What’s on the iPod: Bright Lanterns by The Tallest Man on Earth
Don’t you love when a project seems to fall into place? One I’m working on this week is doing just that. It’s a complex topic, but the people I’m interviewing and the huge amount of resources readily available is making it easy to knock this thing down to manageable size.
I’m working on another project that came from my telling someone I’m more than just an article writer. I love when that happens, too. What seems like a given to me comes as a surprise to others, so it’s apparent that even when I think everyone knows all the writing I do, I can’t assume they do.
That’s the way it is with marketing, isn’t it? Too many times, there’s this rush to mediocrity. It’s the “I’ll do this because I read a blog post once that said…” mentality that gets us nowhere in particular and not committed to a single action that we’ll repeat often enough for it to make a damn bit of difference.
And that pisses me off.
Why? Because I see good writers — hell, I see even mediocre writers — who could be doing so much better if they’d stop taking the easy way. What astounds me is that the easy way is actually harder because now you’ve doubled, if not tripled your efforts. Why wouldn’t you take a little extra time to land on a sound marketing approach that you can repeat rather than flit from trend to fad to guru-garble always chasing your tail?
Market like you mean it. For crying out loud, please. Don’t keep tossing darts at a random target and expecting to ward off the landlord for one more month. Why not do it better and become your own damn landlord?
Some suggestions on getting to that point:
Sh*t or get off the pot. Either you’re going to act on your own or you’re going to continue to ask for advice, chase the easy answers, or just plain run around in circles doing nothing. Do something. There’s really no other place to start than at the beginning. Suck it up and stick your neck out. Inertia isn’t your friend.
Trust yourself. I’m more than a little tired of seeing writers chasing the latest guru’s advice. Have you tested that person’s abilities? Are you sure the results presented to you are factual? I know at least one guru whom I suspect skews the numbers to appear more successful. Do one better — stop listening to yet another voice other than your own. You know instinctively what to do. Once you connect with that, you can find out how to execute your own plan your way.
Whatever you do, do it regularly. There’s a saying in hockey: if you keep shooting at the net, eventually you’ll get a goal. Even the worst players will score. The same goes for marketing. You don’t have to have stellar copy (though you should try, always, to have stellar copy). If you keep trying and perfecting and trying again and again and again….you’re going to get the gig. If you send one email and never get back in touch, how do you know they can’t use you?
Stop chasing someone else’s tail. When it becomes a race to follow everything your particular guru is saying, you’re no longer running a business. You’re playing the part of lemming, placing your faith, and your entire business, in the hands of someone else’s advice. This is advice (or actions) you’ve not researched or vetted for accuracy. What if you’re following the individual version of Enron — slick on the surface, but a hot mess underneath? What becomes of your writing business when your guru sinks like a stone?
How did you get to the point of marketing like you mean it?
6 responses to “Market Like You Mean It”
I'm still working on it, but marketing is a never-ending process. The day I think (like some of those self-proclaimed gurus) I know it all is the day everything will start to fall apart. Why? I'll have stoped trying to learn and improve on my own efforts.
When reading your description of those gurus, Lori, I immediately thought of fad diets. People jump on the bandwagon, hoping for quick results while quite possibly denying themselves proper nutrients. All carbs are not bad. Some fat actually is good – and necessary to a healthy metabolism.
The only absolute in life is that there are no absolutes.
You need to try out different approaches to find the marketing mix that works for you…even then, keep trying new ideas.
Fad diets — great way to put it, Paula. And I totally agree with you; there are no absolutes, and whatever works for YOU is the best method to keep with.
Procrastination is like idle hands. The challenge is to keep pushing past the barrier of mediocrity & finding the gems that lie beneath. But it does take a four-letter word no one likes using: W-O-R-K. I'm guilty of finding the easy way out which just cheats me in the long run. But there comes a time in one's life when you hit a wall. You have to continue to learn & grow to enrich your life.The aalternative is stifling and not where a true writer wants to be: obsolete, dated, & old.
Sometimes those walls are quite inspiring, aren't they? You're right about that four-letter word, too. Easy seems so attractive until you're years into it and realize you haven't moved an inch.
I remember one of those gurus criticizing me for not marketing myself as Cathy Miller, [insert my city/state] freelance writer since she was so WILDLY successful marketing with her location-specific info. Well, good for her (if true).
I made a conscious decision not to market myself that way because there is way more opportunity in my niche outside of my area. And my location does not define my experience.
So, who's right and who's wrong? We can both be right – for our specific circumstances. I still think I know best for me, Ms. Guru.
Damn right, Cathy! You tell her. Mind you, I've worked with local clients, but the majority of my work comes from everywhere else.