Change is hard for everyone who is alive, because we love for things to stay the same. It’s familiar and there is an element of safety. That’s perfectly fine, but in business and marketing sometimes a pivot is necessary.

I once heard one of my mentors say, that they polled a room full of venture capitalist about how many of their successful companies they had invested in, had stayed the same since they started. No one raised their hand. Each company had undergone a pivot or made a transition.

Now why is any of this important? Well, because social media and marketing is a changing landscape, that sometimes requires a pivot. When I first started marketing I thought you ran ads and people bought stuff. In other words you told people how great you were and they bought what you were selling.

That works sometimes, but can get old. The main thing to do in any type of marketing is to show the customer, the value proposition and how your product or service can help them. This means going from just advertising to actually helping.

A lot of marketers have begun the transition, but are still promoting themselves more than helping their audience. A few good examples are HubSpot and SEOMoz, They focus on helping their audience and less on promoting themselves.

By helping others, they actually promote themselves. Marketing in today’s market requires a pivot from the old way of just broadcasting to helping. Think more mom and pop style. Tell us how you are pivoting your marketing this year.

Digital marketing and social media opens up a whole new world to new opportunities and connections. But there is one big caveat. You have to be willing to do things differently and take risks. What do I mean?

A few months ago, I sucked at social media in terms of communicating with others. I thought that everything had to be branded and conservative, but that was getting me nowhere; literally.

Then I met with the awesome Jacqui Chew and she gave me the secret: be yourself. See in this new world of digital media it’s all about making personal connections and showing personality. A lot brands and even small businesses fail to hit the mark on this.

Since our conversation, I’ve been able to connect with influencers and talk to all kinds of people and network my butt off, because I stopped being afraid. It’s understandable to want to do things in a very standard manner that sounds great on a company brochure, but social media is about real life.

Think about all the companies really killing it out there right now. They show a lot of personality and have nailed their user personas. Those are really the only 2 secrets. You can’t be afraid to try things and show a little personality. Otherwise you become another faceless company broadcasting a message.

Try living in the no fear zone today in marketing and see what happens.

A while ago I used to really suck at talking to people. I would let fear and doubt enter into my mind and be put off by the awkwardness that always exist in those first interactions. Then I realized that the only thing you were ever doing is having a conversation.

Once I viewed it that way, it all begin to change. In marketing and business it really is all about having a conversation. A conversation can lead anywhere and once you understand a little bit more about the person you can have a clearer picture of how you can help them. And at the end of the day that’s what leads to conversion and sales.

Conversations are easy and light and can really reveal with a person wants or needs, without actually having to ask them a serious of questions, which is what social media is all about. Social media allows you to have conversations with fans, customers and followers, without a lot of red tape, which makes it easy.

Social media and digital marketing is all about conversations and you don’t have to worry about always getting it right, right away. I’ve had plenty of conversations that started awkwardly and ended up being fantastic. The main thing is to not put restrictions or pressure on the conversation and keep it light and open.

Try having some light conversations today with your fans and followers and tell us what happened.

This is our latest video on being consistent with social media.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Enjoy.

This is our latest video with our take on social media.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Enjoy.

I have pitched a lot of reporters, blogs and other people for the startup I market for. I’m a little slow and it took me about a year to get it down to an exact science, but now I have it. It’s a pretty generic framework, but the guts can be exchanged to fit my audience.

For example I generally start with introducing myself and talking about who I am, then the product. I then tell the story of how the product was made. Now that’s the framework, but if it concerns gifts that gift back, I lead with the fact that that product gives at least 10% to partner charities. If it’s a corny gift guide then I play up the fact that it’s corny.

I also extend this idea to emails when I reach out to reporters and other people. If I know someone they work with or we’ve spoken before I remind them of that and then move forward with my pitch.

When talking any audience it’s important to make sure that you get your message across, but it’s equally if not more important to talk how they talk. It’s easy to get started about your product or service and never stop. If you’re talking to the general population, they don’t care about the technical details, they care how it solves a problem they have.

