Today I watched a live webinar on www.HubSpot.com with Brian Halligan of HubSpot and featuring David Meerman Scott, one of my favorite marketing gurus and best selling authors. I have read two of David’s books thus far: “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”, and “World Wide Rave”. These books are full of priceless information and I would recommend them to anyone that uses the Internet for business.
Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia - photo courtesy of Carl Lender
The webinar “Lessons from the Grateful Dead” lasted approximately one hour and explained how businesses can learn valuable marketing lessons from the remarkable and continuous success of the legendary rock group “Grateful Dead“. I took notes during the show and have provided them for you below.
Lessons from the Grateful Dead
Reward your loyal customers not just your new customers
- Announce new products or events to your biggest fans first
Speak directly to your customers
- The Internet makes this easier
Use Teamwork Marketing
- Creative people
- People with reach (they can reach people with connections)
- Content creators
- Analytical People
Authenticity – Being honest (authentic) with your customers
- Which means not hiding everything from your customers
- Keep them informed even when you’re encountering problems, i.e., a servers down, etc.
Give your customers something for free and then allow them to upgrade to premium services
- Be generous
- Give something away; a service, some knowledge, a free class, a webinar, EBook excerpts, white papers, etc.
- Free material sells more material
Invest in technology – upgrade your products and services
Do not block your employees from technology such as social networking sites, etc.
- Your business could benefit from the technology your employees utilize
- Do not censor your employees – trust your employees
- However, monitor what’s being said about your company and follow-up
- If there is a rumor being spread about your organization get involved and take the proper steps to diffuse the rumors
Focus on your company. Be aware of your competition, but focus your efforts on improving your products or services
**I will tell you two true stories in a future post to help you decide whether trusting or not trusting your employees is best for your line of business.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with HubSpot, David Meerman Scott or the Grateful Dead in any manner whatsoever.
Link to Webinar
