POST REGULARLY!!
Time to eat my own dog food, huh?
Between the snow and a conference that I've been at for the past couple days, I've been unable to update this blog. I almost feel like I'm not upholding my end of an agreement that I have with the audience of this blog. The only way I can build a relationship with you so that you keep returning to check this website is by continuing to post.
How many companies, clubs, or people have started a blog thinking, "I can do this -- I'm going to post everyday..." only to get preoccupied with work or other projects? The most important rule to blogging is making sure that you do in fact keep updating the site. Imagine if your favorite TV show ran the same episode for four weeks straight. Do you think you'd tune in on week 5 to see what same trouble Johnny would get into? Exactly. Follow rule #1: post regularly. And if you can't, maybe you should reconsider having a blog at all.
What's blogging rule #2? Being remarkable or controversial -- just enough to start a conversation with your audience. We'll start adhering to that rule tomorrow. We'll turn some heads then.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Chicken or egg...
I'm not promoting this blog. There are so many ways to get this website out there (Technorati, using SEO, joining blogging communities), but I'm trying to not fall into a trap that I've noticed many marketers fall into:
We promote something before it's ready to be promoted.
How often are you in a planning meeting where the discussion turns from "what is the product or service that we're launching" to "let's plan the promotion for the launch"? I think this tends to happen because promotion tends to be the more exciting area of marketing (feel free to disagree in comments).
Here, to clarify what I mean, let me tell you where I've noticed this occurring in the past two weeks:
1) I was in a meeting where we were planning a webinar event for clients and prospects on a particular area of service. We spent five minutes on "what is the outline for the presentation" before we launched into "how we'll get people to attend the presentation".
2) In a planning meeting for an awards ceremony, we spent less than two minutes discussing what awards will be given out and how the selection/judging will occur. After that brief moment, we launched into discussions on the invitations, entertainment, and yes -- even the food for the evening.
I think I understand why this happens -- most people would say that the success or failure of the service, event, or product that is being planned hinges on how well we can get the message out to our audience. While I agree that's an important area to spend time on, I think we need to realize that promotion is not what maintains people's interest, it's the substance of what we're promoting. I can run an amazing promotion campaign that attracts 200 people to my webinar, but if the webinar itself doesn't meet the expectations of the audience, I'll start to develop a reputation of giving boring presentations and that will far outweigh any promotion campaign.
So with this blog: I'm going to wait and make sure that I have substance here so when people start to visit this site, my content will keep them coming back for more.
We promote something before it's ready to be promoted.
How often are you in a planning meeting where the discussion turns from "what is the product or service that we're launching" to "let's plan the promotion for the launch"? I think this tends to happen because promotion tends to be the more exciting area of marketing (feel free to disagree in comments).
Here, to clarify what I mean, let me tell you where I've noticed this occurring in the past two weeks:
1) I was in a meeting where we were planning a webinar event for clients and prospects on a particular area of service. We spent five minutes on "what is the outline for the presentation" before we launched into "how we'll get people to attend the presentation".
2) In a planning meeting for an awards ceremony, we spent less than two minutes discussing what awards will be given out and how the selection/judging will occur. After that brief moment, we launched into discussions on the invitations, entertainment, and yes -- even the food for the evening.
I think I understand why this happens -- most people would say that the success or failure of the service, event, or product that is being planned hinges on how well we can get the message out to our audience. While I agree that's an important area to spend time on, I think we need to realize that promotion is not what maintains people's interest, it's the substance of what we're promoting. I can run an amazing promotion campaign that attracts 200 people to my webinar, but if the webinar itself doesn't meet the expectations of the audience, I'll start to develop a reputation of giving boring presentations and that will far outweigh any promotion campaign.
So with this blog: I'm going to wait and make sure that I have substance here so when people start to visit this site, my content will keep them coming back for more.
What's in a name?
This half second belongs to me.
Typically, a first blog post defines the parameters of what will be discussed -- I'm going to take the complete opposite approach. We can talk about anything and everything. Most likely, we'll keep it to what I know and what makes me comment.
You see, there are some fantastic blogs out there, but I have yet to find a blog written by a fresh face in Marketing. Someone who provides a fresh take on conventional marketing practices as he discovers them and their success rates; someone who's itching to implement the new alternative, social, and word-of-mouth marketing techniques; and someone who's not afraid to call it as he sees it. I give you: The Fresh Marketer Blog.
Let's begin, shall we?
There are 3,090,000 pages that are returned when you search for "Hello world!" on Google.
There are 122,000 pages returned on Google when you search for "my first blog post'.
How do you change the status quo to cut through all that noise?
Seth Godin slices through it by taking a simple approach: his blog is named "Seth Godin's Blog". Pretty ingenious, isn't it? In a world where people are so inundated with marketing slogans that they question whether a marriage proposal is actually a marketing scheme, isn't it refreshing to promote something without a gimmick? And did you notice the first line of the proposal commercial ?
Typically, a first blog post defines the parameters of what will be discussed -- I'm going to take the complete opposite approach. We can talk about anything and everything. Most likely, we'll keep it to what I know and what makes me comment.
You see, there are some fantastic blogs out there, but I have yet to find a blog written by a fresh face in Marketing. Someone who provides a fresh take on conventional marketing practices as he discovers them and their success rates; someone who's itching to implement the new alternative, social, and word-of-mouth marketing techniques; and someone who's not afraid to call it as he sees it. I give you: The Fresh Marketer Blog.
Let's begin, shall we?
There are 3,090,000 pages that are returned when you search for "Hello world!" on Google.
There are 122,000 pages returned on Google when you search for "my first blog post'.
How do you change the status quo to cut through all that noise?
Seth Godin slices through it by taking a simple approach: his blog is named "Seth Godin's Blog". Pretty ingenious, isn't it? In a world where people are so inundated with marketing slogans that they question whether a marriage proposal is actually a marketing scheme, isn't it refreshing to promote something without a gimmick? And did you notice the first line of the proposal commercial ?
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