Who What How?

What's more important in marketing? WHO you say it to, WHAT you say or HOW you say it? Most marketers tend to own the WHO, and channel the perfect audience, allowing their agencies to work the What & How. For the rest of us, perhaps we could spend a tad bit more time working our own personal HOW. Guy Kawasaki, a well-know author & marketing blogger, encourages his readers to think of their HOW as "Enchantment". How enchanting are you as a human being? He lays out his thinking & ideas in a fun book. http://www.blog.guykawasaki.com/.

His three pillars of Enchantment are: likability, trustworthiness & a great cause. Among many insights, he suggests we try not to offer a "fake smile" but a real smile. The difference is in the crows feet - smile with your eyes and people can feel it. A fake one comes when you lift only the corners of your mouth and reveal super white teeth. Got one of them this morning from my retail coffee shop. I'll take it thanks. We all know people that smile all the time and I love being around those folks. I'm gonna work on smiling more. My problem is being wired at birth as an Ayn Rand cerebral disciple, and really haven't thought much about how I'm being received or quite frankly cared. As Ayn Rand writes in The Fountainhead, "Ask me what I think of you"?... "OK, what do you think of me"?....Howard Roark responds "I don't". Nope. To busy competing, learning & living. Plus, now approaching "middle-aged" (approaching, thank you) life fills your plate with SERIOUS things - like burying loved ones and keeping children safe, secure & sound. Life is serious. Great. However, no reason our lives can't be full of enchantment, especially for the people we touch. So good luck to you on your enchantment. Let me know HOW that works out for you. I think I'll stick with the WHO & WHAT.