Marketing Monday: The Lemming-less Freelancer

What I’m listening to: Conductor by We Were Promised Jetpacks

It’s not just Monday — it’s the Monday that brings We Were Promised Jetpacks to Philly. My tickets are bought and I’m ready.

It’s also Marketing Monday. Sorry to miss the last few. Life (and death) got in the way, to say the least.

But let’s hop back on the marketing train and see what we can do to improve our fortunes this month.

Today’s Marketing Move:

Opposites Attract

Don’t you just love watching everyone rush to the next best marketing method? Don’t you love those pricey little webinars that teach you how to use those methods that everyone else is now scrambling to put into practice?

No?

That’s because you’re smart.

Sure, there’s some success in adopting and working a marketing method. You might even get somewhere with it.

But oh, the places you’ll go if you head in another direction.

It’s the law of large numbers, but in reverse.

The law of large numbers says that the results obtained by a large number of experiments conducted on the same issue reveals a fairly accurate expected outcome. So in theory, the more freelance writers who follow a successful marketing method, the more likely they’ll be successful. Makes sense.

What doesn’t come into consideration is when everyone is doing the same damn thing, potential clients can’t distinguish who is better.  Imagine if 2,000 writers were all suddenly inundating potential clients with the same sales approach. After a while, the potential clients are going to get bored. They might even get turned off — if they’re seeing the same method for the 112th time, you’re no longer looking so hip and original. You’re looking clichéd and like a lemming heading off a cliff with all the other lemmings.

It’s like that same sales ad you’ve seen a dozen times in your email, or that same parroted guest-post request you get twice a week. When it didn’t work the first time, the fifteenth time is just damned annoying.

So what should you be doing when everyone is racing to that marketing method?

Something more simple. Here are a few suggestions:

Go old school.

A mailed letter, a phone call, an in-person meeting, or even an older marketing method that was successful for you in the past — now is the time to haul it out and stand out from the crowd.

Tweak what’s being done.

So everyone is doing the Twitter hashtag promotion. Instead of avoiding Twitter altogether, start a Twitter chat. Have one day a week on which you’ll reach out to your followers with a question. Use the hashtag, but make it useful for your followers. Give them something instead of bombarding them with marketing pitches.

Create the next trend.

Who ever thought of sending a mini-magazine to your email list? Or sample projects to potential clients? Create a memorable impression by doing what hasn’t been done in your genre before.

Read a marketing book.

The basics of marketing rarely change. Identify your ideal customer. Create your approach. Reach out. Follow up. Repeat. Sometimes the best marketing comes from what you’ve learned in a book.

Learn from a top brand.

Pick one company that catches your attention. Dissect their messaging, their marketing, and their targeted audience. What can you take away from how they’ve built a successful approach?

Writers, how have you removed the lemming-like behavior from your writing business?