Myths of Facebook Marketing

Myths of Facebook Marketing

Written by Jeff Bullas 

There are many myths circulating online, such as the little green men are about to invade the planet and that the end of the world is happening in 5 days according to the Mayan calendar. There are also many social media myths and that includes those about Facebook marketing.

Facebook with over one billion users “is” the default social network for nearly 50% of the people that use the internet on the planet. No other social media platform comes close to its global user acceptance.

In fact, in the USA and many other English speaking countries it has almost reached saturation point with growth flat-lining or even declining.

It is changing how we communicate. Email is discarded in favor of a private message on Facebook. Forget sending your teenager an email, just “Facebook” them and you have a better chance of them receiving the message as often their email accounts go unchecked or un-monitored for days or weeks.

Facebook has become the private bulletin board for family and friends as updates, holiday, event and party images are shared to the  private communities that have formed around social connections and familial relationships.

Talk to a brand about social media marketing and instantly it is a discussion about how do you gain Facebook “likes”, pass the magic 1,000 barrier or build a Facebook app.

Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are like the neglected students at the back of the class with the plaintive cry of ”pick me, pick me”.

Facebook Posting Frenzy

What you may not have noticed is that there is an almost unseemly Facebook posting frenzy happening. People and brands are posting images of dogs, cats and aliens just to get attention..any attention!

Posting interesting content 3-4 times a day that people commented on, liked or shared was enough in the past to keep your updates appearing in the timelines of fans.

This is no longer optimal it seems because Facebook has changed the game. Posts or images that were shared or liked dozens of times are now struggling for visibility.

Why? Facebook adjusted its “Edgerank” calculation that determines what posts appear in Fan’s timelines. The organic Facebook marketing that we all enjoyed has been diminished by Facebook making sure that less of brands updates appear on the Facebook’s fan pages. Updates are now appearing in 15% or less of all timelines.

Twitter with its unfiltered stream is starting to look more attractive.

Myth One: Facebook will not change the game

If there is one thing that you must understand about social media is that it is evolving rapidly and expecting the rules to stay the same is an assumption you can not afford to embrace. Marketing Land mentioned and highlighted this changing of the rules and the reduction in organic Facebook marketing virality and reach. Some reports indicate that the reduction in the number or readers (views) of your pages updates  is in the range of 5-40%.

Keep in mind that for Twitter and Google+ that 100% of all updates are in the stream.

Facebook owns its network and it will continue to change the rules to suit its vision and commercial interests.

Myth Two: Facebook marketing will always be free

Facebook has gone public and the only way Facebook can monetize their platform is through advertising. The Google social network Google+ doesn’t need to place advertising in its stream or side bars because Google Adwords is their river of gold for the search giant.

Facebook will continue to look at ways of creating revenue that pays the bills because now they have shareholders to placate. Want to reach more fans?… then you will need to start to reach into your pocket and pay the piper.

Facebook’s next steps will include the monetization of the mobile platform Instagram that they paid $1 billion for. Mobile ads are the next frontier.

Myth Three. You own your Facebook account

The reality is that you are just a renting tenant on Facebook and you are there under their rules, terms and conditions.

Break the rules and you pay the price. Recently the pop culture blog and website “The Cool Hunter” had its Facebook page with 700,000 fans shutdown. This was due to “copyright issues” according to Facebook.

The challenge for brands that are heavily Facebook centric for their social media marketing is that an unexpected “shutdown” can leave a severe dent in traffic to your websites. The Cool Hunter saw a drop in traffic of over 10% when its  Facebook page was shuttered.

Just keep in mind that Facebook doesn’t have a call center for handling complaints. The lights are on but no customer service folk are at home.

Myth Four. You own and control your content on Facebook

Facebook is the repository for most of the world’s photos with 300 million photos being uploaded every day. It is the largest photo site in the world by far. This content is not yours according to Facebook’s T’s & C’s. Despite that, people treat Facebook like a hard disk backup for their images, videos and content.

Make sure that your photos and content is organised and saved somewhere else in case you suffer the same fate as The Cool Hunter”.

