Focus & Simplify - Life as an Entrepreneur using social media

The other day my friend and I were walking down Queen street, Auckland. I was a bit tired and my mind was occupied on how to help a client get their social media campaigns sorted. This was particularly a tough campaign as it was targeted towards the food industry with many key players within the space. My friend and I were off to the NZ film festival but noticing my preoccupied self she asked me what was wrong. We kept brainstorming and then from topic to topic i have no clue how but we started speaking about how some people have to do the things they do to live and survive. We started discussing about how in today’s world sometimes we may look down at prostitutes. Anyways to cut a long story short, we managed to secure our tickets and were watching the film. During the film it actually clicked that businesses who do business like a prostitute actually succeed within the online space. Ask me why?

Prostitution is known as the oldest business in the world. It’s been around for a while and they have mastered the art of doing business. In fact many successful businesses actually run on a similar model .

Location:

You don’t see prostitutes standing on every street corner, do you? Do you see a Mac Donald’s on every street or do they pick their location. Now think about how you can apply this model in the online word. You need to be in the right place and the right slot on Google, You need to be found easily by your fans and you need to be noticed on some of the top social media websites. If you have an RSS feed it needs to be syndicated properly. Location is Key. Location also doesn’t just have to be a physical place.

You have to stand out from the crowd:

As a prostitute you have a lot of competition. You will see many standing in one lane and they compete. They have pressure at times to make that extra buck maybe because they need to feed their family. How does this relate to the online space? If you don’t stand out from the crowd then most probably you will not be found. Many will not hit that Like button on facebook and many may not actually tweet about you. You may not get a great reader base for your blog. Think about it once upon a time Apple struggled now they stand out. How are you planning on standing out within the social media space?

When you get a customer tell them what they are buying:

Prostitutes do this really well, if you watch Bollywood movies or for that matter Hollywood you will see time and again how a prostitute will lay down the boundaries right from the start. You may be paying for sex but hey you also get to know the amount of time , what is allowed and what is not.
By being clear with your online initiatives you pretty much are letting your readers, fans, followers and potential customers know right from the start what they would be receiving for engaging with your product or service. Don’t send mixed signals. It’s always very confusing and irritating. If you send mixed signals all you would get are complaints and bad reviews. This is easily achieved now with social sites such as Facebook, Twitter , blogs, a complaint can spread like wild fire.

Say the right message and make it clear and precise:

As a prostitute if you dress as a nun no one would notice you for your service, nor would they get the message right through their sub conscience. If prostitutes didn’t make it clear with their clothes and their body language, no one would ever know that they were for hire. Now think abut this from an online perspective, if your facebook page had all stars, fruits or for that matter racing cars as a background but you were in the business of selling shoes, would people guess what you do? You may have the best service or product but if it isn’t clear right from the start you may miss the boat.

It’s easier to upsell than it is to sell:
After you hook up with a prostitute, she pretty much knows that if you like her service she can up sell a few additional services. It’s a lot easier to get more out of you when the scene is set.
Now think from a social online perspective, when you have regular reader’s visiting you, or fans that will talk about you, what additional add-ons can you offer to keep them coming back to you. Would you need to do a hard sell once they are hooked on to your product or service? It’s a lot easier to get someone who has already paid you or who likes you to give you more money or refer you to their friend circle.

Final thoughts:
Don’t look down on a prostitute, they are humans too. They have feelings as well. They have a business to run and most of them have their own reasons for indulging in the business they are in. We are trained to look down at such people, or businesses. In reality though there are lessons to be learnt from any business.

So have I missed any additional points that a prostitute does well which an online campaign should be looking at?