“If no mistake you have made, yet losing you are…a different game you should play.”
– Yoda
Difficult digital marketing is, continue to work hard at it you must—I promise I’m not going to do this the whole blog, but you had to give me one.
Here’s the dealio dear reader: Yoda is quite possibly the greatest digital marketer on the planet. This little green man offers up the greatest advice ever given and could possibly make you the greatest digital marketer who has ever lived should you choose to listen.
Here are three tips from the Jedi master himself:
“If no mistake you have made, yet losing you are…a different game you should play.”
Digital marketing aint easy. It takes massive amounts of perseverance, ongoing dedication, continual adjustments, and never-ending content creation in order to make sure that you (and/or your Clients) are getting the online conversions necessary to bring home the Jedi bacon.
A lot of time is spent on “proper” optimization (and rightfully so), but there’s a problem that many digital marketers face that has yet to be fully addressed: What if you aren’t doing anything wrong and it’s still not working? You’ve read the books, subscribed to the blogs, played by the rules, and you still haven’t managed to gain any traction. What do you do?
Digital marketing has gotten so formulaic that it’s easy to get stuck in the rut that is the best practice checklist and not make any headway. You have to be honest with yourself and realize “getting nowhere am I, change my approach I must”. (Note – that was you that said that, not me).
Just because you’re not doing anything wrong doesn’t mean you’re doing anything right! I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s something that a lot of would be marketers need to hear. Google isn’t about delivering results that aren’t irrelevant. They deliver results that are relevant.
Quit playing it safe by pushing out white-label content that’s only purpose is not to break the rules. Create something that is actually of value to your potential readers. Pull them in. Entice them. Give them something that they need and can’t live without. Easier said than done? Sure. Possible? Absolutely!
It just takes doing, and the guy who’s sitting around worried about the things he’s not supposed to be doing is never going to do it. Get inspired and start pumping out content, infographics, and videos that are actually worth reading, sharing, and watching. Then, see what happens.
“You think Yoda stops teaching, just because his student does not want to hear? A teacher Yoda is. Yoda teaches like drunkards drink, like killers kill.”
You’ve gotta love the little green fella. Here’s the truth: This is not a casual undertaking. Creating a presence online is not even a full-time job anymore. It’s a lifestyle. You eat, drink, breath, talk, and (pardon me) excrete digital marketing. Sounds like fun right? If you’re answer was anything other than “Hell YES!” you’re in the wrong line of work. That’s not an accusation, it’s a polite reminder that you need to find someone else to do this for you (like a professional digital marketer instance).
Would you go to a doctor who practiced in his spare time, when he “could get to it”? Or a lawyer who was also a part-time accountant and doubled as a salesman? Me neither. You want someone who is dedicated to their craft—committed to doing it better than anyone else out there—and how can they possibly do that if they don’t consider it a part of who they are.
If you love this stuff, keep reading. If not, find someone who does and pay them to do it. Then go focus on what you LOVE to do.
“Always pass on what you have learned.”
Inbound Marketing isn’t an ideology. It’s the way the digital world functions. You can’t yell at your target market in passing and hope they hear you. Now you have to create. You have to prove yourself and earn the job before you ever get it. But how? Establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
We live in a time where the power is in the hands of the consumer, and only the best of the best can rise to the top. If you’re one of the best, you’ll find it easy to differentiate yourself online by sharing your knowledge and expertise on an ongoing basis. If you’re not one of the best, you either need to work on becoming one or quit. Sad but true. There’s no room for people who aren’t striving to be cutting edge and to expand their industry and grow their circle of influence.
In days of yore, it was the strategy to keep everything you learned close to the chest and squeeze every nickel and dime out of your customer if they wanted the pleasure of knowing it. The script has been flipped now—information is freely available. Now, you must divulge your entire knowledge base, so your potential customer “knows that you know.”
The fear used to be is that if the client knew the recipe, they would make it themselves. Inbound Marketing has proven this not to be the case. Why? Because there’s too much to cook! There a million and one different services that people need on a regular basis, and it makes exponentially more sense to hire an experienced professional (you) who has proven their acumen than it does trying to be the jack of all trades and doing everything myself.
Share your knowledge. Give it away. Pass it out. If you don’t someone else will and then you’ll look like a second fiddler who came in and jump on the other Jedi’s Pod Racer.
Thus completes our Jedi training for today. Learned something you have? Then comment you should!
