Sometimes I Just Want To Smack You!

The Veterans Days thread on this forum asking what the military
taught me inspired me to write this today, which I may later
share with my ezine.

I think that it offers several valuable internet marketing
messages that most don't think about often enough.


My response to that thread was discipline, a willingness to take
risk in the presence of imperfect information, and just the ability
to MAKE A DECISION and live with it. After all, I had often (literally)
made split-second decisions that could have cost human lives!

I learned to make decisions and take actions that were FAR
outside of my comfort zone!

As I reflect upon that questions more today, I realize that
I gained a way of analyzing, and looking at things differently
that also benefits me tremendously. As I read the conversations
on popular discussion forums and social media websites, I notice
differences in the way many others seem to view and interact with
the world.

Let me share some observations... PLEASE

First of all, the military thoroughly steeped me in operations
security, and keeping things secret that needed to be kept
secret.

We had a concept called "need to know" which basically said that
the fewer people you shared certain things with, the less the
likelihood of them leaking out. That applied even if many other
people had the security clearance level that allowed them to know
something. If they didn't have a need to know, then you generally
were being wise/prudent/proper not to tell them.

That's not the same as hiding something. In internet marketing
we have concepts such as transparency and openness that on some
levels appear to go against the need to know concept, but they
don't have to.

Let me expand upon that and where I often see conflicts...

I sometimes see someone selling a product or service who puts in
.... say a forum post... that they want to make a quick sale so that
they can pay their hosting fees. That same person is often portraying
themselves as being a successful person who has been at something
for a long time. The WORSE case of this that I've seen is where a
person was selling a service that depended upon their servers
staying online... and they are telling you that they might not!

They wanted YOU to build your business around using their service,
and yet they are telling you that their service may not even be
online tomorrow???

That's a HUGE disconnect!

Sure, everyone can run into difficulties from time to time, but you
don't necessarily need to tell the world just how critical things are.

The fact that anyone can seemingly hit a wall, AND how to get over
that wall, was driven home by a story Dan Kennedy relates in some of
his writings.

Dan tells of when he was running a business where things were so bad
that his primary supplier of the raw materials that he needed to
manufacture his product CUT HIM OFF. This supplier refused to extend
any more credit to his company... and basically threatened to shut
him down.

Dan inspired me by what he did next... he spent the last few dollars
of available credit on his credit card, flew out to where the supplier
was based, and perched himself on the steps of the business... waiting
for an official to show. He handed the guy a cup of coffee, they
discussed the situation, and before things were over with, they had
restructured the financing... and pulled Dan's company out of a real
mess.

Dan was up-front with his supplier who had a need to know. I'm certain
that Dan didn't tell customers ready to place large orders that he
might be closing the doors soon.

Do you see the difference? Many internet marketers don't seem to.

You DO need to let people know who you are when using social media...
as an example. I do it my ezine too.


What you share about yourself is where many seem to make poor decisions
though.

Not only are potential customers, joint venture partners, and subscribers
listening to what you are say... but now many potential employers
routinely scan cyberspace when doing a background check. Something you
jokingly post on Facebook or Twitter could come back to bite you. That
picture that you shared on Facebook or TwitPic CAN cost you a job,
a promotion, or... an election.

Practically everything that you post online is stored in searchable
databases... some of it for a very long time. I was even told recently
that some of it is cataloged and saved by the U.S. Library of Congress.
I haven't confirmed that... but that would mean that even your great,
great grandkids could see what an idiot you were

Another idea hammered into me was that who/what you are to most
people IS what's on paper. In the military, you got semi-annual
performance reports, and promotion boards used those to decide who
got promoted. Special duty boards also use those reports to decide if
you got certain jobs.

Who you were WAS what your supervisors wrote on your performance
reports. Not only that, but what they didn't say about you mattered
as much as what they did. NOT recommending you for a specific job
often carried a more powerful message that if they had just written
out "don't hire this incompetent loser... or promote him."

Military promotion boards looked for certain key phrases in
performance reports, and not seeing those words conveyed a very
clear message... one often missed by the uninformed

So what does all this have to do with online marketing?

EVERYTHING.

Everything that you do does convey a message, and you need to be
always cognizant of that message.

You need to go out of your way to view the world through the other
person's eyes, so that you can clearly see the message that you are
putting out to the world.

What is said about you or your product in testimonials... and what is
not said, conveys just as clear a message to customers as those
military performance reports

If you really listen incidentally, you can hear what others are
hearing when they listen to you... you have that instinct too.

Just some food for thought, and why I do sometimes read thing that
you post... and want to smack you

Willie