LEAP, Basic Principles of Online Marketing

None of us will miss the irony in the acronym L.E.A.P. when we speak of how your Enterprise should approach the Internet in terms of marketing. Many have indeed jumped with little forethought, only to be sent packing by the Communities they offended. L.E.A.P. allows you to ease yourself into a conversation that is already underway. Would you arrive at a party and just burst into a room full of people who are already in the midst of many conversations, expecting them all to acknowledge your “arrival”? or would you…

Listen for awhile? Would you park yourself in a small group and listen long enough to get the drift of the discussion, form an opinion that supports your Corporate point of view and then…

Engage. Offer up ideas and counsel. Give away wisdom and authentically offer up information that will make a difference for others. People only do business with people they perceive to be experts or friends. And if you’re not a friend…

Assimilate yourself into their conversation and offer up solutions and assistance. Protecting Intellectual Property is old-school thinking. If you hide your primary contribution under a bushel, nobody knows you have one. Other online participants who offer it up, will be more likely to make the short list when it comes time to buy – even if it is not as good as yours. And then there is consistency. You must…

Participate on a regular basis. You cannot jump in, disappear for a few months and then come strolling back in. Ongoing participation, engaging with online communities in a respectful manner, listen and contributing – in other words, play by “sandbox rules” and all will turn out well.

Michael Bickerton, Raven5, 2010

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