My wife and I recently decided it was time to paint the outside of our house again. We contacted the same painter we used previously. His name is Bruce. Bruce doesn’t know much about the web. If I were to talk about social media marketing with him, he wouldn’t know what I meant.

Bruce is a successful house painter who works in Tampa Bay. He’s been serving people in our community for about 20 years. He works alone. 

He has a business card and a magnetic sign on the side of his truck with his name and phone number. That’s the extent of his traditional marketing. However, Bruce’s real marketing is a combination of great content and great customer service. So, how does a house painter produce great content?

I’ve said before, “Let your content be your marketing.” In Bruce’s case, his content is his knowledge of quality painting, his willingness to give clients paint samples, show up on time, be courteous, be reliable, be friendly, exceed expectations and be clean during and after the painting process. The result of all this great content is that his work is outstanding and his 20-year reputation is proof. Nearly 100% of Bruce’s painting jobs are from word of mouth.

If the phone doesn’t ring, he doesn’t work. And, even in a weak economy Bruce is never without work. When Bruce completes a painting job at a residential or commercial property, he cleans up so meticulously that you wouldn’t know he had ever been there. Bruce has even been flown out of state by affluent homeowners who have learned of his reputation from one of his client-evangelists.

What does this have to do with social media marketing? If you follow me, you’ve heard me say that successful social media marketing is based on two pillars: great content and relationship building – a belief shared by many proponents of social media and content marketing.

Bruce’s example in an offline world transfers to marketers who are marketing online. Bruce could produce a website displaying photos and video of his painting work. He could list testimonials of thrilled clients. He could Tweet about his experiences and share them on Facebook. Sure, he could share that great content online, but then he would probably have to hire other painters to keep up with the demand. Bruce is pretty happy working alone, so he won’t be doing any of these.

But, the rest of us can learn from Bruce’s exemplary content and relationship building as we project our brand through our online strategies. Let your content be your marketing. Produce great content, build relationships online, and like Bruce you’ll do just fine…

Back to the April 2009 Newsletter