What’s on the iPod: Sweet Sophia by Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers
Many thanks to my camera company, Fuji, which responded quickly to my call asking for help. I’d sent the camera in for repair and had received mixed messages on when I’d get it back. I explained calmly but with a little “oh dear” in my voice that we’d purchased my camera for the vacation and if there was any way they could help me get it back before Wednesday… a brand new one arrived on Friday. Let’s just say Fuji is a company whose employees still care. Rare these days!
Yesterday was quiet. Too quiet. I had planned to have small projects due today to work on. None were there. So instead I sent out queries and got some research done on other companies. I need to have something lined up for November. At the moment, nada. I do have checks that will probably come in while I’m gone, but that leaves a dry December. If you’ve ever gone through a slow late-November/December, you know you don’t want to do it again.
Today, I want to go back to our discussion about marketing. I think what gets me is the stigma that has developed around marketing. People write books, hold seminars, and basically train us their tried-and-true method of marketing and sales. There’s a lot of “This is THE WAY to do it” talk, a lot of “You CAN’T fail with this plan” and the like. It’s hard to know whose plan to follow. Who’s right? They all are.
Last week, blog chum Mridu Khullar said in response to the post on why marketing is simple that she “targeted everyone I could think of – publishers with editing needs, magazines, newspapers, ad agencies, etc. Needless to say, I quickly found myself back on track again.”
What did Mridu do that the person who prompted the thread did? She stuck with it. Consistency got her the job, and then some. And to be totally honest with you, that’s all it takes. Marketing is deciding what you want to go for and then going for it. Consistently.
What if you’re rejected?
You move on. Don’t take no for an answer. Okay, that idea didn’t work for that client. Tweak it and take it elsewhere. That industry isn’t hiring – find another one. Just keep going. Do what Mridu did – target everyone you can think of. Or target everyone who interests you. Don’t let the word “no” define you or your business.
Look for new methods. A friend of mine just described her incredible luck with finding new employment. She’d responded to a job listing on LinkedIn, and within minutes had three more plus an introduction to one of the hiring managers in her LinkedIn mail box. All that response from just one application. It proves that contacts and your next clients are just about anywhere you can connect with another human.
Do it consistently. Marketing isn’t throwing one idea out to twenty people and then giving up for six months. It’s about contacting clients every day via email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, telephone… Every time you reach out into your network of friends and contacts, you’re marketing.
How consistent are you with your marketing? How can you improve on that? What’s your marketing plan look like?
I'm not as consistent as I should be. I'm lucky because I get a lot of work through word of mouth, but need to be more consistent in marketing.
Because of other tumult right now, it simply won't happen until I do my December push for January — even though I've got a LOT of work booked for January.
I think we all suffer from consistency issues when it comes to marketing, Devon. I do, too. I'm usually pretty good about hitting it hard while I'm still in the middle of projects, but sometimes I slack off. I have to remind myself to follow my own advice sometimes. 🙂
I am consistent in my inconsistency.
I don't let long stretches go by without doing some types of marketing, but I do slack off when faced with pressing deadlines. The worst part is I know that's the most important time to do it, before the work dries up.
Thanks for the reminder! It's so easy to slack off on marketing when you have projects to work on, but you have to think long-term to stay in it.
I tend to start off the month off well then taper off. I have a 30-day plan that I got from one of those 4 billion books that I think is a good one. I need the structure, but once I start getting busy, I tend to not follow the plan so closely.
Maybe I have attention deficit disorder – or – the don't bother me, I'm busy here attitude – until I'm not – busy, that is. 🙂
Ouch, very ouch. Cobbler's kid with no shoes here — I am much happier writing someone else's marketing stuff than working on my own. I've backburnered my portfolio site revamp endlessly…which leads to me not wanting to drive any traffic to it. So, I'm on it!
Lori, check your inbox for my guest post 🙂
Jake, it looks fantastic! Thanks. Check your in box.
Paula, welcome to the club. 🙂 I've learned not to do that, but it takes concerted effort when I'm very busy to get things lined up for later.
Hi Sarah! How's everything going?
Cathy, I taper off, too. What has helped is listing my monthly assessments here – I'm accountable to ALL of you, so I have to keep sticking with it. Also, I have a sticky notes program on my desktop – I keep a running list of queries sent. It's right there when I turn the computer on and it's visible all day. It's like my little reminder to get off my rump and market. 🙂
Huh. I left a comment this morning. Apparently Blogger ate it.
I know I need to market when I'm really busy and have little time to do it. And I also know that I need to do better in that area.
Did I tell you I got a gig off of Facebook of all places? Old acquaintance contacted me because I mentioned that I'm a writer in my profile. Now doing a flyer and some web content. Social networking for the win! 🙂
Way to GO, Becky! Congrats!
Funny how having to report my progress inspires me to have more to report. First time I remember that was in sixth grade. I signed up for band and our director had us keep practice sheets to record how much time we practiced each day at home. I hated having to fill in "0 minutes" for any day of the week.
Now a client requires weekly progress reports, and each week cram in as much as I can at the last minute. Yeah. I'm a people pleaser, but I also like to be acknowledged for my hard work. Or practicing.
Believe it or not, I don't do a lot of marketing myself. I actually look to build relationships. I guess at some point I will have to reach out and start sending queries and such, but for now, I enjoy building relationships first. My marketing strategy is helping other people out.
Consistency is key though. I can attest to that. After being out of the loop for well over a year, getting back into the swing of things was rather difficult and business was slow at first, but once you build the relationships and genuinely care about making others happy and doing your best work for them, your marketing seems to become less and less mandatory.
Does that make any sense to anyone other than myself?
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
I think the reason I'm not afraid of marketing is because for me, it's a one-minute job. I've already written the LOIs (if that's what I'm sending) and have a notebook full of ideas. When I spot the right market, it's a matter of quick edits (in case of the LOIs) or ten minutes to write up a query and it's off. Easy peasy.
In fact, once you have your marketing materials done (LOIs for various markets, query templates, etc), it's really just a matter of changing the names of people, adding a few details and hitting send. Less time than it took me to write this comment!