Marketing is Arson - Play with Matches!
….As Doc Searls says: “Markets are conversations, and conversation is fire; therefore, marketing is arson…You only need one match to start a fire.” That’s where a blog can really help - especially if you’re a sole proprietor or micro business, for which something as elemental as a Yellow Pages ad is a big expenditure. (Blogs are a whole lot cheaper than YP display ads and you can change on the fly, interacting with your prospects and clients on a personal relationship-building level - something not even the best YP ad headline copy can do.)
To give you an an idea - a tailor in London started a blog and within about two weeks he had 400 or 500 inbound links. Do all those links immediately translate into “bespoke” business for him? Of course not. But in marketing you first have to get people attention, then their interest - before you can hope to get their $. The tailor, Thomas Mahon, did steps one and two almost instantly and simultaneously by simply starting a blog, www.englishcut.com. It’s a great blog. He answers readers’ questions, makes referrals to other tailors, and is entertaining. One of his entries is How to Spot a Drunken Tailor.
However, I emphasize that - as with ball fields, lemonade stands, and web sites - “Build it and they will come” doesn’t apply to blogs either. You have to put some work into it. (As you may recall, Shoeless Joe didn’t instantly trot out onto Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams…and the “target customer” wasn’t what Kevin first thought either - another takeaway when thinking about your marketing; are you aiming for the right targets?)
So, play with matches this weekend! Think how you can start a fire in your business (blogs and otherwise).
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