Maybe I’m doing it wrong

Wrong_1 Let me stitch 3 disparate thoughts together to lay the foundation for this post.

  1. One of the most important marketing lessons we work to teach clients is – it’s about them (customers/prospects) not you.  Rightly so – our community/audiences are asking “what’s in it for me?” every day.
  2. My feed reader is bulging and it was time to prune.
  3. I believe that blogging is about giving.  Value, information, insight, support, a sense of community.  If you do that regularly, the money will follow.

As I was pruning my feed reader, I found myself asking – what have I gotten out of this blog? How have I been engaged in conversation?  What have I learned?  What have I been invited to share? 

The blogs who got deleted from my feed reader were the ones who seems much less interested in helping me and much more interested in putting their hand into my pocket to sell me their new book, new e-course or new whatever.

Maybe I am doing it wrong.

I don’t post ad nauseam about my book.  I figure you can see the graphic and you’re bright enough to know if you click on it, you can buy it.

Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

I don’t blather on about e-courses, speaking fees, seminars, or blatantly ask you to hire me. I believe if my content is worthy and I fit a need that you have – you will seek me out for those opportunities.

Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

Whenever I reference my company, my family or some other aspect of my world – I do my darnedest to relate it to yours in a meaningful way.  On rare occasion, it isn’t about business — it’s about life.  I’m okay with that.  But, I never just lob up a sales pitch.

Maybe I’m doing wrong.

The question I ask myself before I hit save on any post is a simple one.  Have I provided value?  If the answer is no, or you sure have – value to you, big guy – then it doesn’t belong on my blog.

Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

If I am…so be it. 

Especially in a medium that I think is all about community, connections, relationships, sharing, listening and reaching out – I want to provide an easy answer when any reader asks “what’s in it for me?” 

I can’t think of anything more embarrassing (for me) than to be deleted because I was too busy selling to be of real value.

How about you?  Are you doing it wrong?  Are your marketing materials all about you?  Be careful – it’s all to easy in these days to be pruned.

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14 comments on “Maybe I’m doing it wrong

  1. Drew – if you’re doing it wrong, than I’m way off-base as well. Please don’t change! I hope we don’t lose a core group of people that believe “…community, connections, relationships, sharing, listening and reaching out” is what this is all about.

  2. Mark True says:

    To paraphrase Barbara Mandrell, I you’re doing in wrong, I don’t wanna be right!

    -Mark

  3. Bob Glaza says:

    Good, tough questions, Mark – There is some degree of “me” (you) in all the posts we make – it’s why I return to certain blogs. It’s why people return to your blog – they want to know more about how you tick. Pruning happens also to be something we must do from time to time. Keep up your great work!

  4. Parick —

    Thanks and I agree with you. The entire power of blogging gets diminished when we take our eye off the ball. It’s sort of like bloggers being paid to review products. The water gets muddy very quickly.

    Drew

  5. Mark,

    Ahhh, gotta love when you can be a country song! 🙂

    I’m disappointed that some marketing blogs aren’t practicing what they/we preach.

    I wonder what message it sends?

    Drew

  6. Bob,

    I agree 100% — we *should* put ourselves into our posts. I’m not suggesting we should be dry, impersonal fact pushers.

    I love getting to know more about the blogger’s world and how that influences how they think.

    But that’s different than feeling like they’ve lured me in so they can sell me a bunch of their stuff.

    That jsut makes me feel a little like a sucker.

    Drew

  7. Drew, this post is absolutely on point! I think it’s perfectly fine to soft-sell your own value – books, talents, etc – as long as it’s within the proper context of your post. If there’s a book you like, add the Amazon link, why not. That’s helpful. But if it’s all “infomercial”, it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

    I’ve been mulling over doing a post about some of the biggest names in copywriting who lately seem to spend more time emailing me to promote product than offer value. (They know who they are.)

    Keep doing it all wrong, Drew, and I’ll keep doing it all wrong, too.

  8. Roberta,

    I have had this post bubbling inside me for awhile. I don’t want to point fingers or start a big blog bruhaha, but I think its an issue of integrity.

    For all of us. At this early stage of the medium, how one of us behaves reflects on us all. And I think its especially wrong for marketing people, who know better, to do it.

    I guess we’ll just keep keeping on! In the end, the community will decide!

    Drew

  9. Nice Drew. I was thinking the same thing last week as I was looking at a number of consulting blogs. Waaaaay too much self-promotion, not enough giving.

    BTW, I wasn’t aware initially that the graphic in the top of the left column as your book. Could I suggest getting a 3-D graphic done of your cover or something to make it appear more like a book? Doing so will likely increase book sales from your site.

  10. Nice Drew. I was thinking the same thing last week as I was looking at a number of consulting blogs. Waaaaay too much self-promotion, not enough giving.

    BTW, I wasn’t aware initially that the graphic in the top of the left column as your book. Could I suggest getting a 3-D graphic done of your cover or something to make it appear more like a book? Doing so will likely increase book sales from your site.

  11. Dawud,

    Agreed on the level of self-promotion of late. I don’t know if it has gotten worse or if I am more annoyed by it, so I see it more quickly.

    Either way, I think it’s a little like luring Hansel & Gretel into the house so you can pop them into the oven!

    Thanks for your feedback on the book graphic. Now that you say it, I can see how your perception might be one that many share. I appreciate the heads up.

    Drew

  12. Drew. You’re welcome. Really that’s one of two things I do: Either solve problems for people and their businesses or evaluate how they can do their business better. I’m assuming, of course, you want to sell as many books as you can.

  13. Dawud,

    You are very right. Happy to sell more books. Watch for a graphics change in the next few days!

    Drew

  14. I’m happy I could nudge you a bit. Let me know when the new graphic goes up.

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