Get naked!

The best things in life are uncovered. Everything else is just an encumbrance, defence mechanism from the cold notwithstanding.

One of the best books I ever read on the importance of blogging for business was called Naked Conversations, with Shel Israel and Robert Scoble. I still refer to it sometimes as despite it being quite long in the tooth now, it offers refreshing perspectives on accountability and transparency that are unmet in their quality by other titles and articles.

And I’m now imploring that you, as a business, go naked. Shed your inhibitions, strip out all the jargon and hard sell and instead focus on the purity of your brand – and write, talk and film like heck all about it.

What are the bare essentials?

One of the major concerns among my friends in business about sharing their all, is that it’s already been said before.

There might be billions of pages on the web, but when it comes to you, your business and your passion, there’s only one website that really matters. Yours.

Your story, your heritage, your product – they’re all interwoven in this rich tapestry that is your brand. There has never been, and there never will be, something of its like again.

And by reading this article you’ve demonstrated you have the prowess, the passion and the personality (the new Ps of marketing?!) to share your tale with the wider world.

Here’s another exclusive on those billions of web pages: Most are junk. And thankfully, people are not fools, and search engines are getting more clever, daily (though you can certainly help them out with tailored landing pages – but more on that another day).

Cold feet not allowed

Authenticity, transparency, personality – these are the three elements crucial to your business’ success. You’ve practiced them offline for years, and things should be no different if you want to capitalise on this bright, shiny internet thing.

That’s what I want from you. To just lay it on the line – be yourself. You don’t have to be the next J K Rowling, you just need to share your brand, your business, your vision, your passion – using whatever means necessary. Blogs, podcasts, videos, white papers, webinars – and whatever the next shiny thing is. Test, have fun, get feedback, rinse and repeat.

The full frontal on my plans

I have a bold and brave proposal to make to my clients. I have a shiver down my spine that there’s a rocky road ahead to have it approved. I mentioned in a previous post that historically I’ve faced challenges in getting staff en masse to pitch in and show their spurs online.

But this time’s going to be different. I need to swot up on getting buy-ins. From legal through HR on the social computing guidelines (unleashing employees to write content to support the site, in a nutshell). And working out all the many advantages of openness.

Consumers hostile to the concept of timeshare have pointed to transparency, or rather its lack, as the industry’s Achilles heel.

So what a refreshing change to be putting it out there, showing people exactly what this company does, what its people think, and where it’s headed.

And the greatest news of all is the pioneers have already laid the foundations to inspire us innovative business leaders to act and succeed by sharing and baring.

Channel 9 is our centrefold

Of all the corporate websites I’ve ever visited, it’s Microsoft’s Channel 9 that best embodies the spirit of authenticity, transparency and personality.

Channel 9 is a community. We bring forward the people behind our products and connect them with those who use them. We think there is a great future in software and we’re excited about it. We want the community to participate in the ongoing conversation. This is the heart of Channel 9. We talk about our work but listen to the customer. – Microsoft.

And the best thing is anyone can do it. Literally – anyone!

All it takes is passion and a devotion to your customer.

Success, uncovered

I hope this has motivated you to start talking to your customers, finding out who they are and what they want from you so you can curate and create the content they need to thrive. To start testing it, requesting feedback, being unstoppable.

And discovering the naked truth that sharing equals success.