The Solutions:

So should you stop using Facebook for your marketing? Is social media marketing doomed? The answer is that social media will continue to offer a powerful and crowd-sourced means to market your brand but Facebook’s changes just brings us back to basics of taking control of your online assets.

Here are 4 tactics that will ensure that you are investing the time, effort and resources in the digital assets that you own and control.

#1. Create and post content to domains you own

These include your your blog, website and online store. You bought the domains and they are under your direct ownership, so make sure that the majority of your content including any multi-media is posted there. Building online assets is vital in a web focused world.

#2. Build email lists

Email may not be as sexy and as cool as social media but it offers one distinct advantage. You own your list. So make it easy people to subscribe to your blog or website via email. It is a digital asset that is often undervalued,  so concentrate on continuing to build that subscriber base.

#3. Invest in optimizing your blog or website for search engines

What a lot of people don’t realize is that 75% of all clicks from search engines are from organic search results. That traffic is free.

So optimize your blog and website to make it easy for Google to index your content. Also don’t forget to optimize your social media accounts for search engines by including keywords in descriptions, tags and categories. (amongst other SEO friendly tactics)

#4. Build followers and tribes on other social media channels

Other social networks offer great alternate opportunities for driving followers and traffic to your website. Twitter’s potential is often underestimated and new emerging platforms such as Pinterest are rapidly being recognized as vital social media networks that provide portals and links to your online properties.

 What About You?

Is your social media marketing Facebook centric? Have you got a plan B?

What other social networks drive traffic to your blog? Is SEO and search engine friendly tactics part of your digital marketing strategy?

How is your email marketing going?

Read more at http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/12/11/the-4-myths-of-facebook-marketing/#SrRopYpFRV7bQpWi.99

Contact Tony Park, the Business Gardener for a plan to assist your business eMarketing stratgy.
tony@businessgardener.com.au

Grow your small business with these marketing tactics.

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Mellisa Apte

If you don’t feel up to speed with these marketing methods, here’s a quick guide to help you get started:

Email Marketing

It’s a tried and true marketing channel – but how can you cut through the inbox clutter, and increase the likelihood that your email will get opened and acted upon?

1. Test your email content. Use different subject lines, try a few different calls to action and measure what works best – then switch to the higher performing version and introduce another test. Rinse and repeat!

2. Spell out how your business, product or service will make an impact on the reader’s day. How do you solve an urgent problem in their life? It’s even more powerful if you can help readers make an emotional connection to your solution, eg they will be happier, less stressed or have more time to spend with their family.

3. Personalise! Make your email marketing more effective by tailoring the content to your reader’s preferences and behaviours. Certain email apps can pull customer data from your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to make this easy and seamless.

4. Mobile Friendly? More and more of your customers are reading emails on their smartphones or tablets. Certain email apps like ExactTarget Marketing Cloud provide mobile-optimised email templates, and allow you to preview how that email will appear on mobile devices vs desktops.

5. Reality check. Would you click on it? Or respond to it? Be honest with yourself – if it’s too long, or the next step isn’t clear, then start again with a new draft.

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest… Businesses of all sizes struggle to make effective use of social media channels, and it can be daunting for SMEs – but your customers are on there, so it could represent a fantastic opportunity for your business.

1. Start with a plan. Outline your goals and business objectives, so you clearly understand what you want to achieve. Then work out how to measure progress towards those goals – don’t waste time tracking numbers you don’t care about.

2. Next – find your audience. Define exactly who you want to reach – they’re probably similar to your current customers. So ask a handful of your customers which social networks they use, and see what is – or isn’t – working for your competitors on their social profiles. You don’t have to be on every form of social media – start where the biggest potential audience is for your business.

3. Make sure it’s resourced. It’s unlikely that you need a dedicated person to manage your social media presence – but clearly identify who owns this in your business, and ensure they have the right skills to post, monitor, manage and respond.

4. Finally, don’t forget that social media is also a customer service channel – be ready to address all feedback, good and bad. Consider how a social customer service app like desk.com could help you centrally manage and track customer inquiries from social media.

Lead Management

Successfully converting leads to new customers is the lifeblood of most small businesses. Here are some best practices to help you increase prospects and focus on the right leads.

