What if your online passion provided an immediate “ice breaker” when you meet with new business prospects. Here’s an example of how a winning car from the Superbowl of high end car collecting supports our client’s business goals.
Transcript
Robert: Hi, I’m Robert Riggs, this is Brad Besancon with a Clarity Digital Marketing clip and we’ve been MIA out at the Monterey car week, at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, which is the Super Bowl of international high end collecting of the most amazing cars in the world, that you have invited 202 cars from 16 countries, including Elvis’ BMW.
Brad: Elvis’ BMW he drove around in Europe.
Robert: In the Army in Germany. Yeah, sure did.
Brad: Yeah, it was a pretty interesting event. One of the things we noticed too that was pretty unique was we saw these film crews. These weren’t guys on their cell phones. These were three, $400,000 camera groups with mics and directors and lighting, and everything else. What were they doing?
Robert: Well, they’ve been hired by many the owners of these cars to do their own personal documentaries. But you know what? No social. Nothing online. So who will ever see it? I guess they’re going to sit in their theater room at home and watch. No, these are things that you really want to get out there and share and the benefit of telling a story around cars—and we were there to do it for a client—is that it’s an icebreaker for new business. Our client goes to meetings—we run all kinds of social channels that when he goes to business meetings with a room full of 125 prospects, he doesn’t need an introduction. The first thing they want to know is about that car collection.
Brad: Yeah, “Hey, we’ve been seeing your car videos online and Facebook.”
Robert: So what’s the ROI of social media? Can you put a value on that? You walk in to a room full of business prospects and they feel like they already know you, they already have a connection. That’s what social does if you will focus on that passion.
Brad: It’s all about that connection. It’s all about making a CEO, or an owner, of a business—or an executive manager, a director, whoever it might be—it’s all about making them real. You see a card or you see a LinkedIn profile, it’s all kind of status-y. It’s all kind of, “Look at my accomplishments, look what I’ve done,” and then, “Oh, by the way, I’m also passionate about 45 records,” or “I’m really passionate about art,” or cowboy art, or whatever it is. It makes you real and it makes a connection like, “Hey, Robert, I like that too.” We already have something in connection, we already have something in common, so now I go into a business meeting with you and I can say, “Tell me about that one piece of art that you have, that I saw on your Facebook. Tell me about it.”
Robert: Exactly. One of the other values is reputation management. Everybody these days needs to be concerned about how they appear in Google search results because bad things happen, people say bad things about you, and if you’ve loaded that up with positive stuff about yourself, you’re going to win. And one of the nice things about our client—and you can do this with anyone else—around these kind of passionate subjects. We’re on all the social channels and it just stacks up on search returns for him. That’s why when he goes to give a business presentation, people ask.
Brad: Exactly and it’s the way you do it. It’s smart about how you do it. You can’t just go, “Hey, if I start putting some stuff out, I’ll rank in Google!” There’s some tricks to the trade that we’ve kind of—not mastered because I hate that word—that’s not what we do. We’re not gurus and we’re not ninjas but we’ve tested it. We’ve done the old Google of hard knocks. You know, hard knocks Google and we’ve kind of figured out this stuff. So there are some little tricks of the trade that you need to do too to be sure that you’re doing it and doing it the right way.
Robert: You have to have good content. You’ve got to have content that potential audience or a general audience is going to find interesting.
Brad: You have to know your audience, which is the critical—we always talk about our audience speech, so we knew—it’s very interesting that on Twitter, our particular client has a total different audience than he does on Facebook. For example, he has a Ferrari, a 2005 Ferrari, SuperAmerica. This is only 500 of them made This is a premiere Ferrari from that era. They love it on Twitter. They’re like, “It’s a Ferrari on Facebook.” But you put something else out, a 1948 Delahaye, or a 1946 AC Roadster and they’re like, “Whoa! This is the crème de la crème. This is awesome.” So you have to know that too so that you’re poking the bear or pushing the button, to ignite that passion within your fanbase.
Robert: All right. The takeaway of this clip?
Brad: The takeaway is there’s multiple things you can use with events, particular passions or particular hobbies and interests of leaders within your company or your business, to really drive home the message of the business. And to make connections beyond, “Hey, I’m trying to sell you something,” and “Boy, our product sure is great.” Man, make it really. Make that person that is out there calling on those people real.
