The movie Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, is one of my favourite movies. It’s a great poker movie, but it also offers an interesting lesson in marketing.

I won’t go into the plot in detail, but ultimately it’s about savant poker player Mike McDermott (Matt) who gambles big, loses and then spends the rest of the movie trying to earn back his money in an attempt to save his criminally minded friend and build a bankroll big enough for a seat at the World Series of Poker (whew that was a nice run on sentence).

One character in the movie I admire is Knish (played by John Turturro), who is Matt’s mentor. Knish is an old pro on the circuit. He shows up to every poker game putting in his time, grinding out a little profit one hand at a time. He never makes huge gambles, but he makes a solid living for himself and his family. To Knish, Mike’s gambling approach to cards is just about ego and pride.

The characters of Mike and Knish remind me of two different types of marketers: The Grinder (Knish) and The Gambler (Mike).

The Gambler is all about the big splash. The gamble. They gravitate towards the public relations stunt. They are willing to take huge risks. Their default plan is the proverbial ‘ad on the Superbowl’.

The Gambler usually doesn’t have a written marketing plan. He usually has no lead capturing process. No system in place for measurement. No capacity for true customer engagement. No audience profiles. to him it’s all about the ‘fun of marketing’. It’s all sizzle but little steak.

The Grinder is a different character. He often has a well-constructed marketing plan. He thrives on systems. He’s as much a data nerd as an artist. He loves systematic customer engagement. To him it’s all about making profit for his organization or client and little to do with ego.

I understand the allure of the Gambler, you can’t always play it safe. Most marketers have a short time to prove results, or they face walking the plank. But, the problem with gambling is if bet and lose you are often left without any capacity to continue.

Both gambling and grinding have a place in marketing, but a better approach is to invest some time in grinding. Get your bankroll built up enough so you can afford to place a high risk bet or two. If you lose the hand at least you can live to fight another day.

This morning I received the following question via email. I thought others might find the response useful.

The question:

“Hi! I want to know the most effective social media strategy for getting more fans and more or less getting our organization out there. We talked the other day about a blog, and Twitter and Facebook and I want to know how that works. Should Twitter to link to the blog, the blog for small business tips etc, and FB to the website??? Does that make sense or can you give me a good “map” to work off of more or less.”

My answer (expanded):

Thanks for the question. I think it would be difficult for me to answer this question wholly in an email but I can give you a few tips.

First, it’s less about the configuration of the tools and more about how you use them to build relationships. Many organizations get wrapped up in worrying about trying to automate the broadcasting of their message. They want to post once through one tool and have it propagate through the system (on Twitter, Facebook, etc). This is exactly the wrong approach.

You need to define who you want to reach with these tools, and then understand how/whether they use these tools.

If the people you are trying to connect with aren’t on social media, then what’s the point for your organization. It’s a nice exercise in ‘warm fuzzies’ but for most organizations they can’t afford to spend time and money focused on activities that will net little result.

Second if your audience is on social media but they are using different tools than you are, it’s a bit like talking to yourself in the middle of a barren forest. FB, Twitter and LinkedIn are all great places to start as a rule of thumb. But do the research on your audience before you commit in a big way.

Realize that that audience can turn off the channel at any point

Social media is not a broadcast tool. Your audience can easily unsubscribe to the channel if the posts are just noise. Be Absolutely, positively, rock solid sure that your post ADDS VALUE (yup, it was worth the all CAPS). Before you update your status, ensure every post passes the ‘Why would anybody care test’.

Ways to add value include giving people tips, interesting stories, recognition, communicating status, connecting the community together etc…(add more ways in the comments please).

Focus on using the tools to build personal relationships. Your organization’s logo is often on the website, but the point of connection is not with some nebulous organization or building…it’s with the folks who are there.

A good analogy: Use it just like you would the telephone. A telephone is a very personal form of communication. You use it to talk to people and often use it for building/strengthening relationships. But, it can be an annoyance if overused. Imagine some organization phoning you everyday to tell you they were having an event next week. Soon, you would likely tell them not to phone again. But, if you knew that person and they phoned with some very specific purpose you would likely take the call. If every call resulted in some nugget of gold everyday, you would anticipate the call.

Was this useful? Got a good tip for others? Leave a comment and make me feel good about spending my time blogging.

Over the last few months I’ve become very interested in app development. It’s been a personal adventure into the wonderful world of Objective-C. And, along the journey I’ve often found myself talking with colleagues about various app ideas. What I’ve found interesting (and related to marketing) about those conversations is how often, and ironically, I’ve heard the phrase, ‘Oh that’s been invented before.’

I find it an interesting statement, but one that I almost immediately dismiss.

You see, there is a natural tendency to focus on what’s new. We love to hear about new products and services. We love to be on the ‘edge of what’s coming next’.

I get it. Inventors are often idolized and the rewards for being ‘first to market’ is an attractive offer (pipe dream?).

The reality though is there are very few completely original innovations. If you look back on history you’ll see that even seemingly new products are often derived off other ideas or are simultaneously invented (like the computer).

Take for example plot lines in movies or books. Leo Tolstoy once said “All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” I challenge you to find an exception.

The app store is nicknamed the ‘crap store’ for a reason. It’s filled with ideas, that are often poorly executed.

Most advertising channels are filled with advertising derived from other campaign ideas (just look back through a few years of any graphic design magazine).

And, most company social media campaigns are even becoming copycat havens. You get the point.

An alternative (better) strategy would focusing on ‘better’. Better executed. More creative. Polished to an extreme shine. Art.

A friend of mine once said, “Ideas are meaningless. Everybody has ideas. It’s all about the execution.”