We refer to today’s world as the age of information because we are barraged with an influx of it daily. For the most part, I remained aloof to the demands of this ever-evolving world, finding it hard to trudge the constant updates of news, trends, technological advances, mobile apps and the like. I used to think that being an old-fashioned sort of guy was good enough for me. But alas, this rapidly changing world spares none; our social behaviors have been altered by technology and so too have our business practices. In pursuit of becoming a successful entrepreneur, my foray into understanding changing technological trends was inevitable.
It was the area of marketing in particular that is experiencing the largest facelift due to technology. Good old, confusing technology was once again throwing me a curveball. Everything was online now thus traditional marketing schemes were becoming ancient or legacy as quickly as the latest Facebook or Instagram update rolled out. I pondered if it was even worth it to bother with traditional marketing anymore and taking a page out of EPC Cigar’s page of modernizing a traditional cigar business to market in the twenty-first century, I decided to teach myself the intricacies of online marketing.
The management at EPC Cigar opted for a brave choice for social media and internet marketing at the start of 2009 – at a time when the true potential of social media was yet to be fully understood or quantified. Social media was described at the time by DeVito ad agency executives as “a natural place to go when you want to show something real” and the payoff was substantial for the once-antiquated cigar company. The direct communication with cigar buyers, retailers, tobacco growers and other stakeholders helped rejuvenate conversations about cigars amongst cigar lovers. The ability to generate buzz around their products was deemed a success by 2009 standards when cigar bars were vanishing and tobacco laws were tightening.
My takeaway from the EPC Cigar example was that there was potential in social media marketing but more importantly, the parameters for success in online marketing can vary from campaign to campaign. This point became even more salient when I stumbled upon Carl Donovan’s words. Donovan in his re-interpretation of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in the context for Online Marketers asks effective marketers to outline very clearly what their end goal is. For me, it was to market my business to my intended target market and grow my business prospects. I had to grow my business otherwise I would have to be looking at sporadic work. With that in mind, Donovan firstly advises to proactively get started with a gusto reserved for successful people but also asks that the marketer is aware when to take a break and “sharpen the saw” (to continue towards success). I knew once again that I had to buckle up and face my fears of the online world.
Then, as I dug a bit further, I realized that social media marketing was only a fraction of the overall landscape of online marketing. There were so many platforms to choose from such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter, etc. and each platform presented marketers with additional tools to better reach audiences. SEO, Adwords, PPC – all these abbreviations and fancy words started to make me feel overwhelmed once again and my learning curve grew steeper. My research pointed out that it was imperative to know about marketing gurus such as Moz, read or take workshops with these mavens some suggested, others advised that content creation was the key – effective, continuous content. But, there was no concrete unfailing formula for success.
Going back to Aric Rohner’s succinct words, I was reminded that I couldn’t do everything i.e. I couldn’t appear on every platform but, like my journey into entrepreneurship, I had to start somewhere because reneging on my passion was not an option anymore. I had come so far!
I brought back the idea of traditional marketing – thinking it to be easier to handle. Perhaps distributing flyers in-person at my neighborhood hardware store would be a good place to start. I dabbled with the idea of holding seminars or how-to sessions for first-time house-owners to help get them acquainted with owning a home which would enable me to build a goodwill relationship with them for the long-term. I was proud of myself for thinking of others’ gain instead of my own gain but I had not factored in the time and effort that these self-less schemes required. Because being an entrepreneur felt like I was running on borrowed time throughout the day, I had to face the facts: yes, online marketing was a scary world but it was a time-saving gem.
If my failures as a businessman had taught me anything, it was to opt for a well-thought-out solution that was not only effective but efficient as well. I decided to devote a few hours every day (from my regular working hours) to work with my team to build a seamless online presence. One of the biggest problems for a small business is that no one can find you or contact you. I wanted to make it evidently clear that I could be reached via a simple phone call or email address and I wanted to ensure that people in my vicinity were aware of that contact information. Eventually, I even developed a habit of obsessing over Facebook page likes and twitter followers so perhaps, I am halfway towards my goal of mastering online marketing.
Business insights from an entrepeneur 