With a lot of marketers, intimidation has come a long way on the Internet. Years ago, they were intimidated by the technology, then by what to say and where to say it. Today, many marketers are being bullied by the cool kids that are acting as an anti-marketing/anti-publicity task force.
Many popular bloggers sigh and moan about being approached by publicists and marketers. Bash them as savages. And, the way many marketers behave, it’s deserved. The trouble is that this bashing can influence the honest folks from even starting. Why would anyone want to be looked at as a self-promoting ass, especially by the guys they look up to?
Don’t be intimidated. Even the most popular voices on the Internet started out with a single “Hello World” blog post or trial upload to YouTube. You are an expert in your area, and you shouldn’t feel bad about building an audience. You’re not one of those out-dated marketers blasting spam, or soliciting bloggers blindly.
If you don’t start, or if you quit, you’re letting down the audience you want to serve.
If you are doing the same things you were doing 5 years ago to advance your career or business, take 4 minutes and watch this video:
Competition and the speed of change is even shocking to those of us that work with technology. What are you doing to keep pace? Do you have the right skills? The right foundation? Maybe this is the year to build it.
The traditional time that it takes to publish a book is extraordinary compared to the general news cycle we all live with today. Plus, your book will probably live on a few years before a new edition is produced. This makes for a perfect opening for a professional blog/website.
When authors ask me, “what should I blog about,” I just tell them to stick to what they know best, or what they are learning about. What they’re obsessed with.
A well run site will help:
Apply the content of your book to today’s headlines
Share the advice in your print book to challenges in the news.
Create new, relevant case studies pulled from the leading stories
Breathe new life into your title and build the relationship with your readers
Stay current and make your “backlist” title “frontlist” again
When I talk with publishing professionals (and I talk to A LOT of them) about starting their own website or blog, the first response is almost always along the lines of, “That sounds great, Paul, but I already have a full time job.”
In a nutshell, if your publishing job looks the same as it did 10 or 15 years ago, there’s a good chance you’re not going to have to worry about being burdened with that full time gig much longer.
Having your own site/blog/brand is as essential today as a publicist’s Rolodex or a marketer’s co-op budget was 5 (and 30) years ago. In the coming weeks we’ll look at the things you can stop doing to make room for a website (or things a website can do better) and help to evolve the industry.
Have you ever emailed a writer/blogger to never receive a response? How about a small business? A major corporation? Me too. Really, nobody expects a response anymore. It’s a known fact that people are overwhelmed with email. They’re “swamped”. They’re “buried”. They seem to be constantly “digging out”. There are even consultants to teach you how to “process” your messages.
In reality, these non-responders are mediocre. Their lack of response is expected. They’re unremarkable.
If someone takes the time to email you, do you respond or do you do what 95% of folks do?
Yesterday I sent Seth Godin (who I never met and he couldn’t pick me out of a lineup) an email regarding the new iPod Shuffle. Apple’s product page shows a Shuffle with “Small is the new big” engraved on it. I shot it off to Seth, and, true to form, he replied. Two lines and I wasn’t looking for anymore than that. Actually I was expecting less.
He’s a remarkable guy that writes remarkable books. Plus he walks the talk.
Book publicists are suffering. There are less traditional outlets that have book review sections to solicit (newspapers, magazines, television shows). Authors are more savvy and want the chair on Oprah or Charlie Rose. The super-bloggers can’t be bothered with reading and reviewing a printed book. They’re moving way too fast.
Some advice to stop the pain:
Focus on smaller blogs with a few thousand readers. I run a blog called MBWpicks.com and have yet to receive a single solicitation from a book publicist or marketer. It’s a very focused audience and the site gets around 4,000 visitors a week. There are millions of blogs like this.
Create your own platform. Why shouldn’t you have your own site? Why shouldn’t you be a trusted authority on your topic? It’s likely that you have more access to writers and the inside baseball stuff that people would love to sneak a peek at.
Have a personality. Talk about your products, your job, your decisions. It’s seems simple but people will check out your site just because they like you. I even check out the blogs of people that I know would be annoying and arrogant in real life. Just don’t spew marketing bullet points and how you’d like to leverage your synergies.
Have you ever emailed a writer/blogger to never receive a response? How about a small business? A major corporation? Me too. Really, nobody expects a response anymore. It’s a known fact that people are overwhelmed with email. They’re “swamped”. They’re “buried”. They seem to be constantly “digging out”. There are even consultants to teach you how to “process” your messages.
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