1. Define the perfect lead, so you can hone in on your target – what are their problems, their interests, their role in the buying process, their preferred method of communication? This way, everyone in sales and marketing (which can include everyone in your business!) knows what they’re looking for – and what to expect.

2. Keep your data clean! Make sure all the information on your leads and customers is kept in one place, like a CRM application. Everyone in your business should refer to – and update – that system, rather than keeping details on emails or worse, Post-It notes!

3. Share feedback. Remember that winning or losing a deal is not the final step. To keep improving lead management in your business, you should ask questions of your team and share insights. Why was the lead initially hesitant to buy? How did you overcome their hesitations? How many interactions does it usually take to convert a lead to a customer?

For step-by-step instructions on how you can put each of these tactics to use in your business, download our free eBook.

About the Author

Melissa Apte works at salesforce.com as a Senior Marketing Manager, where she gets to combine her passions for marketing, small business and technology

Problems with Small Business Web Sites - Infographic

Problems with Small Business Web Sites

by my case

The 5 worst pieces of businesses advice that I have had

The 5 Worst Pieces of Advice for Small Business Owners

When you’re starting a business, there’s no shortage of people eager to hand out advice. It seems that everyone, even someone you've just met, has an opinion on how you should be developing your product, running your marketing, handling your finances and much more.

I'll be the first to admit that I've met some very smart people and have had great mentors over the years. Their contributions have been invaluable to my successes. Yet after launching many companies over 35 years in business, I have come across some terrible advice.

Below are the top five bits of advice that I could have done without.

1. "Hire people you know."

I've had many people tell me that it's always better to assemble a team of "known quantities" — friends, colleagues or former employees whom you know and trust. But I've discovered that for me, the best hiring decisions are based on the specific positions I need to fill at that moment in time. In other words, I need to focus on the specific expertise and skill sets the company needs, rather than trying to piece together how Jill, Sally and Joe will fit into the new business.

In addition, if things aren't working out between an employee and your company, you need to part ways (and usually, the sooner the better). You may be more reluctant to let friends go, even if you know they aren't good fits.

2. "There's no room for you in the market."

The key to business success doesn't always hinge on finding a completely empty field; rather, it’s how you define your company and its place in the market. Starbucks wasn't the first company to sell coffee, but they did revolutionize the coffee shop by selling an experience along with a caffeine fix. Still, numerous boutique coffee shops are able to open and thrive today, even though there's a Starbucks around the corner.

Rather than struggling to come up with a brand new idea, take a look at your target industry and see where there's a void to be filled. Figure out the best possible way to fill that need and run with it. You don't always have to blaze a new trail, but you need to know who you are.

3. "You have to be cheaper than the other guys."

I admit that I fell into this pricing trap with a number of my companys. I felt that the only way I could compete with the "big guys" was to undercut them on price. So, I dropped our prices. My business grew, customers were happy, more customers came in, yet we were nearly losing money with every new order.

Many young companies feel the pressure to discount their prices heavily in order to win business. While customer acquisition is important, attracting customers at unsustainable price levels will just result in a race to the bottom. I’ve learned that you’re better off in the long run to focus on how to bring more value to customers, rather than simply slashing your prices. After all, someone will always be able (or willing) to absorb a lower cost than you. You'll need to find a new way to stand out, and then work as hard as you can to be exceptional in those differentiating areas.

4. "Social media is free."

Over the past several years, I've had people tell me that starting a small business today is much easier than a decade ago, because of all the free marketing on Facebook, Twitter and Yelp. Sure, you don’t have to spend a dime to join Facebook, create a Twitter account or start a blog. But, I think a more apt comparison is that social media is free like a puppy. It may not cost much to bring a shelter puppy home, but from day one, it's an endless whirlwind of training, toys and treats.

Likewise, social media is far from free once you factor in the blood, sweat and tears it demands. From developing fresh content to keeping up conversations, social media requires nonstop commitment once you start. Unless you consider your time (or the time of your employees) worthless, then there’s a significant cost involved with social media.

5. "You have to spend money to make money."

