There are often unexpected perks to being a blogger and this Sunday was one of the best I have experienced. On top of having a great day out, I realized something about internet marketing that can benefit you in your business.
6th Gear had invited a bunch of online geeks, Al Carlton, Dave Naylor, Kieron Donoghue, Patrick Altoft and me, for a day of thrashing supercars around a race circuit. This involved us driving £1million worth of posh motors at bowel-shaking speeds, all the time wearing grins like the one you see above.
In my case my gear changes let me down. I was in brilliant and expensive machines, in an ideal environment (purpose built track on a clear, dry day), but the expert instructors showed how someone with actual driving skill could really do the business.
What Supercars and New Media Have in Common
As the day went on I did improve marginally in my driving ability, but it made me think of how driving supercars and success in the activity of marketing online are related with the following three factors:
- Power of the setup – Is your site, marketing campaign or content holding you back or providing the power and momentum you need?
- Skill of the operator – If you or your team are holding you back then you need to update your skills to maintain competitiveness
- The field of operation and environment – You might have everything you need but still be held back by your niche and environmental factors, in which case change direction. There is no good in having a supercar capable of 650bhp that is trapped and constrained by conjestion, speed bumps and potholes – take your whole package to a place where you can really let rip!
Now if in your business something is holding you back, you can put these essential elements back on track:
- First ensure you work a niche with sufficient potential, or redirect your efforts and audience targeting into a related niche that offers more room for growth and acceleration
- Bring your skills and knowledge up to requirements by taking courses, attending seminars and putting in the study hours.
- Develop your site, content and marketing campaign to make sure it attracts, retains and converts paying customers
Have you got the whole package? It would be worth taking an honest look at your setup then putting right any deficiencies now …
Would You Be Up For It?
We were all so buzzed on the day I am sure there will lots of ideas percolating amongst our collected brains so let me know in the comments if you would be up for taking part in a supercar event next year.
It’s impossible for me to adequately describe how cool it was, so I won’t even try, it is written all over my face in the picture. Suffice to say I would totally recommend the experience to anyone, and if you don’t want to take my word for it, check out the reports of the day from Dave, Kieron and Patrick who have wasted no time in blogging the event, and my flickr gallery here.