Real Reason | Joy of Direct Marketing

I went to a Gilda’s Club luncheon yesterday with about 150 other women, only three of whom I knew. We were all there to help Gilda’s Club raise money to support people living with cancer.

It was a lot fun for a good cause but I was mildly distracted by an odd thought that kept recurring throughout the afternoon: This is a lot like Twitter. It hit me just after we got there. Some people had bought whole tables so, of course, we couldn’t sit at them. I joined a table with mostly strangers. It was like Twitter only with Twitter, my computer is the table.

I like to meet lots of people.

Just as with Twitter, I talked to some people I know but mostly I looked forward to meeting the people I’d never met before. On Twitter, I follow new people all the time as long as they aren’t spammers, bots or think frequent cussing is cool. A friend tells me you’re cool on Twitter only if you follow few and have thousands who follow you. With me, it’s the more the merrier. Recently I had a party in my apartment with about 60 people for dinner.

You never know when you’re meeting a prospect.

Occasionally one of those all-business types will ask “Why do you waste your time with all these people if your objective is to build your business?” They’d never understand my real reason so I usually tell them some version of a true story I blogged about a while back – selling a fully loaded Ford Explorer to a blind man: Who would think you could sell a car to a blind man?

The idea of course is that you never really know. It’s why I follow and enjoy people like @aviationartlife. If you build a network of friends, good things just happen. Or not.

Reciprocating and “giving first” works.

I get a kick out of retweeting interesting or useful information so that people can enjoy it or use it, too. And I always thank the people who Retweet my comments. It’s Twitter courtesy.

Marketing is my passion.

Many of my tweets are about my business: marketing, branding, getting measurable results for programs. So when I read a great article in a marketing magazine, I find it online and then provide a link to it. Last week I mentioned a Harvard Business Review article and one of my followers said I was stretching him out of his “comfort zone”. Made me laugh.

People come from Twitter into my “real” world.

I get to know some of my Twitter friends so well that they begin to mail me information about themselves or their companies. Then they call to make an appointment to visit. Joe Blumenfeld of @JoeBees vitamins, and a few weeks ago @theflaggagency ‘s Chuck Flagg dropped by on the way to a cruise.

(Chuck Flagg pictured on the left, Joe Blumenstein on the right.)

So like Gilda’s Club, Twitter can help people do great things. Sometimes it’s that huge protest in Egypt, sometimes it’s as ephemeral as reading celebrity Tweets. Most of all it is a place to begin relationships with lots of people who just might someday become friends for no reason at all, except that they like you! ?

What is your Twitter philosophy?

My Creative Director and friend Michael McCormick (Guts of a Burglar blogster) needs a new car (at least I think so). His Ford Explorer is 12 years old, runs like a top and still looks pretty good … on the outside.

The inside is a different matter entirely. Passengers have to fly their legs over the Sirius antenna wire; the spots and stains are, well, spots and stains. The A/C in the back doesn’t work anymore and the vehicle is almost ready for its confirmation or bar mitzvah.

When Michael got this Explorer back in the late ‘90s (it’s his second one), I went with him to the dealership in Queens. He told the saleslady what he wanted, and she asked him what color he liked.

Anything you have is fine, he said. She and I looked at each other in disbelief.

Anyway, I thought the Cash for Clunkers program was a heaven sent opportunity for Michael to get a new ride. He disagreed. He thinks his Chuck (the Truck) is barely broken in. The tires are new, the brakes are new, the oil’s been changed and fluids checked every 3,000 miles. Yada yada.

It took me a while to understand his real reason.

For weeks I encouraged him to go to see the new cars. He wants an Explorer but the closest Ford dealership closed and they don’t make Explorers anymore, anyway.

So, I went to tweetdeck and started asking around. @ScottMonty, Ford’s Twitter spokesperson, gave me some recommendations. Another friend suggested the Flex and sent me photos. No buying action. I asked Michael why he wasn’t moving on this.

Turns out he really and truly doesn’t think taxpayers should be subsidizing his new car. Hmm. Hadn’t thought of that. And, he pointed out, a new vehicle cost a lot more than $4,500, perhaps around $25,000 more for what he wants. Why spend all that dough when he doesn’t need a new car? Men are soooo logical. It’s frustrating. But I already knew that. The new insights this whole episode provided got me thinking.

Not too long ago, the only way Ford could show its cars was in print or television advertising. Now that’s all changed.

What we see on TV or in ads is one-way communication, the company talking at us and controlling the flow of information.

Now we control the flow of information and we can find what we want, when we want it and consult with friends and family and experts along the way. I’ve known all this in theory and in making smaller purchasers for quite a while, but it’s a different matter to experience the whole process for a big ticket item (like a new SUV) in the real world of actually buying it.

In the meantime, people haven’t stopped looking for authenticity. And marketers are paying serious attention to what’s going on in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. On the web, customers can find anything, competitive prices, colors, and visit a website and buy anything in a NY minute.

Except, of course, Michael. He’ll be driving that car and me – and, horrors, clients – into the ground. Eventually, he’ll chat with a few friends and head off and buy a Flex or Edge or, who knows, a Club Cab F-250 – purple with a yellow interior, that some dealer happens to have on the lot and ready to roll.

Tag Archives: Real Reason

I Tweet therefore I am.

Missed out on $4500, but learned a lot anyway.

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