The Wax Blog

We’ve had some juicy celebrity crisis’ lately that make writing this post lots of fun. When your company, product or personal brand encounters a crisis it’s important to decide what ‘voice’ you’re going to use.  Choosing the right approach is one of the reasons little-known (but uber-powerful) flacks like Marty Chalmers and Eliot Mintz make the heavy wood.  Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics of voices being used most recently – as well as a few thrown in from the past.

Above It – How can I write this post without addressing Tiger Woods’ current situation? As I write this, he has refused to meet with the police and has posted a note on his website thanking his well- wishers and telling everyone the rumors are all lies and he wants to keep this ‘private’. First of all, not cooperating with the police right away sends the message that the guy has something to hide. Second, he doesn’t tell us what happened. Apparently we aren’t privileged enough to hear the real story. How would we feel if Oprah showed up 50 pounds thinner and refused to tell us how she did it? This voice implies arrogance and an attitude that Tiger’s above it all. Not a good move for America’s favorite sports hero and NEVER a good move if the law is involved. (more…)

It’s summer and so for that reason I’ll break from my insistence on pragmatic advice and write on a topic you might consider fluff. Yet it’s the biggest mistake I see small business owners make, including me. We have no patience. I think that it’s a given that a requirement for being an entrepreneur is to have a low grade case of ADD, or in my case, ADHD with an emphasis on the H. And in marketing, that will kill you.

I can’t tell you how many times a client tries something and when there are no immediate results says “Well that doesn’t work.” It’s like lifting weights one day and expecting a tricep cut to develop overnight. I’m not suggesting that we all go out and spend a bajillion dollars on advertising during American Idol. But I do think that in order for your PR, social media and marketing tactics to work you have to learn to wait a bit. Here are a few tips to use to figure out if you’re too impatient.

• Are you measuring your campaign results by the number of orders you’re getting off each initiative? In a word, DON’T. Look at your website hits instead, or the traffic in your store. What’s the first step toward buying your product or service? Do they request a brochure? Do they visit the website? Are you adding Twitter followers or Facebook fans like crazy? Measure by those “first steps” in the short term.

• Are you changing your marketing strategy on a weekly or monthly basis? WRONG. You had better have confidence in your strategy (or your consultant) from the start. Nothing works if you don’t believe in it 100% from the beginning. Switching around what you’re doing on a constant basis and you’ll end up running circles.
• Are you relying on only one outreach method? It may work now, but it will stop working eventually. Or you’ll end up trying one thing after another. BLEND your messaging channels. If you’re doing radio, connect it to a twitter promotion.. Trying guerilla marketing? Make sure you’ve got some PR working in conjunction with those “on the ground”techniques.

Particularly in the online world, patience is the key to success. Jay Conrad Levinson, the founder of Guerilla Marketing, believes that patience is the most important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Be confident in your approach. Measure it wisely. And then, like that old farmer in the field, be patient and watch the seeds of your marketing work grow.

Here’s a great post with some more tips on social media and patience – great stuff here!

Recently I’ve started seeing little spats between people on Twitter. Most of the time one “tweep” thinks the other “tweep” has cross a boundary in terms of political correctness. This of course has happened for years in chat rooms and on discussion boards. But a particular interaction this week caught my attention – I think it tells us a bit about why this social media tool is so different. And so much more powerful.

First of all, let me introduce you to @isweatbutter. Apparently he’s a chef somewhere who also happens to be hilariously adept at sarcasm. “Sweaty” as his friends call him is known for his “snarky” (that’s what sarcasm is called on Twitter) comments during American Idol.  Last Tuesday he made a reference to Adam Lambert and Liberace I think the tweet went something like “Hey Adam, Liberace called he wants his suit back” It caught the eye of another tweep who found it offensive, and called @isweatbutter a gaybasher.

What happened next was interesting to me. Instead of just two guys hurling insults at each other across the twitterverse, a whole host of people came to the defense of our Sweaty. One guy even re-read all of sweaty’s tweets that night to assure him that “there was nothing offensive in there.” One woman sent a photo in of a “team butter” t-shirt and people were talking about ordering it on Zazzle. @isweatbutter had 117 DM’s that night, most of which I’m sure were showing support for what eventually became the hashtag #isweatbuttergate.

This means Twitter is different. People were coming to the defense of someone they’ve never met, but someone they truly feel is their FRIEND. I cant think of another social media where relationships like this are being hatched purely online between people who have no other connection, not even a common interest other than communicating.  I don’t know if I would go as far as Ashton Kutcher has in his rant for Time on the topic, but I do think this is a difference that makes Twitter a much more powerful phenomenon than Facebook or other forms of social media.

What is also means is that marketers can’t just go in there and sell. I think Twitter is kind of a new age speakers corner, and when we all step down from our boxes we go have coffee somewhere. But the people who aren’t willing to spend time making friends and creating real relationships certainly won’t get asked to hang out later.

If you want to follow me, I’m @waxgirl333.  But watch out for my own juvenile humor on Tues/Wed.