On tuesday, I was talking about Marketing for Startup Britain, the 5-day conference held in London last week, organized by Startup Britain and the Marketing Agencies Association.
Over the last few days, I’ve been catching up with people who were there. Some, like me, only managed one day; some managed two or three – and others did the whole week!
What I’ve been hearing has been, on the whole, extremely positive. I certainly came away inspired to change my focus on certain aspects of my new brand. Everyone else I’ve spoken to so far is in business, or going into business, for the first time and they’ve all said they learnt a huge amount.
Do you feel a ‘but’ coming on…? My English teachers would have the horros if they saw what I’m about to do, because they all told me NEVER to start a sentence – let alone a paragraph – like this…
BUT! one thing which has come through consistently about last week is that, while most of the speakers spoke very eloquently from a startup perspective, however long ago they started and however successful they’ve become, others seemed to be completely out of touch with their audience. I won’t mention any names, because they all gave their time with the best of intentions, but I’m told there was at least one whose presentation made no real reference to startups and who, away from the microphone, admitted having no interest in very young businesses. That leads me to ask what on earth they were doing there. The only answer I can think of is that they hoped some of the fledgling businesses would grow up to be something they would be interested in. There’s nothing wrong with taking the long view when it comes to building business connections, of course – but alienating people at the beginning by showing they’re too small to interest you, by talking to them about things which have no relevance to them, isn’t exactly a great foundation for a long-term relationship!
I should have had one of those very new business people on my radio show yesterday – but technology threw a wobbler – so she’ll now be on in a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you more about her then.
All I’ll say now is that she was a joy to interview and the ideal kind of guest for the programme. There’s absolutely no point in my having the CEO of some global corporate on to talk about the trials of floating a company on the stock exchange, when I know my listeners are made up largely of home-based parents who are trying to get some kind of enterprise off the ground, or wondering whether, one day, they might be able to do it. Someone who, in a very dark time in her life, came up with an idea which she’s now going all out to make a reality, is much more relevant to them. Offering them someone who can’t identify with them is like trying to communicate with a non-English-speaker by SHOUTING! VERY! LOUD! AND! VERY! SLOW-LEEEE! – frustrating for all concerned – and completely pointless!
Whatever we’re trying to say and whatever medium we use – live presentation, radio, podcasts, phone, leaflets, website, social media – you name it! – knowing who we’re talking to and at least trying to speak their language is vital. Otherwise, we end up talking to ourselves.