You’re in the fight of your life.
If you want to sell a service on Pinterest, then you are competing globally with every other service provider on the planet that decides Pinterest is a good social media marketing channel for their business too.
Intimidated?
Well, maybe you’re only selling locally, in which case you’re publishing content on Pinterest globally, jus to attract a local market. But even then you’re competing against some serious competitors. How good are they? Well, whether they are good at their craft and providing good customer service or not, they’re probably…
tough, hungry, well trained, frugal, and focused on providing for their family. Let’s face it, they want to kick your butt, take your ideas, steal your customers, and destroy your business.
How can you compete with this type of intensity? Let’s call in the Marines.
The best book I’ve ever read on Military Tactics is Warfighting – The U.S. Marine Corps Book Of Strategy – Tactics For Managing Confrontation. It’s one of my favorite books of all time. What do they suggest when it comes to fighting an enemy? Here are a few highlights:
Combat Power: Combat Power is the total destructive force we can bring to bear on our enemy at a given time. Some factors in combat power are quite tangible and easily measured, such as superior numbers, which Clausewitz called, ‘the most common element in victory’. Some may be less easily measured…’
In other words – how many weapons can you bring to the fight? In Pinterest, we’ve all got the same weapons. How many of them are you willing to bring to the fight? You have the following, (this isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the point):
- Pictures
- Infographics
- Slideshows
- Vidoes
- How-To’s
- Blog articles
- Memes
- Design Style
- Copywriting Style
- Photography Tradeskills
Combat Power also includes a list intangibles (and/or less than public tangibles). In marketing warfare on Pinterest, these might include:
- Business Reputation and clout (or Klout)
- 3rd Party Endorsements by Top People
- Academic Expertise
- The size of your in-house list and social media reach
If your competition is willing or able to bring all of those weapons to the Pinterest battle ground – and you’re not, or you’re too lazy to use them all – you lose. Bring more weapons to the fight if you want to win.
Concentration: ‘Concentration is the convergence of effort in time and space. It is the means by which we develop superiority at the decisive time and place.’
So the real question is not only – how many weapons can you bring to the party – but how concentrated can you make them in time & space. As an example, I started this blog in mid December. I posted roughly 29 blog posts in the first month, created several info graphics, and published an ebook. That was enough concentration for people to start saying, ‘Jason Miles is a Pinterest Expert’. Before the first month was over I had a major book deal under way – further evidence that I was an expert. That still blows my mind. But it wasn’t about how long I had been on the battle field. It was about how much concentration of combat power I generated in the first month. To insure I had the credibility that only comes by having an actual ‘real’ presence in Pinterest – That month I pinned items every day on my account, and Cinnamon & I both pinned daily on her account. Our goal was to get her account to 1,000 followers as quickly as possible.
Additionally, concentrations works in another way – when I think about my Pinterest followers, I don’t care if I have a million random followers – I would rather have a concentration of marketing professionals who follow me because I am pinning content that is specific to their needs. A niche specific concentration of followers is better than a giant list of followers who are only following you because you pin randomness. This is no different from email marketing – a focused high quality list is always better than a massive un-focused list.
Speed: ‘Speed is rapidity of action. Like concentration, speed applies to both time and space. And, like concentration, it is relative speed that matters. Speed over time is tempo – the consistent ability to operate fast. Speed over distance, or space, is velocity – the ability to move fast Both forms are genuine sources of combat power. In other words, speed is a weapon.’ In Pinterest, speed counts. Ask yourself these questions:
- Am I going to be in Pinterest – establishing my authority faster than my competitors?
- Am I going to be in Pinterest ahead of my customers or prospective customers, so that when they get in and find me, I have an authoritative position?
- Am I going to be fast at getting into Pinterest daily, pinning some things, and getting out?
Momentum: ‘The combination of concentration and speed is momentum. Momentum generates impetus. It add ‘punch’ or ‘shock effect’ to our actions. It follows that we should strike the decisive blow with the greatest possible combination of concentration and speed’. In Pinterest, your momentum comes by having a regular routine of pinning great content, and having people who repin, like, and comment. The snowball rolling down hill gets larger. Your influence grows. Your followers grow.
Surprise: ‘By surprise we mean striking the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which he is unprepared. It is not essential that we take the enemy unaware, but only that he become aware too late to react effectively…Surprise is also a genuine multiplier of strength in its own right because of the psychological effect. It means doing the unexpected thing, which in turn normally means doing the more difficult thing in the hopes that the enemy will not expect it.’
In Pinterest – you want your prospective customers to be shocked to find you in Pinterest – and your competitors to be surprised at how solid your Pinterest profile is upon finding it. You want to create memes, infographics, slideshows, and blog graphics that all surprise your competition. Get way better than them at this stuff. Consider it an arms race. Improve your weapons so that you can surprise them with insanely great Pinterest content.
Whether you consider yourself a warrior or not, I hope you can appreciate that each of these elements can help you be successful in Pinterest.
Now go into combat bravely!
marketingonpinterest.com 