Christmas Controversy For Your Business 🎄

Art of using controversy to get attention in your business.

Transcription

Christmas controversy for your business.

Hi I’m Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Let’s talk a little bit about Christmas and Christmas controversies. And not just Christmas and any holiday that you’re celebrating right now we’re really honest, I mean, this could be any time of the year that we’re talking about.

But since I’m recording this in December of 2021 it applies to right now, so that there’s a huge benefit when it comes to business and controversy.

And this goes way back, and you can, it doesn’t take a whole lot to be able to see it. But you can see that people who are controversial and businesses that put out controversial stuff, get attention.

And you could see it in politics, when they when anybody involved in a business takes a political stand, or the business itself takes a political stand. You say, Well, they’re turning off a huge portion of their audience.

Yeah, but they’re also turning on the portion that they’re representing, you know, doesn’t matter which direction they go, and you may not be happy with the direction that they’re going. But someone else is very happy, and they’re going to give more business to them.

These are oftentimes very thought-out processes for the business itself. I hope this doesn’t distract you. This is just fun to get attention but controversy is very useful in business because it while it drives while at the same rate that it drives people away, oftentimes it will have a great even greater rate of driving people towards you have magnetizing a certain crowd toward you.

Something like Christmas, you can use to your benefit, because it’s a way to step into controversy without taking a political stand. And without taking something that is taken too seriously by most people.

For example, I’ll give you a perfect example, Christmas trees. Everyone’s got an issue with Christmas trees one way or the other. And I am kind of a pariah in my family and most of my family. Because I have and have had for a number of years. A fake Christmas tree.

That’s right, I have a fake Christmas tree that we use that I put together every year that I don’t know we bought at Costco or something or Walmart. And I got to put the whole thing together every year.

But I’ll tell you what I spent years of my childhood over and over and over again, dealing with real trees that I’m I’m over the real tree thing. And I’ve got I can list out why and why I’ll go with a fake tree every time and how I wasn’t raised that way and how I still appreciate real trees, it’s just I don’t want to take care of them, I don’t want to have to go through the trouble.

I don’t want to have to cut it down, I don’t want to have to go pick it up off a lot.

I don’t want to have to pay for it every year, I don’t want to have to move it and figure out how to get it there. I don’t like dealing with all the extra needles and down you get plastic needles fallen off of a plastic tray.

But that’s another story. I don’t want to have to deal with that all that stuff over and over and over again, watering the darn thing all that I’m over it.

It’s a symbol of something and some people acknowledge the symbolism or they don’t acknowledge the symbolism. And so it’s, it’s really a thing that we do just because it’s a thing that we do.

So that’s why I go with the fig tree. Now that’s a controversial topic. And you go in a whole bunch of different directions with different controversies. But that’s one of them. If I went and took that stand, and I made a really, really outrageous pitch.

Now, my business has nothing to do with Christmas or Christmas trees or anything else. But just by bringing it up, I guarantee you, I will get people down below, taking a stand for and against me.

Wherever you’re watching or listening to this, I’ll get people commenting. So please leave a comment and approve me right. But that’s just the thing about things that we all have in common.

We can always take a stand and cause a little bit of controversy and it gets a little bit it gets people going just a little bit and Christmas is a fun time to be able to do that and you can use it to get a little bit of attention for your business.

So hopefully that makes sense. If you want more ideas in terms of how to grow your business long-term, I’ve got my book, 9 Ways to Amazon-Proof Your Business.

I just got a review from a close friend today. I’ll be I’ll be reading that to you tomorrow.

9 ways to Amazon-Proof Your Business you can get a free copy at AmazonProofBook.com.

That’s all I got for tonight you have a good one get out there and let the magic happen.

Controversy: The Double-Edged Sword ⚔️

Thoughts on controversy and the Mandela Effect.

Transcription

Controversy, the double-edged sword.

Hi I’m Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J Pombo Live.

I’m going to tell you about a very specific circumstance that I went through dealing with controversy. So when you’re doing any type of content marketing, this is something that will be a temptation.

As time goes on, I’m certain, I’m sure it will for you because you’ll see that there’s a whole lot of advantage to controversy, to having things that are outrageous that makes you stand out.

In today’s world, it’s really easy to take advantage of this and you get a whole lot of views. If you’re doing video you’ll get a whole lot of clicks, if you’re doing any type of blogging or texting you’ll get a whole lot of listens, if you’re doing audio, any type of audio podcast or what have you.

But here’s the thing, with today’s search environment and with organic clicks that come through, depending on where you’re at and which format you’re using. But in general, you could have a whole lot of people paying attention to you for a split second, that doesn’t matter to your end game.

So you have to know who you’re trying to reach and you got to find the controversies that will attract them. That’s where the controversy really comes in useful.

But let me tell you about a story where it wasn’t that all that useful. So this time, I believe it was nearly two years ago to the day that I put out a video. And the video had to do with the Mandela Effect.

I haven’t rewatched it recently and I don’t remember how I tied it back in with the business. But if you’re not aware of what the Mandela Effect is, it’s when you have a situation where you have a memory in your mind.

That’s very crystal clear about the way a certain event happened or the idea that somebody is dead when they really aren’t dead and it becomes so specific.

And not only that you talk to other people and other people have a similar effect.

So it’s a common misconception that goes across the board to the point where there are people that believe, and you may be one of them, that that there’s actually some type of multi-universe or something of that sort going on, or that there is some conspiracy where they have switched history on us. And some people remember it the right way and what have you.

