Evangelism 101

Guy Kawasaki writes a good piece on the "Art" of Evangelism. Being Riya's 'evangelist' ('pot stirrer' or 'that girl that doesn't appear to do any work' may be more accurate. ;)), I was very interested in reading Guy's take. Although I agree with his points, I (as usual) have some things to say about his lesson.

On the point of creating a cause, I agree that these causes often take some sort of moral high ground, but I also think that is evangelism's core weakness. Moral high grounds are innately unreflexive and rigid. I see this happening with the cult of Apple. Don't get me wrong, as I've said before, I love my Mac for all of the wrong reasons, and I urge the 'migration' to many. I get up in arms when a program isn't compatible with my OS. I have long, arduous arguments with my father about why he should stop buying crappy PC's and go with Mac. The same thing goes for any of the web companies I love and pander ad nauseum: Pandora, Flock, Riya, Flickr, TechCrunch, Memeorandum, Technorati, etc. But I'm also not afraid to critique any of these things I love...and I believe that makes me a better 'evangelist'. Blindly loving something tends to: a. turn people off, and b. eventually set you up for major disappointment.

On the point of looking for the agnostics and ignoring the athiests, I would advise ignoring the agnostics, too. People who don't care don't care. Example: when trying to convert the world to Firefox, most couldn't be bothered to switch their browsers from IE6 even though it would benefit them greatly. They may eventually because you've reached a tipping point, but concentrating on them in the evangelizing period is heartbreaking. I would say the athiests may be a better fight. At least they give a damn.

Hmmmm...don't use flowery words like revolutionize? I dunno. Them's exciting words. Certainly, you have to back that up with why something is revolutionary and it really should deliver on being revolutionary, but evangelism and conversion is highly irrational. Why get so rational when spreading the word? Yes, real language is important, but so is real passion.

I totally agree with never telling a lie...I would even say, utter honesty rules here. Personal stories rock the evangelism trail. And...when you are wrong (or what you are evangelizing screws up somehow), humility is key.

Here's what I would add:

Good evangelists don't preach. I know the word, "Evangelist" conjures up images of someone at a pulpit, but that is not the route one wants to take. It's annoying. It makes others feel inferior. It is know-it-all. I believe evangelists should be passionate and excited about their product/service/whatever, but should always take it down a notch or two when in 'conversion' mode. Converse, don't preach.

Good evangelists plant seeds and water them, but don't drown them. Let your audience discover why you are so damned excited themselves. They will if what you are evangelizing is great. Like Guy said, provide a safe first step and open up the 'test drive', then have faith that people are pretty sharp. They'll get it if there is something to be got.

Good evangelists are infectious. You know a good evangelist when you see one. Someone whose passion lights up the conversation. It's real. It makes you want to be excited for them. It piques your interest. All of a sudden, the other people in the conversation are writing down URL's and/or rushing out to try it themselves.

Good evangelists don't use the word evangelist to describe themselves. It's the buzzword du jour. It gives away the punchline. It puts people on guard for a sales pitch. Not that I care too much about semantics. It is what it is. Whatever, sometimes I do it, too. It's just easier. Forget about this point.

I could go on, but I'll save it for my impending post (when I can get around to it) on marketing for startups... (which I totally don't claim to really know anything about, but I'll blather on about it anyway)

:: update from a very smart reader: I would humbly add "good evangelists create more evangelists" or, put another way, the best leaders are not the ones with the most followers but the ones that create the most leaders. Griffin, if I had a website for you, I would totally link to it...you are soooo right!

via: Scoble

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