. A little digging proved the data was available from an information aggregator who collects the records on a daily basis.

In this particular case, these were businesses engaged in a very specific activity and all the information needed to contact the business was right there in black and white. So were all the details about the permitted project.

For my client, this was the Mother Lode. It might as well have been rocket science, too.

In the rush to Social Media Marketing (SMM), we tend to overlook some of the tried and true means of finding customers and prospects. We often overlook the oceans of valuable information about the people who pay the bills sitting in our own databases or those we can access for free or a low fee.

How you collect and use the information is just as important. If you’re new to the data-driven world, there are strong restrictions with serious penalties (if regulators decide to use them) for using a consumer’s personal data for marketing. Protecting that data once you have is also a deadly serious issue – just ask any company that’s lost control of personal information.

While integrating SMM into your business practices is the price of admission these days, don’t forget there are still “old school” techniques that are still valuable.

What other strategies and tactics have you or will you import into the digital marketing world?

For more information about data-driven branding and marketing, send me an email at james.lee@c2m2a.com or visit www.c2m2a.com.