Giving Away Free Advice
I know it’s a bad trait, but I usually become motivated by things that p*** me off. I’m not unlike most people. Just look at the political environment right now. President Obama was catapulted to the White House by a bunch of folks angry with President George W. Bush. Now the President’s plans are being killed by people angry at the ideas of shutting down Gitmo, putting our nation even more in debt, and of course, socialized medicine.
Change happens when people are frustrated and right now, well…people are just plain p***ed off. But like they say, it’s better to be p***ed off than to be p***ed on, right?
That’s where I come in. You guys know that I like to turn away from all the blogosphere negativity, but I just want to pee on three groups of people right now.
The first are the folks who wake up in the morning and say “hey, I think I’ll be a political consultant today.” These people infuriate me. I can’t tell you how many “political consultants” I know that have never managed a campaign or worked for a political organization. They think because they watch Fox News all day, run a blog, or have read a few how-to books, they’re experts all a sudden.
Guess what folks? It doesn’t work like that. Consulting is based on experience and if you don’t have it, you ain’t a consultant. Go home. Email a campaign. Become a volunteer. And knock on a few hundred doors for a couple years. Hustle your butt off until you move up the ranks and learn a little bit about grassroots, finance, and communications. About 15 years later we might start referring to you as a consultant.
The second group of folks who get under my skin are these “social media experts.” For the love of God, just calm down a bit people. Sure, you have accounts set up on every single social media website known to man, but that doesn’t make you’re an expert. That makes you bored.
Social media experts should be people who understand communications and marketing. AND the Internet. Not JUST the Internet. The advertising and marketing medium and tactics are changing, but the talents, skills, and strategies have not. People are still people. They’re just communicating and connecting differently.
The third group is the people who make outrageous claims that will never ever- ever come true. This is nothing new to the marketing field. “Rock hard abs in 20 days.” “Land the smoking hot girl of your dreams.” You get it. Here’s the one that really irks me the most – “Be Like Obama, But Better – We’ll teach you how Barack Obama ran the first campaign of the 21st century. You’ll find out exactly what he did and how you can replicate his success at any level of government and from any side of the political spectrum.”
No joke. I received that little ditty from Politics Magazine.
So where does that lead me?
I’m thinking about really ramping up the how-to advice on the blog and publishing an e-book about Internet politics because the folks listed above have no clue what they’re doing. I’ve been thinking about this for a good while and I’ve run the idea past a few people and most of them ask the same question “why would you give something away for free that you’re charging other people for?”
That’s a good question. Here are the answers I’ve come up with:
1. People who pay get more access.
2. People who pay have someone to do it for them.
3. Content is not universal. People who pay get help with their content.
4. People who pay get advice much quicker than anyone else.
5. Publishing content to the web shows folks that you know what you’re talking about.
6. MOST IMPORTANT – Every campaign, district, and candidate is different. Cookie cutter strategies fail BIG every time. Strategies MUST be tailored to the individual campaign or organization every single time.
What do you think?