FEAR

Every day, I run across FEAR of marketing on the Web.

- Fear comes from bosses who insist on calculating the ROI of the new rules of marketing & PR based on sales leads and press clippings.

- Fear comes from offline advertising and PR practitioners cautiously making the transition to Web platforms to generate attention.

- Fear comes from those who insist on copying the competition.

What's behind the fear? Let's take a look and then debunk a few myths:

FEAR OF PEOPLE SAYING BAD THINGS ABOUT US

Many company executives and public relations people trace their worries about the new rules of marketing & PR to their belief that "people will say bad things about our company" via social media.

This fear leads them to ignore blogs and online forums and to prohibit employees from participating in social media. In every discussion that I've had with employees who freely participate in social media, I've confirmed that this fear is significantly overblown. Let me repeat - everyone who has experience tells me this fear is overblown.

Sure, an occasional person might vent frustrations online, and now and then a dissatisfied customer might complain (unless you're in the airline industry and then it might be more than a few).

But the benefit of this kind of communication is that you can monitor in real-time what's being said and then respond appropriately. Employees, customers, and other stakeholders are talking about your organization offline anyway, so unless you are participating online, you’ll never know what’s being said at all.

The beauty of the Web is that you benefit from instant access to conversations you could never participate in before. And frequently you can turn around impressions by commenting on a "negative" post. Here's an example from Delaware North.

FEAR THAT WE WILL LOOK SILLY

When you write a first blog post, start shooting videos for YouTube, or begin to tweet it feels like you're just a big dork. I certainly did. But like anything, experience brings mastery. Just get going!

My daughter is learning how to drive a car this summer. Yes, she gets honked at and may even get "the finger" as she gingerly tries to park in a crowded lot. But she'll figure it out. Learning to drive takes time, but it is worth it because it beats the hell out of biking or walking in a Massachusetts winter.

I recommend that when you start a blog, you should password protect it for a few months. Begin blogging by sharing with trusted colleagues. As you find your "blog voice" you can tweak the content, delete posts, and then remove the password protection and look like a pro from the first day.

FEAR THAT IT DOES NOT WORK IN OUR INDUSTRY

One of the most frequent manifestations of fear is that the new rules of marketing & PR does not work "in our industry." The proof people provide is that nobody else is doing it. I've heard "The new rules do not work for mutual fund managers or lawyers or dentists or politicians or Singapore based software companies or Canadian blood donation centers or Florida based real estate agents or churches or rock bands.... I've heard them all. I see the excuses of "this doesn't apply to my market" and "people in my market do not use social media" literally every day.

Duh. Someone has to be a pioneer.

So my style and strategy in my books, speeches and this blog is to show examples from many different organizations. I also show examples from non-profits, the military, government agencies, doctors, rock bands, plus big companies, small companies, B2C, B2B and much more.

I am firmly convinced (and my audiences agree) that you can learn more from what a broad range of people are doing than from what other people just like you are doing. Don't copy your competitor, learn from a rock band or hospital.

Putnam Investments is a pioneer. So is the United States Air Force. So is Dr. Helaine Smith. So is Paul Levy. If these people had looked to the "competition" they would still be obsessing over TV commercials. newspaper inserts and Yellow Page ads.

The most powerful job in the world via the new rules of marketing & PR

And consider this. Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th president of the United States because of the new rules of marketing & PR. This is not a political observation but, rather, a thought about the amazing success Obama and his campaign team had in embracing voters. More than 5 million people supported Obama's profile on sites like Facebook and a half a billion dollars was raised online.

If you are an American citizen, it doesn't matter who you (or I) supported or voted for during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Everyone (those who work in companies large and small, nonprofits, independent consultants, job seekers, musicians…well, everyone) can learn from Obama's victory. I certainly have.

After all, who would have predicted in 2006 that a young, skinny, half-black man with a strange name—Barack Hussein Obama—and funny ears, who had served less than one term in the U.S. Senate, could be elected to the most powerful position in the world, despite facing more than twenty other candidates, many of them better known and better funded?