It's risky to think that throwing money at a problem is your silver bullet. Sometimes, creative thinking and strategy work far better than a checkbook.

Its important to learn the difference between spending money and investing in the business. Certainly, money can scale a business faster, but only when you spend money on those things that will produce more money in return.

Final Thoughts

People will always give you advice — some good, some bad. The key is to never forget that you are running the show. Other people's opinions should always be viewed through the context of your own experiences, convictions and value system.

Final decisions are always up to you, so there’s no blaming someone else for bad advice.

I have many stories - good and bad that have developed and grew businesses, but also learning opportunities that for me we the bad ones - but I can share so you don't make those same mistakes.

Contact me

Tony Park

Head Gardener at Business Gardener - www.businessgardener.com.au 

PR is a great way to grow your business

 PR can help you create awareness of your company and your services.

PR is a great way to generate leads for your marketing pipeline and it all starts by defining who you are and why people should buy from you. When you have completed those first steps, your next step is to take your message out into the world!  

Lets look at how to promote your business with a press release.

Press Releases

Developing a press release – and getting it covered in publications from your target market – adds credibility to your message and delivers that credible message to your audience.

A press release should announce something newsworthy.  Hiring new people, adding additional services, bringing on new clients, and purchasing new equipment are all announcements that are worthy of a press release. These types of announcements show how your business is growing, and there’s not much better news to share with your target market!

When writing the release, you want to answer the questions – who, what, where, when and why. The most important of these questions is the why. Why should someone care about this news?

For example, if you have acquired a new customer, your announcement can say:

Acme Print and Marketing Services is pleased to announce that The Big Bank has chosen Acme to handle all of their print production and direct marketing communications needs. The Big Bank is another example of Acme’s expanding role as a leader in providing print and marketing to organizations in the financial services industry. 

The news is that The Big Bank has become a client; the story is that Acme is now becoming a go-to resource for the financial services industry.

Note that if you are announcing the purchase of new equipment or technology, the vendor you buy from is usually more than happy to write a press release about your purchase. These vendors are sometimes able to get coverage in publications and sites where you might not be able to, so be sure to ask!

Distributing the Press Release

Once you have finalized the press release, (and received approval from any customers or vendors that you mention) send your press release to publications and websites that cover your industry and reach the target audience you are trying to connect with. This may require a bit of research, but you want to be sure you are speaking to an audience who cares about your message.

In our Acme Service Provider example, it would be beneficial to reach out to publications that focus on marketing and communications for financial services.

In addition to sending the press release to publications and websites, you can also send it out via a distribution or wire service. These services will send your press release out thousands of publications, and can help boost your SEO rankings.

Font is a company that can assist you and Becher can assist you in this.

Repurposing Your Content

Once your release is out, there are several ways to keep the news alive. First, be sure to post links to the press release from all your social media outlets – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  In addition to the link, post a bit of the story as well. Acme could tweet “More Good News from Acme”  and a link to the press release.

In addition, you can take the content of the press release and rework it into a blog post. Note that these are different communications channels, so you want to be sure you edit the content so that it reads more like a blog post and is more conversational.

This is a first step and creates positive Brand Values for your business - something you can grow on for other marketing and advertising.

Tony Park

Business Gardener

www.businessgardner.com.au 

Content Marketing helps to create respect with WEB 2.0

Hi everyone,

people are either getting into using WEB 2.0 tools like facebook, blogs, LinkedIn etc... or they have already have a presence. Some people are looking to use these as a replacement to advertising and see it as similar to say TV or Radio - or even just a press add and think that all these great people will see it and come to buy your product. 

The reality is far from the expectation.

You need to create a brand value a profile of relevant information that makes your web site, your blog your information stand out from the Billions and Trillions of web pages and pieces of information that is available.

Just putting up an add saying how great you are - a price and come and get it is not good enough anymore (was it ever) . 

A major way to get recognition of your brand values and then a possibility of a sale is to have relevant content to inspire, inform and educate to gain an understanding from potential purchasers that you have the relevant product or service for them, based on information and respect gained from that ongoing relationship.

