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For the past month, I’ve been teaching a college course on a subject close to my heart – how marketing has to change in the age of climate change. Think succeeding in the small business world is fraught with challenges? Try re-imagining how we conduct business in a sustainable fashion in an age so in need of vision and leadership! My students wondered how they can individually make a difference under such a daunting prospect – it can feel pretty overwhelming. I asked the class how many of them had Facebook accounts and how many contacts they had. You already know the answer, don’t you? 100% of my 20-something students had Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you-name-it accounts. The average number of Facebook contacts? It surprised me…. Over one-thousand! So I told them the same thing I tell my small business marketing clients. You have more power and reach in your back pocket or purse than any other group of people in the history of our species. It’s all about how you choose to use that power! Whether you want to change the world or just your small business success, the process can be the same. Start by sharing something authentic about yourself. Find something other people can relate to and apply to themselves. Start behavior change, one example, one person – or one consumer (or customer) – at a time! In our lives as citizens of a planet in jeopardy, I have challenged my students to choose just one behavior change they can each adopt and to share the experience on their social media pages. My own recent personal commitment is to delete livestock protein from my diet. It’s not sustainable. If you want to learn more about that, I recommend the film “Cowspiracy”. This film will educate, disturb and convince you that you too can do without steak and chicken. Include links to related articles or even a personal blog that you’ll develop over time to help people understand why you’re so passionate about change. (Try imagining your home under 50 feet of water or the sight of millions of people undergoing forced migration because their homes were lost when seas rose and you’ll find some passion!) Challenge your followers to make a sustainability change in their consumption behavior and to share their experiences on your pages. Engage in the worldwide conversation that is social media! Watch your influence grow! Be a part of changing the world! Let’s apply this to your professional life. Want to help people find the product or service solution that you excel at because you know you do it better than anyone else around you? Use those same social media pages! Talk about how your work is helping other people. Share your awesome ideas! Entertain people. Inform them. Give them opportunities to respond. Offer them reasons to sample, try, buy at a discount – so they change their purchase habits too! Strike up a conversation that leads to changed behavior in how your prospective customers solve their problems using your products or services! You’re now leading the Content Marketing line dance, and your customers are dancing to your tune! In both cases, it’s about finding something you are passionate about – and something other people can become passionate about too. This is followed by telling stories that engage people and draw them into your world. Authenticity. Transparency. Information over “selling”. Leading by example. These are the attributes of effective small business content marketing. This is how you build and share your brand or personal brand. For more on creating your company’s content marketing program, view other blogs on this site. For immediate relief, don’t take two aspirins – make one phone call. Joe Hines at A-Cubed Marketing. 714-872-0561. Let’s start changing behaviors together! Strive to Thrive! Joe Hines This blog is written by Joe Hines, Lead Branding Architect at Professional Edge. Professional Edge is a marketing consulting firm focused on helping owners of small businesses develop more and better business relationships. You can find out more about us at Professional Edge. Joe also owns and operates A-Cubed Marketing Services, a virtual marketing services firm. We help our customers explain how they create value so they can sell more of their products and services. You can see examples of our work at A-cubed Marketing
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