Don't fall for the hype

I've just written an article about Web 2.0 tools for a client. I didn't really want to say, "Don't fall for the hype" at the start of it as some of their services include full-on Web 2.0 social networking and marketing, but right now, I feel like banging it into everyone's heads.

Don't fall for the hype.

12 years on, and many of the sites I look at still don't know the basics of PR and marketing, let alone online or Web PR / marketing. That's no bad thing, as it means that you can always improve on what you are doing to tell people about your products, brands and services, and hence achieve more sales. But it does mean that there is no point getting over-enthusiastic about the latest toy on the playground if you haven't yet mastered the basics of walking and talking.

The last post was about the IM gurus getting together and trying to flog Mark Joyner's latest product, which to me looks suspiciously like the Emperor's New Clothes scenario. Having flipped through that site, and refused point blank to part with any money, I am horrified at the hype. And how many people will fall for it, and part with good money for no seemingly good reason. (Hey Mark, feel free to correct me!)

(Go and look for yourself if you need to. This is not about becoming a best selling author as such, it's about solving America's obesity and health problems as far as I can see. You could also begin to think that the IM guys have taken psychological and emotional selling to a whole new level - possibly even bullying people into decisions they could potentially regret, however cheap they may seem?).

Back to the purpose of this blog, Web PR. Luckily, most of the Web 2.0 stuff is open source widgets etc, which don't need to cost you any money to incorporate into your marketing strategy, but there are also many other new toys that could cost you money and time you may not have.

Think about Christmas and kids. How many times have you watched a child open a present you spent hours searching and queuing for, only to see them chuck it to one side, and get more fun out of the cardboard packaging it came in? Lots of Web 2.0 stuff is at that level. And I don't mean the cardboard box. I mean the discarded toy.

Whichever strategy you decide to employ, make sure it works. Or software you decide to buy which may solve a problem you have - make sure it does solve that problem. And that it doesn't create a new problem. Like a cash flow crisis. More work than you can handle eg twittering to some non-existent community, blogging to your staff, creating videos for your secretary's friends, answering emails in relation to some offtopic post made casually on a forum, answering poor product reviews on websites because you made a cock-up of some Ebay sale etc.

And don't fall for the hype. Just because 20 Internet Marketers tell you something is great, is it? What do they do for a living? Yep, market products. And the porn industry and the IM guys are leagues ahead of others in selling the emperor's (or empress') new clothes.

Build customer loyalty by selling something worthwhile. Treat your customers as rational, thinking human beings. With respect. And build a community by offering something of value. It may only be a very small community, but it could well prove to be all you need to make a good and honourable living.