Robert: That’s the Clarity Digital Marketing clip of the week.
Brad: Have a good one, guys.
Brad: Elvis’ BMW he drove around in Europe.
Robert: In the Army in Germany. Yeah, sure did.
Brad: Yeah, it was a pretty interesting event. One of the things we noticed too that was pretty unique was we saw these film crews. These weren’t guys on their cell phones. These were three, $400,000 camera groups with mics and directors and lighting, and everything else. What were they doing?
Robert: Well, they’ve been hired by many the owners of these cars to do their own personal documentaries. But you know what? No social. Nothing online. So who will ever see it? I guess they’re going to sit in their theater room at home and watch. No, these are things that you really want to get out there and share and the benefit of telling a story around cars—and we were there to do it for a client—is that it’s an icebreaker for new business. Our client goes to meetings—we run all kinds of social channels that when he goes to business meetings with a room full of 125 prospects, he doesn’t need an introduction. The first thing they want to know is about that car collection.
Brad: Yeah, “Hey, we’ve been seeing your car videos online and Facebook.”
Robert: So what’s the ROI of social media? Can you put a value on that? You walk in to a room full of business prospects and they feel like they already know you, they already have a connection. That’s what social does if you will focus on that passion.
Brad: It’s all about that connection. It’s all about making a CEO, or an owner, of a business—or an executive manager, a director, whoever it might be—it’s all about making them real. You see a card or you see a LinkedIn profile, it’s all kind of status-y. It’s all kind of, “Look at my accomplishments, look what I’ve done,” and then, “Oh, by the way, I’m also passionate about 45 records,” or “I’m really passionate about art,” or cowboy art, or whatever it is. It makes you real and it makes a connection like, “Hey, Robert, I like that too.” We already have something in connection, we already have something in common, so now I go into a business meeting with you and I can say, “Tell me about that one piece of art that you have, that I saw on your Facebook. Tell me about it.”
Robert: Exactly. One of the other values is reputation management. Everybody these days needs to be concerned about how they appear in Google search results because bad things happen, people say bad things about you, and if you’ve loaded that up with positive stuff about yourself, you’re going to win. And one of the nice things about our client—and you can do this with anyone else—around these kind of passionate subjects. We’re on all the social channels and it just stacks up on search returns for him. That’s why when he goes to give a business presentation, people ask.
Brad: Exactly and it’s the way you do it. It’s smart about how you do it. You can’t just go, “Hey, if I start putting some stuff out, I’ll rank in Google!” There’s some tricks to the trade that we’ve kind of—not mastered because I hate that word—that’s not what we do. We’re not gurus and we’re not ninjas but we’ve tested it. We’ve done the old Google of hard knocks. You know, hard knocks Google and we’ve kind of figured out this stuff. So there are some little tricks of the trade that you need to do too to be sure that you’re doing it and doing it the right way.
Robert: You have to have good content. You’ve got to have content that potential audience or a general audience is going to find interesting.
Brad: You have to know your audience, which is the critical—we always talk about our audience speech, so we knew—it’s very interesting that on Twitter, our particular client has a total different audience than he does on Facebook. For example, he has a Ferrari, a 2005 Ferrari, SuperAmerica. This is only 500 of them made This is a premiere Ferrari from that era. They love it on Twitter. They’re like, “It’s a Ferrari on Facebook.” But you put something else out, a 1948 Delahaye, or a 1946 AC Roadster and they’re like, “Whoa! This is the crème de la crème. This is awesome.” So you have to know that too so that you’re poking the bear or pushing the button, to ignite that passion within your fanbase.
Robert: All right. The takeaway of this clip?
Brad: The takeaway is there’s multiple things you can use with events, particular passions or particular hobbies and interests of leaders within your company or your business, to really drive home the message of the business. And to make connections beyond, “Hey, I’m trying to sell you something,” and “Boy, our product sure is great.” Man, make it really. Make that person that is out there calling on those people real.
Robert: That’s the Clarity Digital Marketing clip of the week.
Brad: Have a good one, guys.