Why Passion And Generosity Matter In Marketing

If you live in the London, England vicinity and you happen to need a custom sign, I recommend looking into the folks at Clover Signs.

If you are a small businessperson who neither lives in London nor needs a sign, I think their story will help you understand why I believe that showing passion and being generous is a great combo for small businesses wanting to succeed in social media.

I have no personal friends at Clover. In fact, I’ve never met or chatted with anyone from their group—a Christian family commune—whose members spend their time reading and discussing the Bible. They eschew individual wealth, but they make signs to provide for the groups essential living needs, such as food.

I only know about them through their blog, which tells the stories of some of the 3,000 signs the commune has made and sold since 2006. Clover does not sell their services. Instead, they tell stories about their work, and I am among the many, many people who are drawn to them.

It is amazing to me how the most mundane topics can come to life by stories that explain the challenges, details, process and pride that go into almost any work or craft. (A good story-teller keeps the listener’s best interests in mind.)

Clover Signs displays it cares more about the customer than it does the sale. For example, the website has a page providing links to competing sign makers. If they are that generous to readers, I just assume they will be more generous to me as a customer.

In social media, we are drawn to the same behavior and attributes that draw us to people and businesses in real life.

So much of social media has become marketing in recent times, often at the expense of the human attributes that drew people into social communications to begin with. More and more we see platforms being used to push out messages and haul in revenue.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing inherently bad or evil in making money from your business. Ultimately, that’s a fundamental reason why we do what we do.

But those tactics in social media get you a sale at best. They don’t build a loyalty or a relationship. They don’t create an ongoing interaction. In short, they don’t get you customers and they don’t get you champions who will urge their friends to use your business.

If you write, photograph or record your work in any way, show the challenges of what it is you produce—chances are that people will enjoy it because the story is simply interesting. In that case, they are likely to share it with friends, and chances are some will become volunteer champions for the cause of your business. Such people cannot be attracted by an ad or traditional marketing effort. Yet each can be more valuable than any ad campaign your small business can afford.

But what about posting links to competitors? Why on Earth would you want to do that? It’s like sending people away from your store.

Well, it turns out that sending customers elsewhere may be better business than you think. Robert Scoble, one of the pioneering social media thinkers, likes to talk about his first job as a sales clerk in an independent camera store in San Jose.

Every now and then a shopper would come in and ask for a particular camera. Robert would say that he had it in stock, but that a competing camera chain store around the corner had the very same model on sale for 30 percent off.

When he first told me, I asked him why his boss didn’t fire him. He explained that his boss understood such moves to be the best business.

By sending the customer to a competitor, Robert’s store lost the sale. But he, most likely, gained a customer for years to come. Robert used something I call “lethal generosity.” He gave the customer a better deal than Robert could offer and he gave a competitor some revenue.

But that same customer was loyal to Robert, and he trusted Robert’s word on cameras. In the years to come, that customer would refer other people to where Robert worked.

Social Networks like Facebook and Twitter have accelerated the speed of social media. For this reason we forget that blogs, video, podcasts and even photo sites took off in the first place by demonstrating the value and power of simple stories well-told.

John T. Unger is another example of someone who uses story telling, passion words and visuals to tell stories that make me want to buy and recommend his work.

His blog demonstrates that he designs and sells striking, original fire bowls, bottle cap art and mosaics. He even provides a Google World Map that shows where the numerous artwork he has sold are located.

After a friend pointed me in his direction, I found him on Twitter, and from there was treated to his interesting, personal, occasionally funny and inspirational blog.

Unger is active on most social platforms. He listens and responds when there’s an opportunity.  When someone on Twitter recommended Unger for this piece, he jumped in almost immediately offering an interview or additional information.

Compare Unger’s social media success to what it would have been a decade ago. In earlier days, he might have to sell his works by attending crafts fairs and producing expensive paper catalogs.

Now, he can use social media to display not only his goods for sale, but his passion and knowledge.

It seems to me that this is the special value of social media. It allows us to see humans who we do not get to touch or talk to first hand. But still we get to see what’s inside of them and if we like it, we voluntarily become that person’s champion.

So before you try another e-coupon campaign, or attempt to assess the value of your Twitter followers, consider telling your story with the passion and authority it takes for you to run your business.

People will come. I promise.