There is no doubt in my mind that Obama was elected because his campaign used the ideas that I describe in this blog and in my books and seminars. Mind you, I’m not saying his aides had copies of my book on the campaign plane. But I am saying that the campaign observed and acted on the very same ideas you'll find in this blog.

Now imagine if the Obama campaign was obsessed with "I want examples of how this kind of marketing works in politics" before he acted?

Imagine if Obama insisted on ROI measurement analysis prior to acting.

Imagine if the Obama campaign copied what worked in the past for candidates like George W. Bush?

Imagine if the Obama campaign acted on fear?

I can guarantee you that if the Obama campaign waited for "proof" and "examples from my industry" then he would be simply a junior senator from Illinois today.

What other fears do you encounter? (And how do you deal with them?)

Top image: grivina/Shutterstock

Comments

[Jennifer Shaheen]

I want to thank you for this post. I run into everything above and it really is fear. I have found when I break down things for my clients into bite sizes pieces it has helped remove the fear.

I know the other fear I hear is - The Fear of Trying to keep up. I always tell people it's not a race. Move at your own pace and like you said above "Just get going!"

[Janice Brown]

*Great* article. The best advice: get out of the Echo Chamber of your own industry. Great ideas are everywhere.

[Amanda O'Brien]

What a fantastic post (again). This is easily the topic I talk to people about the most as well. Changing from "the way we have always done it" to something new and perhaps untested is very, very scary and overwhelming. You are correct - if you wait for the case study of the company just like you who had x amount of success when it gets to be your turn... it will already have been done before. Someone has to be the pioneer!

[Jonathan Kranz]

Great stuff, David! My favorite non-reason is the "none of my competitors is doing it" excuse. But if none of your competitors is doing it, isn't it possible you'll enjoy an extraordinary advantage when YOU do it?

[Jeff Bullas]

Interesting post.. I bought your book last year and use it as a resource constantly. I have been blogging for 6 months now and loving it. I quote and promote your book to friends and clients. There are a couple of recent blogs that touch on some of your points in this post that you might find of interest at jeffbullas.com
28 Reasons Why The CEO Is Afraid Of Social Media and 8 Reasons Why Social Media is Such a Powerful Marketing Medium. Love your work Cheers Jeff

[Dave Wilkinson]

Damn good article. Just been looking at the rest of your stuff as well. I think I have some learning to do.

The interesting thing is I came in on a link about FEAR which is my bag (http://www.fearcourse/blog) and got drawn into to your bag. Good content works! As does having good products.

Many thanks.

[monica levy]

i think what's interesting about this is that fear can also be a hugely important element in making sale. how often have you purchased something you really didn't need at the time because you were *afraid* it wouldn't be available, or at the same price, or in the same color, sometime in the future?

what if we as marketers tried using fear to sell participation in SM to our bosses (and other unbelievers)?

[Steve Thomas]

Whoa David! It's like you're reading minds again. Fear is such a killer yet I live with it every day (and I've come to realize that most people do, too). So many of the people I know work in environments where there is zero tolerance for failure so fear of failing overcomes the drive to produce something dazzling by risking a daring move...and fear wins because we freeze.
Thanks for reminding me to be daring today.
As always, love the way you think.
st

[Adam Dyer]

Great article. One of the biggest push backs I get from trying to get clients to work within social media is their unwillingness to accept the value, which is clearly just a way of clients avoiding learning something new.
www.blackboxstrategy.net/Blog

[boston_bruin99]

Great article. I have been using your New Rules of Marketing and PR to help generate awareness for boston.sportsthenandnow.com/. After I was laid off, I was approached my a former colleague to blog and help market this site. My blogging skills have also made me a featured contributor on Trufan.com.

I have used Twitter, Facebook, and social bookmarking to promote the boston.sportsthenandnow.com site. Its only been a month and its picking up steam. I am excited and it has kept me sane trough these jobless days.

