How to Wake Up CEOs and Business Owners that are Too Dumb to Embrace Web 2.0

As many of you know, I wrote an article a few days ago discussing the 9 reasons why most small business blogs fail. What has been so interesting to me since has been the fact that I’ve received just as many emails from struggling employees wanting to discuss the blog as I did actual comments on the post itself. And what did all these emails want to discuss? Well they all were focused on the #1 reason on my list, where I discussed business owners that don’t embrace nor believe in the power of blogs:  

Is your 'Boss' embracing Web 2.0?

I’ve seen it time and time again and despite this, it still makes me want to vomit every time I see a biz owner squash the marketing hopes and dreams of an employee in their company who is bright enough to want to start a company blog. Such statements as,  “Teenagers only do that crap” or “Nobody reads that mess” or “What a waste of time” are common chants heard from old-school biz owners all over the world. Of course, these are the same people who are crying the blues that old-school marketing methods are no longer bringing in leads….  

Apparently, the above is an even bigger problem than I realized. For example, here is an email I received for a gentleman outside of the United States (I’ve changed his name to ‘Chris’ so that this does not bring attention to him nor his employer):  

Great articles, Marcus.  I find them very inspirational.  I sell cars for a living and have become so excited over what social media can do for my sales and personal marketing……I am convinced no other sales guy is doing this in (my city).  I love the idea of leading my industry in this way. Today’s article resonated with me — the article you wrote today.  Last week my dealership put an ad in a local newspaper announcing I had joined them.  My picture and phone number were included.  Thousands of course would have read this.  I had asked them to include my WordPress (blog address).  They didn’t like the idea.  How sad is that? Potentially thousands would have learned about me and Team Chris and how to buy a car.  

Hearing stories like this one from Chris really get me fired up. There is nothing more frustrating than having a web/marketing/sales 2.0 mentality but being stuck in a business that still has not gotten past the 1980’s way of doing things. But as I pondered on this email from Chris, it got me thinking. And more than anything, the thought that kept coming to my mind was, “How the heck does a guy like Chris help his boss and company understand new age marketing and sales? How can Chris change his company’s culture?”  

So that’s when I knew I had to write a post discussing this important topic. Heck, maybe between my thoughts and everyone else’s we can come up with the ultimate “How to Convert Your Boss 1.0 to a Boss 2.0 in 20 Days or Less” list…or at least something like that …  

But before I give my thoughts here, our friends at Wikipedia have defined Web 2.0 and I think they did a pretty darn good job:  

The term “Web 2.0″ (2004–present) is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups, and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them.  

The term is closely associated with Tim O’Reilly because of the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.[2][3] Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but rather to cumulative changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the Web. Whether Web 2.0 is qualitatively different from prior web technologies has been challenged by World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who called the term a “piece of jargon”[4] — precisely because he intended the Web to embody these values in the first place.  

Ok, so now that we’ve got the clear definition of Web 2.0 and all of its awesome characteristics, let’s assume that you’ve already gone to your boss/CEO/ marketing head and suggested he/she consider embracing Web 2.0 only to find they’re still too stupid to give it a try. Here is a list of ways that may help you break through such antiquated and stubborn thought:  

Go Renegade!  

Dang I love this one, which is why it finds itself first on the list. What I mean by going renegade is that if your company isn’t smart enough to utilize Web 2.0 practices, then it’s time to take things into your own hands. An example of this would be to set up a blog (just as our friend Chris has done) talking about your products. By following the steps of the 9 Reasons Why Most Small Business Blogs Fail article, as well as linking all your articles back to your company’s website, your blog will soon garner significant web visitors and marketing departments (however big or small they may be) will start to find that YOUR blog is the #1 traffic source to their company’s website.  

You see, most CEOs and biz owners that don’t embrace social media are simply not embracing it because they don’t have the patience that is needed to make it successful. But if you, as their employee, create a powerful blog that drives traffic, leads, and sales to your company website, then how much more value do you have as an employee? Frankly put, if your blog is good enough you’ll likely get a promotion, a raise, and be hailed as an innovator by the higher-ups. And remember, this does not just apply to blogging. You could also set up videos, forums, etc to stimulate consumer conversation, education, and eventually—action.  

Show What Your Competitors are Doing  

It’s funny how everyone thought I was just some ‘snot nosed kid’ (see previous post) when I (and my 2 biz partners) began leveraging Web 2.0 practices in the swimming pool industry a few years back. At the time, no one at all was doing it and boy did I get a lot of flack. “Who the hell made this guy an expert?” is a phrase that I’ve heard enough to last a few lifetimes from people within my industry. But the fact remains, swimming pool companies all over the country are now trying to copy the Web 2.0 strategies we’ve utilized at River Pools. And am I offended, bothered, or worried by this? No, of course not. I’m actually surprised it took some of these other companies so long to get with the program. But frankly, no one would have copied us had it not been a well known fact that our company is in the top 1% of all fiberglass pool builders in the United States in terms of annual sales. You see, hard-headed people can mock and point fingers all day long…..that is, until, Web 2.0 competitors start kicking their butts.  

Send Out Customer Questionnaires/Surveys  

Chances are that your company has a database of its existing customers. An excellent way to leverage this list would be to send out a survey to said customers with such questions as:  

• Do you use social mediums like Facebook?
• Do you feel our company is on the cutting edge of industry education?
• If we were to maintain a blog/e-newsletter that consisted of educational articles and videos to help you maintain and further enjoy our products, would you be interested in such information?
• Would you be interested in a series of educational videos to help you understand our products better?

Now I know each of these questions are very general, but the idea is that you tailor them(and hundreds of other questions just like them) to your company and products. And as with any survey, make sure you give your customers a spiff for filling out the form.  

Do a Cost Analysis  

This can be a tough one but it works like this—Find out how much your company is spending on advertising each month. Also, try to find out what your company is spending on each lead, and each sale, in advertising dollars. Next, compare these numbers with a powerful organic search engine campaign. For example, as I’ve mentioned before, our company used to spend more than $100,000 a year on advertising on such mediums as the Yellow pages, direct mailers, print advertising, radio, TV, etc, etc. Today, we spend less than $20,000 a year and we get many, many more leads. In fact, our organic (free) searches/traffic on our website would equate to around $3,500 a month alone if we received that same traffic from Google Adwords (pay per click).  

OK, so there are 4 suggestions that I’ve made to get us started. I can assure you that if you implement these suggestions your company will have to accept the reality that you were right. And after you’ve heard your boss say, “Wow, I can’t believe this stuff really works!” enough times, you’ll inevitably reap the fruits of your labors.  

 So what do you think? What are further ways that we can move our bosses and CEOs past the stone-ages? As always, your comments and thoughts are much appreciated.  

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