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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek
and John-Paul Micek
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New media is simply about communication
Last week, we discussed misinformation that comes from two camps within new media: the Wicked Witches of the East and West, including that:
» Fame does not equal profit in new media;
» Beware of blogs, social media or any other new-media evangelists who don't have a business other than the content they push out;
» Never take advice on how to make money from someone driving a Festiva.
In the story "Wizard of Oz," Dorothy wanted desperately to get home to Kansas. As soon as she landed in Oz, that's all she thought about.
It's the same in New Media Oz, except that the "home" you want to get to is one of profit.
And, honestly, we're different than Dorothy because we don't mind visiting Oz on a regular basis. It's fun and profitable, bu only if you have the yellow brick road to keep you on track.
Here in New-Media Oz, that yellow pathway to success is based on one simple concept: New media, the Internet, radio -- any media -- is nothing more than a communica- tion channel. And a channel is just a conduit through which content, attention and connection flow.
Too many people buy into the dream of riches through "Internet marketing," or the mistaken belief that "links" and "attention" through new media will automatically bring riches. They look to turn a channel into a money source in and of itself. Links, attention and conversations may be the supposed currencies of the new-media marketplace. But "links and attention won't pay the mortgage" as Tim Bourquin (founder and CEO of TNC New Media, Inc.) pointed out.
What does make you money is what sits on both ends of that channel -- your tribe on one end and the products/services that will make their life better on the other.
How good you are at developing and executing a strategy to use a channel to emotionally connect with your tribe is what determines how much money you'll make.
The bottom line is that new media is just that -- a channel of communication. It's not magic, it's not going to save the world from impending doom, and it's not going to make you money, if you don't have the right strategy.
New media is a channel that allows a level of interaction that Web 1.0 and old mass media cannot compete with. For that reason, it's a channel that's changing the way you do business, whether you've stepped into New Media Oz yet or not. Its impact is so powerful that it's changing the rules of business online and off-line.
Remember that New Media is simply a two-way communication channel. Put your focus on using it to attract, connect with, and convert a crowd of raving fans that rally around you, your brand and the solutions you provide.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at
JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at
DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.