I was provoked into writing today’s blog post after seeing a video online of a business owner trying to sell places on his “build your brand” 6 months training which costs thousands of pounds.
The individual was obviously looking at an autocue and rarely looking directly at the camera. He proceeded to list a host of individuals who I suspect most people have never heard of as a reason to attend this event! I applaud the enthusiasm, BUT this was one of the most incongruent adverts I have seen to date.
Such incongruity all too often appears in the world of personal change. Yes, I appreciate that none of us are perfect and I have my own share of terrible decision making, but all too often basic common sense is ignored. The main site for this same person has out of focus photos advertising a course aimed to entire signups from business professionals! I remain mystified at so much delusional thinking that occurs in the world of personal change. This of course is not new, and many “success trainers” after maxing out all credit facilities have been forced to return to paid employment often after divorce proceedings have also ensued. Yes sorry guys, BUT it seems men have a great propensity for such nonsense, with a few notable exceptions.
With the advent of social media, there’s a new level of online hyperactivity that occurs online on a daily basis. I was recently removed from a FB group after questioning the group owner’s website that looked in my view like something from 1960s hippie era. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE that era, BUT I suspect it would not attract the wide audience he was seeking. I also pointed out that an open FB group that over a period of time which has less than 90 members and no more that 4 posts at any time is not really that busy. This advice also fell on deaf ears!
In terms of his main site I suggested perhaps asking people what they thought, ie GET FEEDBACK, rather than insist you are the only view that matters! This was one suggestion too far and without notice he simply removed me from the group! A lot of this behaviour is like watching a car crash in slow motion, its not pretty and it won’t end well. The problem in my view is that the unsuspecting public are the ones who usually suffer as such characters simply close one company to phoenix another running the same kind of nonsense. This kind of incongruity pretty much guarantees such efforts won’t succeed over a period of time although to my total mystification many folks fall for this nonsense.
You would think after decades of website development and some excellent books on the market like Steve Krug’s “Don’t make me think” the general standards would be higher, wouldn’t you? Think again…Another major figure in the world of personal change has a website that has not been upgraded in 15 years. “It does what I want it to”, he says!” The fact that everyone I have ever met who has seen it comments how dreadful it is seems to be ignored. The old adage “The meaning of what you say is the response you receive” also is totally ignored! This person is apparently also “a professional communicator” Go figure…
The internet is full of supposed “media experts” who lack the basics in common sense when it comes to marketing. This lack of awareness is of course not confined to the world of personal change. Recently I looked at a site promoting a long standing music festival and couldn’t for the life of me find basic information. The whole site looked terrible and in this day and age with great facilities like WordPress, there really is no excuse for lazy marketing. As my old mentor Frank Farrelly once wonderfully commented “Lower your expectations”
Quite frankly, I’m not sure if I can lower them any further…