Over the following weeks we will have more information on the gaining of respect and relationship selling, however below is an article from Katherine Duncan on a some aspects to gain some of this respect by making sure you have relevant content on your WEB 2.0 tool.

Tony park

Head Gardener

www.businessgardener.com.au 

How to Spread the Word Through Content Marketing

By Katherine Duncan|March 13, 2013

Image credit: Shutterstock

Content marketing, the creation of original written and visual materials used to generate leads, is becoming increasingly popular online--because it works. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 91 percent of B2B marketers and 86 percent of B2C marketers are employing the technique, and more than half of both groups plan to increase their efforts in 2013.

"Those who produce keyword-rich online content, including YouTube videos, blog posts, articles and so on, consistently show up on the first page of search results for their targeted keywords," writes marketing expert Ann Handley. The biggest appeal to this approach is cost. In lieu of shelling out thousands of dollars to buy advertising or keywords, marketers employ creativity as currency.

Here are five tips for doing it right:

1. Understand your audience.
Study your prospective audience to determine their needs and interests so you can appeal to them in an entertaining manner. Do it by monitoring keywords and topics (including names of competitors) on your social media platforms to see which drive the most Facebook Likes, Twitter shares, blog comments, etc. Once you have attracted a small audience, use their feedback to create content that will pull in even more followers.

2. Make a plan. 
Content marketing requires you to sustain whatever momentum you build through regular postings (daily is best). To keep it going, you'll want to develop a communications strategy that supports--not distracts from--your overall business goals by laying out a detailed editorial calendar of topics for the next few months. Then make sure to share the calendar with the rest of your team, doling out assignments where possible and asking the staff to contribute ideas for new content going forward.

3. Set high standards.
Apply the same standards to your online content as you do to the rest of your business. While effective content generates and nurtures leads, poorly executed content can have the reverse effect and actually damage your brand, causing you to lose readers and business. Play to your strengths: For example, if you're a skilled photographer, focus your content on teaching people how to get the best shot.

Bear in mind that the tone you use in a company blog or white paper (more formal) should be different from how you write for social media (casual and conversational). If you don't consider yourself a skilled writer, you can hire freelancers to do the job. But be sure to provide your writers with detailed editorial standards to follow.

4. Celebrate variety.
Don't limit your online content to routine blog postings or case studies. Consider offering product comparisons, a resource gallery or a directory of helpful information about your industry. Rethink common elements of your website. For example, perhaps you can use your FAQ page to address difficult questions related to your industry, not just your company.

5. Share wisely.
You've devoted so much time to creating meaningful content--now it's important that you know how to share it across appropriate social media channels. To build your brand's presence, set aside a chunk of time each day and use it to connect with others on various networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). And avoid being too promotional; instead, share your best content when you believe it can provide obvious benefits to your followers.

Happy blogging - Tony Park

If you want some advice contact me at 

tony@businessgardener.com.au 

Too much data - how to decide - Part 2

To Much Data - Mistakes you can make !

This is the second part of the sharing of information on what we can do in these times of information overload - and its going to get worse.

This a continuation of a blog by a respected business associate.

Again its not the data - but how you use it thats important.

Tony Park

Businessgardener.com.au

Making Better Decisions with Evidence - Part 2

My last post, about using data and evidence to make better management decisions, ended with a question.

A book club did an A/B test showing that by making a welcome call to new members, first-year spending could be increased by 8% and first-year retention by 6%.

So the question I posed at the end of this article, without providing an answer, had to do with what this company should now expect, as they roll their “welcome call” program out to alltheir new members. Should they expect the same results as they had in their test, or worse results, or better results?

If you didn't yet read the last post, what do you think?

There were a lot of answers ventured in the comments section, but unfortunately the vast majority were wrong. The correct answer was (wait for it)...

The book club should expect worse results from its roll-out.

More than two thirds of those who guessed any specific answer thought that the results would be the same, and several people suggested that there was insufficient information to tell.

Only two people thought the book club should expect the roll-out to have worse results, which is actually the correct answer, but no one suggested the correct reason for expecting worse results (although kudos to Sam Walker, who suggested it was because of regression to the mean, which was certainly close).

