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February 9, 2012

Why “Only connect” is my favorite marketing strategy.

4 Comments

Thanks to Chris for sen­ding me this photo, via Twit­ter.

The gaping­void Valen­tine print he orde­red, just as he was ope­ning the box. A deligh­ted cus­to­mer, so it seems. Hurrah!

I love get­ting stuff like this from peo­ple, and not just because “Social Proof is the new mar­ke­ting” yada, yada, yada.

As artists and/or mar­ke­ters and/or busi­ness peo­ple, it’s not enough to just think about the money and the ROI. We need to know that we “con­nec­ted”, somehow. Deeply so, sometimes.

Or else we just become very dull, making very dull stuff for very dull peo­ple, living very dull lives.

Which except for the occa­sio­nal face­less cor­po­ra­tion, is not much of a sus­tai­na­ble busi­ness model.

E.M. Forster’s very famous advice to aspi­ring authors had a mere two words: “Only connect.”

Exactly. In both art and business.

Only con­nect.

Think about it.

Tags: Valentines Day

4 Responses to “Why “Only connect” is my favorite marketing strategy.”

1. HarisM says:

   February 9, 2012 at 6:05 PM

   Only con­nect. Well peo­ple became lazy these days. Lazy that they even don’t try to con­nect. They want it ser­ved. So when we find connection-able ones we will have to keep them and look after them. And I am the guy who actually wants to com­ment on your blog post, not just do a no-brain reT­weet.

   Reply
2. Mars Dorian says:

   February 10, 2012 at 9:06 AM

   Yess ! Emo­tio­nally con­nec­tion is everything, but very hard to achieve with your art, espe­cially when you’re not that known. Repu­ta­tion and fame (in your niche) does influence the way peo­ple con­nect with you.

   Reply
3. MightyPutty says:

   February 10, 2012 at 9:46 AM

   Words to live by, but easier said than done for most folks. How do you con­nect with your pros­pect when you offer a mun­dane pro­duct or ser­vice, like air fil­ters? Or rub­ber washers? Or corru­ga­ted card­board ship­ping tubes? These are not emo­tio­nal purcha­ses. Hard to get crea­tive when it’s a com­mo­dity. Lifestyle pro­ducts and ser­vi­ces are much easier to con­nect with. Crea­tive ser­vi­ces, too.

   For some busi­nes­ses, it’s still all about the qua­lity of the pro­duct, the price, and the ser­vice asso­cia­ted with wor­king with that provider.

   Reply
   • Hugh MacLeod says:

     February 10, 2012 at 9:53 AM

     Hmmmm.… Zap­pos sells TONS of com­mo­di­ties, every day. But their com­pany is anything but.

     Like the old Louis Jor­dan song said, “T’ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”

     Reply