Verisimilitude of Sincerity
January 19, 2011
Within the past 48 hours I have seen one online marketing expert – with a big list and established name – exhorting people to use his “template for authentic marketing,” and another one telling people how to use marketing to distinguish their businesses when there is really nothing unique or remarkable about them.
Just mentioning this in case some of you don’t know why a lot of self-employed people recoil from marketing, thinking it’s a bunch of hype and manipulation. I’m using these road-kill vignettes to drive home the point.
Speaking of hype and manipulation, have you gotten a copy of my Demystifying Marketing: Teaser Sampler yet? It’s a give-away for signing up for my newsletter. Click here to be manipulated and hyped into giving me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the short e-book and subscribe you to the Twisting Road Traveler.
Demystifying Marketing – the Sampler Version
November 24, 2010
Do you get really excited when you think about being self-employed…
but then freeze up when you think about marketing?
Does marketing seem like a four-letter word to you?
Does it seem dishonest, manipulative, pushy, or oily?
Then we need to talk! That was me when I started my coaching career, and I still slide back into those thoughts and attitudes from time to time. When I train and coach and write about marketing, I bring this perspective with me to help marketing newbies find ways to get comfortable with marketing and choose marketing tactics that are authentic – that reflect who you really are and let you honor your values and keep your self-respect.
I compiled a collection of my marketing articles and released it as a fr*ee e-book – a “fr*ee-book” – with clear explanations of some marketing concepts and tactics and how small businesses can apply them. It’s called Demystifying Marketing: Easy Examples in Everyday Language (the Sampler Teaser Version).
To get a copy go to my Anything But Marketing! web site and sign up. You’ll get the fr*ee-book as a PDF you can read online or download to your computer so you can print it out or read it on the device of your choice, which can include an iPad or a Kindle. (Disclaimer: the fr*ee-book does not come with an iPad or Kindle, but if you have one, you can transfer it to the device and read it there.)
After you read the fr*ee-book come back to this post and leave your questions and comments. I’m eager to hear what you think and to find out what questions you have about learning the basics of marketing for newbies.
Let’s talk!
Find Your Mission – Write Your Story – Tell The World
Self-Employed Job Title Dilemma
November 15, 2010
Please welcome another composite fictional character, here to illustrate a point. Her name is Tabitha, and she is struggling to explain to people what it is that she actually does.
“So, Tabitha, what do you do?”
Read more
Was I Speaking Up For You?
October 11, 2010
I raised a question on behalf of internet marketing newbies (including myself) when I posted a comment to a blog post a few days back. The post was about building an e-mail list. My comment looked like this:
Brilliant! But, uhh…. we have to figure out what we’re going to sell first, right? I run into a lot of people trying to grow a list and then figuring out what they might do with it. I don’t bother with a list because I don’t have my first training product ready yet. Hoping my enthusiasm to share it with people will drive my list-building efforts when it’s on the launchpad.
That comment was on a post about how to have the best chance of making money through internet sales if you have just a month to do it. It’s an entertaining read, as much for style as for content, because it was written by Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz. Yes, that IttyBiz – the one with 35,000 subscribers.
How do I know she has that many? Because she mentions it in the blog post she wrote as an answer to my question. [gulp] So… I tried to cram a complicated dilemma into a blog comment and didn’t make my main point clear. Naomi responded to what I actually wrote and chastised the dumbass I appeared to be.
In front of 35,000 people.
Read more
Godin 07-09-10: On Lists and Commitment
July 11, 2010
I’m a skeptic by nature, so when I see lots of classes (tele- and otherwise) offered on how to grow your lists – on social networks, for your newsletter, for your blog – I have lots of questions. Then I read an article or excerpt and hear the techniques, and my skepticism grows. What’s the benefit of adding someone who falls for that technique?
People with strong reputations say it’s all about the numbers. But I’m pretty sure the list of subscribers for someone with a strong reputation is a lot more responsive than a quickly grown list built by “techniques”.
Seth Godin’s recent post on fans, participants, and spectators confirms my skepticism. The stats he shows for conversions are a little dreary. But he offers a solution.
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