No, the actual reason the roll-out of a successful A/B test should be expected to under-perform the test result has to do with the sample of tests we choose to roll out, which is inherently biased. We only roll out successful tests, right? No one would roll out an unsuccessful test, why would they ever do that?

But this introduces a statistical bias. Every test, no matter how big or small, will have elements of randomness to it. There is always a chance that the results of a test on a sample of customers will give results that are significantly better or worse than would be achieved for the whole population of customers, based purely on the random selection of test participants.

When you do an A/B test, if your random choice of test participants just happens to include a few very enthusiastic or valuable customers, for example, then your test result will be better than the average result you would get for all your customers. Or, if your test sample just happens to include some very lackluster customers, its result will be worse than the average for all customers.

These variances occur purely on account of the random selection of participants. The smaller sample size you use for your test, the bigger the variance is likely to be, but there will be some variance in all samples, no matter how large.

However, what this means is that by choosing only to roll out tests that show positive results, we are eliminating more randomly negative results, and including more randomly positive ones, right? That is, there is always a chance that the result of any test will be significantly better or worse than the average over all our customers, but if this random occurrence is negative, then we wouldn't be rolling the program out.

So, on average, we should expect more roll-outs to under-perform their tests than to over-perform them.

My purpose in putting this and the previous post up (and future posts that I plan in this series) is not to provide an academic course in statistics. No calculations or equations were needed to make the argument I just made. You don’t need to add or subtract numbers to understand the logic.

My purpose is to call your attention to the fact that even though, as managers, we are all now inundated with data, and even though we have immense computational resources at our fingertips, most of us are not yet skilled enough in our reasoning to be able to put these data to good use, as a general proposition. If we want the quality of our decisions to improve with the quality and availability of data and computational capabilities, then we first need to improve our statistical reasoning.

We need to improve our skill at using evidence to make good decisions.

A couple of comments on the previous post made reference to the fact that the book club I mentioned would also have to ensure that the data from its test results are not contaminated or biased in some way, and this is certainly true. Before you can rely on data at all, you have to be sure you can trust it.

So in my next post on this topic, I’ll discuss the conditions under which you can trust the data you encounter.

Value from Wisdom

Wisdom can create Value !

With the huge increase in information available on the Internet, further increased as it is shared across the world, there is a challenge on what is correct and how can we manage this avalanche of information.

This article below by Daniel Burrus, helps to understand the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom and how you can use it to grow your business.

Tony Park

Head Gardener - Business Gardener

www.businessgrdener.com.au

Delivering Exceptional Value Using Your Knowledge and Wisdom

October 17, 2013

In today’s net-enabled knowledge economy, simply being a data dispenser or an information source for clients is no longer enough. Because the internet is so readily available and easy to use, people can get data and information instantly. As a result, any employee, no matter how high or low they are in the organization, who dispenses data and information is of little value to customers, and they will perceive both the employee and the organization as a time-wasting commodity. To truly stand out and be a valued resource for customers and clients, you need to go beyond dispensing data and information and bring knowledge and wisdom to the interaction.

Think of it as a triangle. At the base of the triangle is data. Going up, next is information, then knowledge, and then at the triangle’s peak is wisdom. Using this illustration, the higher you go up the triangle with people, the more value you add to the relationship.

Before the Internet became widely used in the early to mid 1990s, few people had access to data and information, so that’s where companies created value (think of the travel agents, stock brokers, and the order-taking salespeople of yesteryear). Today, however, virtually everyone has access to data and information, so the value in providing it is gone. And in fact, the more you dispense data and information to people, the more you’re wasting their time…and they know it. But the more knowledge and wisdom you give them, the more time (and money) you will save them and they’ll want to spend more time with you.

To truly understand how valuable knowledge and wisdom are, consider this scenario: Suppose a colleague is introducing you to someone who can help you solve a challenge you’re facing. Which of the following descriptions of the person hold the most merit to you and would make you feel comfortable talking with him or her:

• “This person has access to a lot of data regarding your situation.”
• “This person has access to a lot of information about your situation.”
• “This person is very knowledgeable about your situation.”
• “This person has proven to be very wise in helping people with your situation.”