So there are a million different ways to be able to look at the Mandela Effect.

It’s a very interesting idea in terms of psychology, and in terms of reality if you will. That wasn’t really what my post was about, I tied it back into business and marketing. But that didn’t stop a huge portion of people coming to that post and still gets views to this day, where people will discuss will come on there. And they want to discuss my perspective of the Mandela effect.

How I’m making fun of it, or I’m mocking it, or what have you. And then you could go and look on YouTube. And you can see all my comments and everything else from that one, created a whole lot of controversy created a whole lot of views.

But it did very little from my understanding, to be able to expand my reach with the audience that I was looking for people that wanted to discuss business and marketing and so forth.

Now it may help in the overall big scheme of things. So you know, you get more views on YouTube, it gives you more reach, even just organically, it gives you the chance to be able to reach more people.

So you can play it from that game. But don’t think that using broad-based controversy is going to necessarily get you what you want.

Like I said, know who you’re going after, in terms of your ideal person, and find the things that are controversial to them, find the things that will get them riled up, then you’ve got, you’ve got something that can be magical in the long run.

In the short run, certain controversies may get you a whole lot of mainstream traffic, but that won’t necessarily mean anything to your business. And when we’re talking content marketing, that’s what matters most is what happens in the end game of your business. So hopefully that makes sense.

Hey, you want more ideas on how to expand your business and while at the same time making it competition-proof. I’ve got a whole book on it, 9 Ways to Amazon-Proof Your Business.

You can get a free copy at AmazonProofBook.com.

That’s all I’ve got for today you have a great one we’ll be back here tomorrow night in the meantime get out there and just let the magic happen.

You Can Hold Your Cards Close ♣️♦️♠️❤️

Making a case for not having to be controversial with your content.

Transcription

You can hold your cards close.

Hi I’m Brian Pombo, welcome back to Brian J. Pombo Live.

Yesterday, we talked about the benefits of sharing, and specifically in content marketing. So if you’re putting things out there on a regular basis, it’s good to share, it’s good to be able to show who you really are, and appear more human, whether you are or you aren’t.

And that’s all good but there’s also a benefit to holding back.

Let me get into this is this isn’t discussed very often. So. I think oftentimes, people tend to hold back initially when it comes to politics, sex, religion, you know, kind of the taboo areas, as people don’t want to offend.

That’s all fine and good but eventually, you get to the point where you don’t care about offending too much. But then you got to think Okay, so what should I say and what should I say?

For me, I could just give you an example from my perspective, because I’ve been doing content marketing in terms of ongoing daily videos and podcasts.

Now for, you know, we’re close to 900 consecutive videos that we put out there. And the one thing that I found over and over again, is that just because you’re being controversial, doesn’t mean you’re achieving anything, okay.

You can achieve some shock, you can push away people, you don’t want to work with it, do it intentionally, though, don’t just say things just to say things unless you just want to be working with people who think identically to you in politics, religion, and everything else.

That’s the way I see it, because I would be happy to work with somebody that’s very different from me politically, that’s very different from me religiously, that’s very different from me, and how I view sex and everything else. And honestly, I love talking about those things, especially with someone that’s open.

It’s not the first thing I talk about when I walk into a room of strangers. I want to know where people are coming from first before I lead on where I’m coming from. And I will be mainly for the point of communication, it’s because I will say something a little bit differently if I know that they’re coming from a different perspective, not that I’m worried about offending them, not that I’m worried about.

Not that I’m worried about showing myself for who I am, or anything of that sort. It mainly comes to communication with me. And I want to be able to communicate directly with people.

The more I know about other people first, the easier it is for me to communicate with them and I think most people appreciate that. So I’m careful. I don’t lay it all out there. I say a lot of things that most people wouldn’t say when I do say things that may be controversial. I do a purposefully. I do it with a little bit of forethought.

And at least for the most part, every once in a while I’m sure I’m saying something that it Well, I’ll tell you the truth.

Some of my most controversial videos were completely unintentional, I had no idea. There were certain controversies that existed. And all you got to do is look at some of my highest-rated videos.

And you can see these huge arguments that came about or attempted arguments, people trying to put me in my place. And I normally won’t join in on it, especially if that wasn’t my point.

So a lot of times, I’ll bring up something that has controversy attached to it. So a piece of religious mail we’ve looked at in the past and other things of that sort, I’ll bring that out and show people and people want to attack that instead of what I was talking about, which was the marketing aspects of it.

So things like that will occur from time to time, they’re always going to be misunderstandings, you can’t help that if you put yourself out there, you weren’t going to have misunderstandings.

And you should have people that dislike you. If you don’t have a large number of people that dislike you, then you’re not doing enough marketing. Honestly, you’ve got to have that out there, especially if you want to put personality out there, which I encourage you to do.

In fact, I talk a lot about that, in my book, 9 Ways to Amazon-Proof Your Business.

I’m going to be giving a speech this weekend where I’m going to be discussing personality and how to include it in certain businesses. And so that’s gonna be fun.

So next time I See you all probably be in the airport. So so be an interesting trip it’s a long trip because I the way I scheduled it I waited too long to get my ticket. And so it’s gonna take a long time to get from one place to the other to the other. I’m going to end up in in Orange Beach area of Alabama.

So be a first time for me haven’t been there before. Go check out my book, 9 Ways to Amazon-Proof Your Business. FREE copy at AmazonProofBook.com.

We’ll be back here tomorrow night. In the meantime, get out there and let the magic happen.