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In our culture there’s a new dichotomy – Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants. And like generations before, in your marketing you need to reach them, talk to them, and interact with them differently.

Digital Natives are people who grew up surrounded by computers. They get their news from their Facebook friends. They “talk” to their friends via texting/tweeting. They trust people they haven’t met face-to-face to provide them with honest reviews of products and services. They are comfortable exchanging their personal information online to build community and get information.

Digital Immigrants saw the rise of the Internet. They likely wear a watch, have a land-line telephone, read the newspaper in print, and trust the wisdom of people they intimately know or peer-reviewed experts. They keep their personal information private, since they know that companies have a way of abusing the data.

Most business owners know that it’s easy to create a Facebook page, create/upload videos, Tweet, etc. That’s why many people are doing it. However, very few are truly monetizing their efforts. Most are simply trying to “stay in the game” – so they can be found wherever / whenever people are looking.

If you’re marketing to natives, you can’t simply put up a Facebook page, website, etc. and assume people will see your marketing and suddenly want your offering. Natives require online communities. They need to see large numbers of people interested in something, and 24/7 interaction. Their attention spans are very short, so you need to capture their interest immediately. You need to reach globally, since your native customers may be anywhere in the world.

If you’re marketing to immigrants, you need people to trust you. Attend networking events to simply build “face-time”. Write articles in your local newspaper to have people hear your voice. Get involved locally in your community. Keep in touch by email, but also don’t rely upon your emails to be read. Call people. Do demonstrations. Learn to tell a story about your offering.

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Do you dread mixers or other business social events? Does your blood pressure skyrocket when you think about trying to sell your services to a complete stranger? Are you afraid that you’ll look like an idiot in public? The art of schmoozing (“definition: talking intimately and cozily”) can be scary if you have the wrong mindset.

The mistake that most people make when they go to business events is they think they need to sell themselves. This translates into a conversation like: “Hi, I’m Joe, and I sell real estate in Las Vegas. If you know anyone who’s looking for a great deal, have them call me. Here’s my card…”. The result? Nothing. No follow up, no conversation, no lasting impression. Joe chalks this up to another person who doesn’t need a place now, and goes to the next person in the room.

Instead, when you’re in a social setting, listen. What are people talking about? Why? What are they excited about? What are they selling? Instead of talking, ask questions. Asking people to talk about themselves is easy, so long as you’re a good audience. So, ask them things that are of interest to you (either personally or professionally).

Hopefully the person who you’re interviewing will at some point exhibit some social grace and ask you about yourself (if they don’t, then they’re likely not open to hear about something new anyways). Now’s your chance to start a conversation. But instead of selling yourself in one shot (thinking you only have this one opportunity), connect what you’ve been talking about with what you offer. For example, if you’re talking to someone who’s a watercolor artist, tell them about your favorite beautiful destinations in Las Vegas – or incredible artwork that you saw in a home you staged recently. By bridging your conversation from their needs to your offer, you create a smooth opportunity to talk about why you love selling real estate in Las Vegas. If you’ve been paying close attention to what the person has been saying, you have a lot of different topics to draw upon.

Even if your first attempts to schmooze don’t result in you suddenly selling your services/products, you’re still successful; you’re practicing the art of engaging a stranger into an intimate conversation. Enjoy the experience – you never know where opportunities will arise in the future.

(Photo by Horia Varlan)

On your website, should you have a headline that’s a question? What about a title of an email? Would it be better to use a question to get people to think or reword the question into a statement?

When you ask someone a question, you trigger an internal process with your audience. They hear the question, recognize it’s a question, and quickly attempt to answer it internally. If the question isn’t rhetorical or inappropriate, then they’ll attempt to consciously respond. This is the normal process whether the question is asked in a conversation, a lecture, or in writing.

A question has the powerful effect of making someone internally reflect to come up with the appropriate answer. Some questions are easy to answer, and doesn’t take much time (“What’s your name?”, “Where do you live?”, etc.) while others may take a deeper contemplation.

However, asking a question in your marketing (“Do you have any of the following symptoms:…?” or “Do you know what 80% of people over age 40 have in common?”) causes someone to stop reading or listening, and think. The thinking process disconnects you from them. This disconnect is like a commercial in a television show. It stops the action, and lets your mind wander. And as your mind wanders, you might realize that the television show isn’t that good, or that your marketing isn’t that interesting. The result is that you’ve lost some of your audience, with a chance for them never to return.

Use questions with care in your marketing campaigns. Their powerful psychological effect is a double-edged sword.

(Photo by Umberto Salvagnin)

Why is it that some business owners seem to get all the luck? Your advertisements don’t attract as many customers as theirs‘. Your Facebook page doesn’t have as many people “liking” you. Your phone isn’t ringing much, but they are hiring yet another staff member to handle the increasing load. What’s the secret?

For many successful small business owners, it comes down to luck. They were in the right place, at the right time, with the right offer. Sure they worked hard to make it a success, but even if you followed the same steps as they did, there’s no guarantee you would also succeed.

Small business owners also don’t understand why their “overnight success” can suddenly disappear. It’s because they thought they were smart, when they were simply lucky. And by the time they figure that out, it’s often too late. Instead of trying to figure out how to succeed anew, they try to do more of what worked before. After all, if it worked once, it should work again. Right?

The truly smart business owner thinks strategically both short-term and long-term. Before they open their store or make their website live, they spend the time to understand the landscape: their competition, their prospective clients, and the unmet needs. They create a dynamic plan to define their strategy, and revisit the plan when any of their market assumptions changes (new technology, new competition, new opportunities, etc.).

Marketing Tip: With a marketing/business strategy, your success won’t simply be lucky.

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I recently planned to have some work done on my car and thought it was time to find a new auto mechanic, so I did my homework. I talked to friends, checked on various social media websites for recommendations, etc. I called the top-rated one and explained what I specifically wanted done and asked for an estimate. The helpful salesperson told me the cost, explained what the cost included, and even compared themselves to the competition. Satisfied, I scheduled the service. After arriving, I was warmly welcomed and presented with a written estimate that was significantly higher (almost twice the cost that was stated over the phone). I was shocked. What would you have done?

I negotiated the price down to the estimate, but promised myself I wouldn’t be a returning client. Why? They lost my trust from the beginning. They gave a number of excuses (we were busy, we guessed at the charges, estimates aren’t promises, etc.) but the bottom line was how I felt. And they weren’t taking care of that feeling at all.

If a prospective client asks you for an estimate, what should you do? If you have a schedule of charges, then it’s easy to say “a basic haircut cost $40, and includes a wash, rinse, and blow dry”. If the charges vary based on specific details, then get the information you need to make an intelligent estimate. And if necessary, put some “wiggle room” into the charges (“Our basic service runs $1500, but it’s hard to give a firm number until we sit down and go over all the details.”). Whatever number you quote will serve as a psychological “anchor” to your prospect. That number will stick in their head as the true cost, unless you’re able to clearly articulate the possible additional charges.

Don’t be tempted to offer artificially low estimates to get people to your business. You might win the sale (pressure them when they’ve invested the time to come to you) but lose the long-term business (and risk the wrath of them bad-mouthing you to their network). Better to under-promise and over-deliver.