If you’re talking to geeks like myself, then yes we care about the technical details and the cool stuff we can do with it. The messaging has to be in line with the audience, because if it’s not (and I can attest to this) it doesn’t matter how great something is, they won’t buy in.

The next time you start to compose a marketing message, pitch or whatever consider the following questions:

• Who is my audience?
• What do they care about?
• What are their pain points?
• What is the core of the message?
• What part of the message appeals most to them?
• How can I quickly communicate this to them?

These questions will help you make great strides in your marketing efforts and get the right people paying attention. Try asking yourself some of these questions in your marketing today.

So yesterday we talked about our goals for the new year at Khraze and if we’re just normal people trying to make things happen. With that being said it’s easy, especially in the new year to drop your resolutions and never achieve your goals. Here are some tips that we’re gonna us to stay the course:

• Break it down. Don’t try to go eat the whole elephant at once. Break your goal or resolution down into tiny pieces. It’s easier to digest.
• Make a bet with yourself. This one is fun. You can basically bet against yourself and when you don’t hit the goal you have to pay for the consequences of it. That’s motivation.
• Make it public. Nothing will keep you motivated more than public humiliation. No one wants to mess up publicly so use that fear to help you get to your goal.
• Make a schedule. A schedule is an extension of that great plan that you made. If you have a time and schedule to stick to, it makes it easier.
• Start small. Lots of people fail at things, because they don’t break it down. Now this is different, because it means that you are not trying on day one to lose 10 lbs let’s say. It means that you’re trying to eat less. So start small.
• Incorporate it into your existing life. Don’t try to bend over backwards to do something new, instead make it a part of what you already do. It makes it a heck of a lot easier to do something when it’s a part of your every day life.

Try these tips out and we will too. The last bonus tip we have for you is this: aim to get task done, not perfection. If you aim to get it done, it will get done. The core concept or task it what matters, not how great you’re executing. You’re new at this so learn the basics and then get fancy.

Sometimes things get tough and tight, which are never comfortable. And sometimes when this happens people get stressed out, walk away and become irritable, but those who succeed always work through the tough times.

I’m still doing Insanity like some crazy fool, because it really pushes me. Yeah it’s still as tough as the first time  I went through it and I still have to motivate myself to work through. The results have been great, but I know that if I don’t work though the hard work out, that I won’t get any results.

Change takes time and anything worth having is worth working for. You have to put in considerable effort and really push even though it seems tough. Recently at one of the companies I market for, it’s been tough. Money’s been tight and emotions have ran high, but we’ve been able to make great strides contacting reporters, getting them featured in gift guides and reaching out to celebrities, because we have dug in and fought through the tough times.

Whenever things get tough, don’t drop them. Work through them and really dig in. Yes there are times when you need to stop, but a little pain isn’t bad, it means you’re getting stronger.

For my startup I’m a member of a few groups like ATDC. I also go to a few groups and know a few people in those groups. And these groups have greatly helped my marketing efforts and business. It’s all about networking.

When you are a part of groups you are around people who have similar interest who you can bounce ideas off of and network with. It becomes a great support system of people who have been there, done that or know the people to do it.

This makes your life a lot easier and informs you of resources that are available to you and that is a thing of beauty. Since joining ATDC I’ve had access to great mentors, resources and have strong support network for me to accomplish things with my startup.

Groups are a part of networking and the best part is that they have resources or access to them. Make your life easier and join some groups locally this week.

One of my favorite parts of what I do is to connect others. Recently I’ve been connecting people and helping them gather the resources they need. I love it. It’s fun and people get helped.

Helping others, which I’ve said a thousand times, is what networking is all about. But helping others also helps you learn more and grow. Because I’ve help connect others, I’ve made new friends who have helped me with my businesses and taught me a lot.

Connecting people is rather easy. You find someone with a need and you find someone or use one of the contacts you have to fill it. It’s rather painless and can reap some big benefits for you. Try it out today.