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Speak the Language of Success
1 Aug, 2009 By: Harvey Goldglantz Pest Management ProfessionalIn the book Who Moved My Cheese?, Spencer Johnson uses four mini-characters to demonstrate the differences of how individuals react to the displacement of their cheese (which he uses as a metaphor for success).
Harvey Goldglantz
While three of the four characters in the story are willing to take the path of change to achieve success, one character clings to the past. The unwillingness to assume risk ultimately leads to his demise.
Using parables to demonstrate a point is a passion of mine. So here's one I'd like you to consider: "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten."
In the broader sense, I interpret this to mean that if you use what made you successful in the past (vision, creativity, thought, planning, execution, follow-through, flexibility and change), you will be successful in the future.
On the other hand, the statement has a deeper, more profound subtext, warning of your potential demise.
Remaining steadfast in one's views and consistently avoiding change will lead to being stuck in the mud and looking back, instead of tasting the fruit of possibilities.
Greek to Me
Is your company providing regular e-zines (electronic newsletters) for your customers? Is your SEO (search engine optimization) providing premium placement for your Web site? How much of your advertising budget is allocated to PPC (pay-per-click)? Is your site importing and/or exporting RSS Feeds (RSS is the acronym used to describe the de facto standard for the syndication/sharing of Web content)? Do you Tweet, (write and share up to 140 characters using Twitter) to your Peeps (the followers of your blog) regularly? Are you hooked into the Blogosphere (collective term describing all blogs and their connections)? Do you use podcasts (a series of digital computer files, usually either digital audio or video that is released periodically and made available for download by means of web syndication) to promote your business?
The ability to understand these terms exemplifies today's language of success. Savvy business owners must be able to embrace and communicate today's "webology" if they expect to compete in today's rapidly evolving, technology-based marketplace.
Has your business set up a blog? (A contraction of the term weblog, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events or other material such as graphics or video. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog).
Are you taking advantage of social networking sites to communicate with current or potential customers? Are you linked in to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace?
Marketing has evolved at such a rapid pace during the past few years that it almost takes your breath away.
Web 1.0, the World Wide Web as it was described prior to the bursting of the dot com bubble in 2001, has been replaced by Web 2.0.
Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of Web development and Web design, characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. It has led to the development and evolution of Web-based communities, hosting services and Web applications.
Simply having an Internet presence through a basic Web site is not nearly good enough anymore. Doing the same old thing is a recipe for disaster. Social Networking must be the lifeblood of any new marketing plan.
You can reach Goldglantz, president of Elkins Park, Pa.-based Pest Control Marketing Co., by e-mailing hgpcmcinc@aol.com.
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