Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

And here we are at another Friday when I go off the biz grid and write about life, the pursuit of happiness, whatever…something for you to ponder (or not) at Happy Hour this evening.

Seth Godin’s post, The Promiscuity Paradox got me to thinking. He notes:

Marketers of all stripes are discovering that acquiring a reputation and permission to market to people isn’t as expandable as they might hope…The temptation is to grow the business. To take on new clients. To do the PR magic for an ever larger group of people.

Here’s the problem: the people who most want to be your clients are the people you should least want to represent. As you promote the unpromotable, the permission you have to talk to the media doesn’t go up, it goes down. Better to be the agency that only represents bestselling authors than to be the biggest agency.

In the long run, the pickier you are, the better you do. Same thing goes for online merchants, brokers, church groups and just about anyone else who markets with permission.

I’m fortunate that I’ve reached a point where I can be very picky - about my food, my housing…my clients. I only work with smart people who:
- know what they don’t know (or want to know it.)
- respect my knowledge and experience - otherwise why hire me?
- think it’s not only possible, but imperative to have fun while working.
- Don’t just talk about integrity - they live it.
- Don’t just tilt at windmills but aim to actually tilt the damned things.

Life is too short and important to work with people who make me miserable - no matter how much money they’re willing to fork over for the privilege. And so it should be for all of us. I’ve known way too many good people who wore “golden handcuffs.” They felt they had to stay in jobs they hated because of their lifestyle, kids’ college bills, and so on. I early on vowed I would never be handcuffed. If the worst thing someone could do was fire me - then he or she had no real power. Of course, I realize some people really don’t have a choice, but then again…does everyone in the family truly need a car? Do we all need 452 television channels? That newest tech toy? The latest DVD? A new McMansion? Or, are we trying to buy our way to happiness? Been there, done that in my Corporate America days. Doesn’t work. Rather like stuffing your face with stale twinkies when what you really crave is your Mom’s homemade from scratch buttermilk cake with chocolate fudge icing.

Hmmm…maybe I should bake a cake this weekend…Y’all have a good one, and if you really want that Twinkie, eat it!

Read More: Pain Versus Pleasure And Why You Buy. Dawn Rivers Baker passes along some very interesting data and her very smart take on it.

For those of you who are feeling you can’t be picky now - Christine Kane’s It Might Be Time to Take A Risk if…(At the very least, it’ll make you laugh, which makes any day better - even in cubicle land.)

If you enjoyed this soapboxer post, please go drop a few bucks at Greater Albuquerque Habitat for Humanity.

Tags: consumerism, work, success, Mary Schmidt