How Kindergarten Makes Great Digital Marketers
Kindergarten may have seemed like it was all fun and games, but there was a lot of real-world preparation sneakily hidden between snack time and nap time. While we were learning to play well with others, we were also learning how to become AWESOME digital marketers (even if we didn’t know it at the time). We learned these skills and rules from patient teachers, who had to deal with our unruly, hyperactive personalities. We can thank them for the following major tenants that have helped us achieve awesomeness:
Rule 1: Treat Others Like You Want to Be Treated
How you treat others speaks volumes about yourself. So in your marketing and in your business, treat others as you’d like to be treated and let your brand personality shine. More importantly in the world of business and marketing, remember to always say “thank you” and say you’re sorry when you need to. These days reputation management is key because there is a large focus on online reviews. The majority of consumers read reviews prior to purchasing an item they’re considering. These reviews give businesses a great opportunity to shine. All customer feedback is beneficial whether it is good, negative, or sometimes even humorous. Regardless of the type of feedback, your business has a chance to respond and shine in your customer service ability, which sometimes requires an apology and other times requires a simple “thank you”. Remember to respond and treat others as you would like to be treated.
Rule 2: Sharing Your Toys Means More Toys For Everybody
My kindergarten experience was unique. I went to kindergarten at a private school in Spanish Harlem, NYC and I was the only girl in the class. Needless to say, none of the boys wanted to share my dolls, so I had to quickly adapt. Thankfully, I learned how to play G.I. Joes pretty quickly and they were nice enough to share them with me. Eventually, I convinced them to include Barbies in the mix and ultimately we all had more toys and more fun. This lesson holds true for knowledge and expertise as well. Share as much of it as you can. Consume as much of it as you can. Great digital marketers know that the more sharing there is, the bigger the benefit. As you share your knowledge, your customers will appreciate and trust you more. Plus, everybody will have a better experience. The true secret sauce is sharing.
Rule 3: Sometimes It’s Necessary to Take a Nap
At this point, I’m sure we’ve all been bombarded by incessant email campaigns, retargeting advertisements, or social media posts. While I really do like the businesses I follow, I do not necessarily love all their constant advertising and self-promotion. I want content that speaks to me personally. And of course, I don’t mind the occasional promotions, but sometimes these brands just need to take a nap. Keep that in mind for your advertising, blogging, and social posting. Sometimes it can be overkill, so be careful to take a break from the same old promotions or self shout-outs.
Rule 4: Color In Between the Lines (but make the colors your own)
OK, so it took me a while to actually grasp this rule in my younger days. What can I say? I wasn’t one much for rules or boundaries at the time. In kindergarten I even had my parents convinced that feeding me ice cream sandwiches for breakfast was far more convenient than cereal. But these days I love rules because they provide a good structure. I definitely couldn’t draw a picture as well as my coloring books, but I could make them pretty with color! The same holds true in digital marketing campaigns and digital marketers. First, it’s important to follow the rules and best practices, there are reasons these rules exist. But – and this is a large but – it is also important to make the colors your own. Use your brand voice, use your creativity, and most importantly, STAND OUT!
Rule 5: Play Fair Because True Winners Never Cheat
There is no glory in cheating and eventually, you (or your business) will get caught. We see this often with copyrighted material. Many businesses or inexperienced digital marketers use random images they find on Google for their website or blog not realizing that it is somebody else’s property and that can be a costly mistake. Just ask one of our clients who had to dish out over $20K simply because of an image she had on her original website. Simply put, don’t steal content from others whether it is text, graphics, video, etc. Always give credit where credit is due.
All-in-all, when it comes to digital marketing and being great digital marketers, we need to remember our days before elementary school. This is where we learned to be nice, share our belongings, take breaks, color in the lines, and play fair. Keep those rules at the front, follow them, and success will be right around the corner!
