The New Southern Standard

We are still in the early stages of social media being used for business. If you are still skeptical, read this article. The discussion provides some interesting, and very surprising, observations about the power of social networks.

Social Networks’ Sway May Be Underestimated

This article discusses PR in the next generation of technology. The audience is presumably start-ups, but I think the advice works well for existing businesses who are looking to improve their digital marketing:

PR Tips for Startups - The Director’s Cut

According to a new research report, no we’re not. All the neurotics live up North. (But we already knew that, didn’t we?)

The study by 3 psychologists looks at the psychogeography of individuals across the United States. They superimpose personality characteristics, like extroversion and agreeableness, to their locations in the U.S. The data used for the study came from hundreds of thousands of personality surveys.

The 5 traits used for the study are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These traits form the basis of the Big 5 theory of personality, a theory that attempts to classify human personality into 5 major traits. There have been several attempts to classify human personality, with some theories like the Myers-Briggs well-known throughout the general public and educational settings. The history of trying to analyze personality is long and even the Big 5 has critics.

According to the research, Southern residents are more agreeable and more conscientious than other citizens throughout the country. (Here’s the map again.) What exactly do those words describe in Southerners? Agreeable people tend to be sympathetic and kind, while conscientiousness is marked by thoroughness. The folks in California are markedly more open-to-experience (shocking!), while the Midwest population prefers structure.

Business who operate across the U.S. could use the data to understand variations in communication styles, influences, and willingness to work. However, I’m going to use it in a different way.

I’m crafted an email to send to my friends in the North. A link to the study is copied in the body of the email. And, in the subject line - “See. I told you so. Science finally proves it. Y’all are nuts.”

I’m sure I’ve written about this topic elsewhere. Several things have been building over the previous few months that are prompting me to discuss it again.

Here are the 3 scenarios -

1) A retired executive looking to start consulting

2) A person selling a utility vehicle

3) A nurse opening up a new facility

(Granted, #2 isn’t really a business, but it’s the same model - trying to sell something.)

I’ve been working with all of these people. What do they have in common? Lots of things, but the most important one is the Field of Dreams syndrome.

In one case, an ad was taken out in the newspaper for one week. There were no calls so the ad was discontinued. In another case a television spot was run. There were many calls, but no sales. In one case, a brochure was hastily written with the copy listing the vast number of achievements and awards. A few people were sent the brochure and no one bought.

A marketing professional can pinpoint multiple problems with the situations above. What is the common thing among them? They all succumbed to the ‘Field of Dreams’ syndrome.

Each thought that when their product hit the streets, a long line of people would suddenly start beating the door down. In reality, a customer is highly unlikely to make a purchase the first time they see an ad. And, as a corollary to that rule, when someone is learning about your product, they do not want to hear about you, they want to hear about themselves. They don’t want information about your product, they want information about themselves using your product.

For all the business owners, the cause of the problem was the same. They knew everything about the product and how great it was, but they neglected to realize that their customer’s did not. They didn’t allow time for the customer to learn about the product, give them space to make a decision, or factor in the complicated issues in making a buying decision.

Most likely you are an expert on your product. You quickly decide the value of the information and make a decision. Remember that the customer has no such expertise. It takes time for people to make a decision.

This is not the ‘Field of Dreams.’ You can build it, but you should allow ample time for people to come.