That age old battle - the ego vs the heart - is more relevant now than ever to us marketeers and anyone directly involved in business development. It dictates how you speak to the people you need to be speaking to; how you capture their attention and it applies to every communication you put out there – online, direct mail, posters, brochures, social media.

The thing is though, with everyone communicating to everyone else - shouting, pitching and bargaining for a share of the market - it can be hard, defeating and infuriating for those of us running ethical business operations to compete with ‘get rich quick’ and ‘lose 7kg in 7 days’.

A company has a problem. They don't like their accountant. Their financial planner just got hit by a bus. The business just got a lot bigger and now they need some HR advice. They don't have a marketing person per se and the owner knows that they are not going anywhere without someone focusing on the company's brand and lead generation campaigns to support their sales team.

The problem has been identified. It now needs a solution. So, what's next? They look for one.

How?

First, they think about who they know. It use to be a case of people they have met or friends of friends, but now there is a not so new revolution to add to the equation. Social media.

Social Media

In the past two weeks we have made almost $200,000 from our social media accounts. It's because companies that we may not have met face to face, but know us through social media and in particular, twitter, linkedin and the company blog, have a problem and the first person they have made contact with is the person they "know" online. You know the one. The person that continually reinforces their expertise in a particular field through showcasing their knowledge, case studies, influence and opinions.

Social media is likened to the old-fashion term "farming" because it takes time, but the investment is worth it in the end if you do all the right things. Farming makes it easier for clients to find you and relate to you and your business. Social media has provided a short-cut in the farming process  but be assured that "farming" is not "prospecting". It is relationship building and you have to be willing to give more than you get.

So, remember next time you go to write on your twitter account that you went out and got totally trashed, but the next day want to be the consumate professional accountant who is looking for new business opportunities that your lifestyle choices may not be what your clients are looking for in a service provider.

Retailers that have not adopted a strategic social media strategy that has as much weighing in their marketing budget as their traditional media spend, are at risk of not only losing marketshare but also staying alive as a business.

Retailers were slower to discover the benefits of using bloggers and affiliate sites to reach their target audience, but those who have taken seriously the trend that has absorbed the world in the past five years of social media engagement are seeing a lower cost marketing platform that is complemented by a more loyal and trusted customer base.

It's a statement that has finality but how much of it is true?

After not seeing each other for quite some time, I was glad a catch up with one of my girlfriend, Fatimah was in order last week. She was happy to find out that I was interning at Marketing Eye for the past month and I told her how exciting it is to finally have something to wake up to each week!

After telling me the updates on her life, I began telling her how real the marketing world is and how different it is from university life. The environment at Marketing Eye was pretty laid back, yet focused. It is a small team in the Melbourne office; therefore everyone is usually engrossed in their work. I told Fatimah how the company has a blog written by the CEO of the company and how she perfectly relates business to life in general and she should check the blog out herself!

The following week she did so at her workplace and not only was she reading a few, but a whole lot of them even dating back to 2010! She found it highly amusing and could not stop reading the blog. Fatimah then texted me straight away saying “The blog is so interesting because Mellissah tells facts yet relates it back to her own personal experience and draws out a conclusion from it. Because she is a career woman, I could somehow relate myself to her (e.g: lunching out with an inspiring girlfriend or thoughts about men).

Fatimah is an engineer and works in a male dominated office and after informing some of her friends and colleagues about the blog, they have also started reading the posts and enjoying it themselves. Its remarkable how the power of word-of-mouth happens and reaches great lengths no matter what their professions are as everyone could somehow relate a blog post to their own lives!

Blogging isn't for everyone. In fact, few people can pull it off and actually get a reasonable return on investment. While it can be fun to share your ideas, there is a whole world out there whose ideas differ from that of your own. And beware... sometimes they are even happy to tell you about it.

But it isn't all doom and gloom.

Blogging can be quite lucrative from a brand profile prospect and for some, financially. Successful bloggers don't just make their livings out of blogging, they quite often make their fortune. Think Mia Freedman (www.mamamia.com.au) and Seth Godin.

To build an extraordinary team, you need extraordinary people. People that are inspired, that create their own opportunities and who want to make their mark on the position so that in no time, they get career opportunities for advancement and the world is literally their oyster.

But how do you get these people to come and work for you when you are a small business? The answer is marketing. Now, as a company, we have failed miserably in attracting the right people for the job because we don't market the positions - we post them!

That's now going to change. Thanks to the awesome marketers on the team and an inspired point of view, we now are looking to create the ultimate marketing outfit - not just deliver great work.

What do you think of this?

People often ask me why I write a blog when I am so busy that I struggle to find enough hours in the day. The answer isn't EGO - yes, I do love that so many people read my blog, but most of whom do, I have never met and probably will never have the opportunity to.

It's not because I am bored or I think that I am an exceptional writer - because I have never had a bored moment in my life (it's my dream to be bored one day) and as for the writing, I only write well when I put effort in, and this blog is more a rambling of my thoughts, rather than something that I have placed alot of emphasis on.

The ONE reason I write this blog is to CONNECT with my target audience and to communicate with other marketers who have interesting ideas on marketing or who have a point of view.

If a week is anything to go by, then I had better get a move on. Dragging my tail, procrastination and falling asleep on the job, just won't cut the mustard - as they say.

A new way of looking at things has emerged, and batteries are well and truly charged to maximum capacity. What was the change?

At Singapore airport last week, I picked up a book written by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur named Business Model Generation.