May
10
For God’s Sake, Read This Blog Post
First, if there is anything in this world I hate, it’s when I do everything I can to tell people about something and they don’t hear it because they’re busy. If you ever have any intention of running a successful business and you don’t like being gouged by gurus, this is important to you.
(Second, happy Mother’s Day if you live in a country where it is Mother’s Day. I do not. I get Mother’s Day anyway because I have the nicest husband in the world. Na na na na na na.)
OK, the lovely and pink-haired Sonia Simone interviewed me in a bar in Austin when we were both there for South By Southwest. It is now up on Copyblogger. You should really read it. It’s very good. It talks about marketing and running a business on the internet and the size of my tits. Really. Click here to read it. You know you want to.
If you read that, you’ll know about our new project. It is called Marketing For Nice People. I did not link to it there because I want to tell you about it before you go, lest you get the wrong impression. (Ooh, “lest” is an awesome word.)
Sonia and I are both in marketing. We both escaped corporate marketing departments to bring what we learned about Big Kid Marketing to ittybiz sized joints. It occurred to us (admittedly, while drunk) that we should join forces and create a course about Selling Lots Of Your Shit Without Turning Into An Asshole. (We did not call it that because Sonia’s people are hippies.)
BUT!!! We did more than that. We also created a free thing and it is awesome and you would be really stupid not to sign up for it. Because it’s free and awesome.
A marketing lesson in italics: It is all the rage in internet marketing these days to create a bunch of free shit before you sell something because it makes people want to send you money. Instead of just shoving a sales page at them and expecting them to hand over their wallets, you make them trust that you don’t suck by giving them a bunch of cool stuff for free.
This has had good and bad ramifications. The good is that it’s good for business and makes you look nice. Free shit done well ensures the Right People know your stuff is good and buy it, and that the Wrong People know it is not for them, and they don’t buy it. The bad is that most of the shit that is given away is, well, shit.
Most people’s free shit gives little teensy teaser ideas away, and then they tell you that you have to pay money for the good stuff. This is the opposite of Nice. It is Not Nice.
Since Sonia and I have a lot invested in our free shit not being shit, we have created free shit that is awesome and helpful and useful.
Some of the free shit we are giving away includes:
* An hour long lesson on Non Asshole Copywriting
* Another one on getting people to actually read your emails
* Bonding 101: How to get your customers to like you
* Turning Your Customers Into Voluntary Zombies
You really, really want to be on this list because it is awesome. Even if you have no intention of buying anything from anybody ever and living on a yurt for the rest of your life, you should be on the list.
Why? BECAUSE YOUR COMPETITION IS ON THE LIST!
If your competition is on the list, they know things you don’t. This is dumb.
The page that’s up at Marketing For Nice People right now talks about ONE of the lessons we’ll be giving. It is not about the paid shit down the road, and it is not about all the lessons. Go there and put your name in the box.
What happens if you’re not on the list
If you don’t do it, everybody will laugh at you and your kitten will probably be stolen by the neighbors. Also, you might die. Go now. It’s not going to be there forever.
Oh no! Naomi! Weren’t you the one (I think it was you) who promised never ever to threaten that the puppy gets it if people don’t……do whatever…..
ha
“Lest” is a great word.
So is “yurt”.
I spewed Diet Coke all over my screen when I heard you say it on the recording. (That and the enchiladas alone was worth listening!)
Well, you know, and the awesome tips and stuff. That’s helpful too.
;-)
But I’m going to add this little tidbit if you don’t mind:
People,
Even if you know this stuff? Sometimes we just forget. We get all busy and we’re trying to do our thing while also marketing our thing (and some of us have two or three things we’re doing)….and you forget.
Which is why you should listen to this thing no matter what. Because there will be something in there that you’ll think, “Oh! I totally forgot about that!”
Even better, you’ll know the concept but they’ll tell you a better way to execute it.
Seriously.
All the best!
deb
Already signed up! Looking forward to this — although, now everything in my inbox (my email to-do spot) is from Naomi!
Hi, just a heads up. The email titled “Your Non-Sleazy Copywriting class is here”? Gmail thought it was spam. (I won’t comment on the irony…)
Yes, definitely check your spam filters!
This Copyblogger post was relevant to my interests.
Ooh! Thanks so much for the comment about Gmail classifying it as spam. I never would have seen it otherwise.
It’s getting very annoying, more and more email is getting marked as spam if it’s sent to more than 10 people. Outlook sends 100% of my bulk mail to a junk folder, from which I have to pluck it out and mark the sender as safe. (We will talk about that in the email call. Unless a meteor falls on both of our heads before we can do that, which, given geography, is unlikely.)
@Deb, that happens to me all the time. It’s like that insufferable sports cliche, it really is all about the fundamentals. Refinement, practice, tweaks, mastery, yes, but of the fundamentals.