Obviously, the real value is in the knowledge and wisdom someone can offer. So the question then becomes: How do you make sure you’re delivering knowledge and wisdom rather than data and information? The following points will help you focus your conversation for the most value.

• Take a consultative approach during every customer/client encounter.

When you’re talking with prospects, customers and clients, make sure you’re providing actionable knowledge and wisdom rather than simply giving them data and information. Ask yourself, “Am I providing something the person can easily find online, or I am giving the person consultative value and insight they can’t find anyplace else?” In fact, you may even want to keep track of how much data, information, knowledge, and wisdom you typically dispense so you have an idea of how much value you are providing.

Of course, this approach doesn’t mean you won’t dispense a little data and information. However, when you’re talking with someone, you want to make sure you’re not wasting anyone’s time, including your own. After all, why talk for 30 minutes about data and information when you can send a link to the same material? When you save time you create value, which ultimately leads to more business.

• De-commoditize yourself.

Since data and information are commodities, you need to de-commoditize yourself—even if you’re in an industry that’s viewed as a commodity. For example, travel agents still exist today. However, the ones who are successful have gone beyond dispensing data and information and have found a way to add consultative value to their clients. If you call a travel agent and the person simply gives you prices and schedules, there’s no value there, you could have found that online. However, if the travel agent you work with asks questions and learns that you are allergic to feather pillows, that you need extra legroom on flights, and that you prefer certain amenities and are willing to pay for them, now the agent is able to weed out your options and only suggest things that are important to you.

In this example, the travel agent is saving you time. Sure, you could find this information on your own, but it would take a lot of searching and phone calls. So even though the agent is technically giving you information, he or she is framing it in a way that adds value. The agent is adding personal knowledge and wisdom to the information and tailoring it for your specific needs.

Unfortunately, too many professionals are stuck at the basic data and information level. Those who make the shift to dispensing knowledge and wisdom are of higher value in the marketplace—they bring in the most business and earn the most money. That’s the position you want to be in for long-term success.

• Ask better questions to uncover the customer’s real need.

Many times a customer will call and ask, “Do you stock Product A, and if so how much is it?” The customer is pushing you into a data and information mindset. But if you answer the question directly, you’re giving little value. That’s when you need to take control of the conversation by saying something like: “To give you the best possible answer, tell me what you’re trying to accomplish. I may be able to save you some money and time.” At this point, the customer will tell you why they are interested in the product, and you can potentially offer a better solution.

Most people buy something and then find that what they bought is not exactly what they wanted or needed. Or, it is what they wanted or needed, but only for a short time because something else would have given them better long-term results. For example, an adult may decide to get back into bicycle riding so they can get in shape. The person walks into a bicycle store and asks, “What’s the cheapest bicycle you have?” Rather than show the customer the cheapest bicycle, a salesperson who delivers value would ask such questions as, “What’s your goal for biking? How long has it been since you last rode a bicycle? Do you plan to ride on flat surfaces, or on hills and mountains? What’s you skill level?” Now the salesperson can give the customer a consultative answer versus a data or information answer.

The key is to begin a dialog with people. Sometimes the thing that’s the cheapest is the most expensive, because it’s the wrong thing and needs to be replaced quickly. However, when you prompt people to tell you what they really want, you can offer them a better long-term solution. Even more important, by asking questions, you’re beginning a relationship. You’re indirectly telling the other person, “I care about you.” In contrast, if you simply spurt out the data and information, you’re indirectly telling the person that they’re just another number to you. Questions always open the door to more business.

Value-Added Success

The future is all about relationships and adding value to people’s lives. Therefore, your goal is to create growing relationships that are thriving rather than shrinking relationships where you’re becoming less relevant or obsolete. Focusing on a consultative approach by sharing knowledge and wisdom is the key. Remember, data and information can be printed on a handout; knowledge and wisdom are based on experience and best delivered through dialog. The more you focus on the latter, the more satisfied your customers will be…and the more success you’ll attain.

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DANIEL BURRUS is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and innovation experts, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books including The New York Times best seller Flash Foresight.