Thank you David!

[David Meerman Scott]

Seems like this post has resonated. Many thanks for the comments. I was worried about the one word blog title!!

[Colin Warwick]

For another fear, think back to 1993 when David Letterman left NBC to join CBS. Remember all the fuss about "intellectual property" and the Letterman brand versus the NBC brand? On a smaller scale, companies fear that when customers engage in social media conversations with a specific person, rather than a collective customer support pool, it may cause problems if the person moves on. In part it's a vaild concern that need to be addressed fairly. What do you think?

[Justin Bartz]

There's nothing to fear but fear itself... and the thought of your competition fearlessly pursuing online marketing, so that should tell you it's time to do the same.

[Colin Warwick]

Further to the "other fear" topic in my earlier comment, I just found this post about ESPN's fear causing it to seek to "own" its employees social media presence: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/dear-espn-youre-doing-it-wrong/

[David Meerman Scott]

Colin - sure that's a valid point. What if you were to leave Agilent? But it is not a reason to simply do nothing.

[Alex Lim]

This post is really timely, good discussion!
Fear is one big factor that holds back beginner and even people who have been in the business towards making a big step forward. While others have identified their fear, the rest are still figuring out what are the things that hindered them from trying. I think identifying what you are mainly afraid of will make an effective decision in putting a plan of how to overcome it. Success is sweet once you master the field which you are once afraid of.

I guess fear of what might people will say and think about you is a main thought of the article. Of course no one wants to be degraded. However, we can’t deny how these words of critics push us to improve and learn beyond our limits and imagination.ss

[Columbus SEO]

very nice,Great article and incredible post about Fear.
i visited many blogs but couldn't find such valuable info. i willdefinetly add this to my blogroll.

[Matjaz Bevk]

Exellent! This is so true. I tried to eliminate fear several times with questionable results. Now I have a nice source of fresh arguments to help me in the future. Thank you!

[Vic of BusinessAccent]

Very timely article. Thanks for sharing it. Fear is a fact and we can't deny it. Fear also has two types. The destructive fear and the beneficial fear. The destructive fear is a waste of time. The beneficial fear is the one which is handled by knowledgeable people.

[Omar Halabieh]

Hi David,

Excellent post, and great comments from all the contributors. One of the type of fears I always encounter is companies being afraid that information shared/posted might be considered as giving away secrets to the competition. I think this is a highly abused excuse. There needs to be a more pragmatic approach to this issue to really understand and make clear what constitutes classified/competitive information from what doesn't. A big part of the new rules of marketing is sharing more information and better educating one's customers and without the above, this is difficult to accomplish.

Regards,
Omar

[Adi @ The Management Blog]

It's a shame that fear of inertia doesn't hold the same power over people as the fear of failure.

[Toni]

Great post and very well said! This post hits so close to home for me and describes exactly the reason I waited so long to finally voice my thoughts about online marketing. Out of fear of people criticizing me too much, I held in how I really felt. For a year I was trying to learn online marketing and how to set up a good blog. I absolutely detested the marketing strategies that so many marketers were using online, but I was too scared to step up and say something. After a year of holding in this frustration something ironic happened and I finally found my blog voice. It was time for me to share with the world my insight. Now, my blog isn't up just yet, but its getting the final touches and will be ready shortly to scream out to the world how toni feels about things. That fear held me back but I'm not scared anymore to say how I feel even if someone chooses to criticize. Number one, I don't have the time to worry about competition and number 2, I know that the insight I have to offer is unique and authentic.

[David Meerman Scott]

Adi - what a great quote. I just tweeted it.

[David Meerman Scott]

Toni - Good for you to find your blog voice. The world wants to hear what you have to say. Get it out there!

[Adi @ The Management Blog]

Thanks David :) Opportunity cost seems to be something used quite extensively at the strategic level but seldom is it used at a tactical level. Obviously you can't afford to be too wreckless but I'm all in favour of showing some cohones and giving things a go.