Don’t Be A D!©k 4

Recently in the midst of some brief Twitter reading and scanning blog posts, I read that a buying crowd is a polarized crowd. Or something like that.

It’s similar to what we discussed inside Grizzly’s post on being a guru.

Grizzly quickly went over the formulaic way to brand yourself a guru – track down the biggest know-it-all in the business forum and tell him he’s full of BS. It’s kind of like in prison, or so the movies say.

It’s a King Of The Hill mentality. Make a name for yourself by pushing someone off the top of the mountain – then do your best to stay on top.

This often splits a crowd in to two camps. Those who support the know-it-all and those who support the challenger.

Both camps can develop an emotional need for their leader to be right. And BAM, now you have a polarized audience of likely buyers.

Want an example? Polarizing figure Glenn Beck’s media company is bringing in $30 million-plus per year. And that doesn’t count his TV salary.

Back to the story. OK, you’re a newly elected leader, albeit informally. What’s next?

A leader needs followers who will emulate them. So it’s time to start teaching your audience how to act and speak.

Talk radio host Norman Goldman refers to Republicans as “RepubliCONs” every night on his show and hopes it will stick. Robert Reich, a former US Secretary of Labor, tried to do the same with the term “RadCONs.”

Norman refers to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker as Snot Walker. And a promo for his show kept repeating over and over again, “I have a new name for Sarah Palin.”

As if that’s cool, or something.

But what radio talk show hosts know, as well as IM gurus that shall remain nameless, is that getting a crowd to speak in your language is huge. It’s like swearing allegiance to you every time they speak.

Now that you’ve achieved cult leader status, it’s time to protect yourself from anyone else who may want to play leader and knock you off the mountain.

So question: who’s a threat?

Answer: Anyone who doesn’t use your language or do things the way you do. When you catch them doing or saying something different than you, you attack them to keep your position.

OK I gotta stop.

Really? You have to be a d!©k to lead people? It seems that way sometimes if you watch the Internet marketing crowd.

Listen. You don’t have to be a d!©k to be a profitable leader.

A passionate crowd is a buying crowd. And yes, a polarized crowd is a passionate one. But it’s the passion that really creates the buyers, not the polarization.

Instead of being a d!©k, you could just be awesome. And then people will be passionate about you.

I.E. Gary Vaynerchuk

I think my blog readership has several leaders among them – both present and future – and I’m confident they’ll take the Gary Vaynerchuk approach. It’ll be awesome to watch.

Cheers.