Somebody told me this afternoon that he saw no value in our social analytics tool.
And you know what? I completely agreed.
We messed up because we didn’t care to ask him what his goals were. So the fact that we have a couple hundred metrics across Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and other sources– it meant nothing to him.
We could have continued to parade every variety of bar chart and pie chart in whatever color, sliced by date, his own page, his competitors’ pages, whatever.
It would be a meaningless exercise.
You see, people buy solutions to their problems, not software per se.
I happen to own about 2,500 books. It’s not because I love books– it’s that I am interested in learning about a variety of subjects.
You buy a hammer and nail because you’re trying to solve a problem, not because you like nails.
So when you’re building software, demoing your services, or trying to get a customer to use your product, always consider their goals, not yours.
And that’s why our software sucks.
It’s an enhanced map to help you get where you want to go.
But if you don’t know where you want to go, any direction is as good as any other.
DON’T BE A TOOL
For the rest of us, there is no substitute for thinking.
Don’t worry, the machines aren’t about to replace us any time soon.
Dennis Yu
Dennis Yu is the CEO of Local Service Spotlight, a platform that amplifies the reputations of contractors and local service businesses using the Content Factory process. He is a former search engine engineer who has spent a billion dollars on Google and Facebook ads for Nike, Quiznos, Ashley Furniture, Red Bull, State Farm, and other brands.
Dennis has achieved 25% of his goal of creating a million digital marketing jobs by partnering with universities, professional organizations, and agencies. Through Local Service Spotlight, he teaches the Dollar a Day strategy and Content Factory training to help local service businesses enhance their existing local reputation and make the phone ring.
Dennis coaches young adult agency owners serving plumbers, AC technicians, landscapers, roofers, electricians, and believes there should be a standard in measuring local marketing efforts, much like doctors and plumbers must be certified.