Developing a Following Through Altruism

For anyone who has been around longer than the Internet, fond memories may come to mind when you hear the term “Ma’n'Pa” Store. For me, it was a little shack of a shop with game room in the back, next to George’s Lake in Florahome, FL. The atmosphere of that quaint shop took me back to a simpler time.

Was it the rustic look, the location, the lack of hustle and bustle? No, it was the warm welcome when you walked in the door, the idle banter about fishing and the weather. It was being able to stop by, just to say “Hi” with no need to buy anything. The owner actually cared. Moreover, they were a contributing member of the community, always giving something back. This is the essence of Altruistic Marketing.

A critical component in any marketing campaign is learning, understanding and catering to the needs of your audience. This process takes time and doesn’t lead to an immediate sale. However, through developing relationships with your audience, you gain a far greater understanding of how you can uniquely meet their needs.

A concept that is often overlooked in modern digital marketing is the personal touch. Many companies seem to have forgotten that their audience is comprised of people who have needs, wants and could just use a simple “Hi! How are you today?” without having a “buy now” message shoved down their throat.

It’s natural to fall into false thinking with Altruistic Marketing though… One might think it acceptable to contribute back to the community to attract customers, but then forget about altruism entirely in other aspects of the sales and support process. Savvy business owners know that every potential customer is a give and take relationship. While the ultimate goal is to make a sale, it’s far more beneficial to build relationships that can lead to even more income potential.

Where you choose to target your efforts will depend greatly on the nature of your business. For a software development firm, such as INBOX International, many opportunities for altruistic marketing exist through the world of Open Source Software. Software projects such as ImpressCMS and WordPress offer software firms the opportunity to give free products, code and improvements, with full credits, while placing the firm directly in the target audience it seeks. Such projects extend opportunities to many other related markets such as SEO, SMO, Copywriting and specialized marketing services.

For Internet-based companies, determining the channels through which you can learn the needs and desires of your target audience are much simpler than traditional brick and mortar businesses. With the advent of the Internet and it’s rapid growth there are now multiple channels through which savvy businesses can connect with their audience. There are also an abundance of analytic and intelligence tools that leverage established, emerging and future communication channels, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as many major social networks and discussion forums.

Through looking back at the past in “Ma’n'Pa” stores and what made them so great, we can adapt the lessons the owners of these quaint stores knew all along. By paying careful attention to detail, utilizing the tools you have at hand and simply caring and reaching out, without regard of return, in fact yeilds a much higher return than simple mass marketing. We see companies springing up today like Mailchimp and 37Signals, who have mastered this concept and are reaping wonderful rewards.