Association and Tribal Marketing
brought to you by The Marketing Crazy Association of America
Here I sit at Yanik Silver’s Underground online seminar, hearing about “Association Marketing”. Interesting, but not too on point to what I actually do. Of course, many of my niches have associations already, and most are very poorly run, so there’s no doubt there is some opportunity there. However, I also know, I’m not that motivated to do it.
No passion, not doing it!
After the “make money” motivation is removed, you’ll be amazed at the things you won’t do, simply because you’re not interested enough…
No doubt, the difference between having “members” rather than “customers” is likely huge, however, after reviewing what is necessary in creating a real (not a fake) association, I’m likely not the right person (or perhaps I am the right person, at the wrong time).
Interesting stuff, as the second day of the Underground Online seminar starts. I’ve already met people from across the spectrum of just starting out, to multi-million dollar businesses. I enjoyed the opening speech given by Godaddy CEO, Bob Parsons, whom shares many heartfelt lessons and stories from going broke to find scary amounts of success (and creating some darn funny superbowl commercials).
(pass, 10 hours of classes, dinner, and dancing)
Now it’s 8am, Saturday morning, and I’m hearing about direct marketing. I wasn’t so sure that anything could hold my attention at 8am, however this person is actaully quite amusing. Drayton Bird is his name, and I just purchased two of his books. Not that I read that much (not nearly as much as I should), but I just got the new Kindle, and I’m dying to give it a spin!
Now, Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com (no longer just the best shoe store online, but rapidly becoming the best STORE period), is sharing his ten core values of the company. Such a “Deliver WOW through service”, and “Create fun and a little wierdness”, and “be humble”, there is little doubt, this is the company to model, and a company that’s leading the pack in dynamic corporate culture (not to mention… profits).
He makes the point that it’s not necessarily important what you’re companies core values are. It’s more important that you simply have them, and commit to them. That you are willing to hire and fire over there.That they are something you are committed to growing and adhering to… Of course, if you are just starting a company, you may not know it’s core values. Where do you start?
You start with your own personal core values of course, and that’s not so simple a thing to do. It takes a lot of personal introspection to figure out what your personal values are. What’s your guiding light?
This is quickly followd up by the seven steps to build a billion dollar company. Ha. Yes, a billion! Loved these seven steps, and no, I’m not going to write them out for you … the actual philosophy behind them, is more important than the list themselves. Finally, he transitions too…
Happiness.
Yes, Happiness!
Not the Tony Robbins version, he points out, but actual true Happiness – how we, as people, can be happy. What drives us, and how we can attain it…
Very interesting way to end – I loved it. Ate it up! As you’re all aware, my businesses, and the way I run them, are very much centered around several core principles, two of which are…
1) Making the world a better place in some way…
2) Happiness through work, play, and freedom…
Gotta love that! More soon (or not). Keep it Crazy…
ps – Go buy something from Zappos right now! I mean it, right now… See what its like.
