Marketing Strategy (continued)

What we intend does not always happen. We say one thing, but something else is heard. Partly this is a matter of context: we all contextualize things differently, and interpretation depends on context.

Anyway, yesterday I was writing about conflict of interest and marketing strategy because I had been asked a question that verged on asking about something about which I had a conflict of interest (though the actual question was carefully worded so as to avoid involving my conflicted interests). And that question prompted some ideas that led to my writing yesterday's post on Marketing Strategy and Conflict of Interest.

Which prompted a response I had not expected, intended or hoped for. For which reason, today I'm going to write a little about my basic principle for marketing.

I think I have good ideas.
I think that some of the good ideas that I have can be productively shared in a general way so that someone I never met can benefit from them.
I think that some aspects of a writing project are so specific that no general advice can cover them, but they are things where a keen, critical eye and an insightful reader and listener can provide profound assistance.

My strategy is as follows: by sharing what I can (e.g. through this blog, or the few tips on my website--www.thoughtclearing.com--which were the germ of this blog) I hope to demonstrate value. And thus convince people to pay me (this, I said yesterday).

My strategy, however, is not to try to force people into working with me through teasers or other hard-sell tactics. I'd rather have a bunch of people benefit from my blog and some of them choose to work with me than have only a few people read my blog, but all of them feel obligated to work with me.

This blog is free. I'd like it to help as many people as possible.
Good results of my marketing efforts (in increasing order of goodness):
Someone reads this and finds it interesting.
Someone reads it and finds it useful.
Someone reads it and finds enough that they're motivated to write to me to thank me for my efforts.
Someone reads it and finds it interesting enough to share with their friends.
Someone reads it and shares it with friends and writes to me, too.
Someone reads it and finds it interesting enough to decide to work with me.

All of those are good results. (There are other good outcomes, but they're basically obvious modifications of the results above.) I like helping people; it's nice on its own. Helping people for free doesn't pay the bills, otherwise I wouldn't bother to charge for my services at all. For better or worse, however, the US is a capitalist, market economy and if I don't get some money, I can't participate in neat activities like eating food or having a home.

But money is not the only value.
If you read this blog and it helps you, you are welcome to the assistance for free. You are welcome to all of the ideas; please, of course, respect the copyright, but read at your pleasure. Enjoy! (And I do mean you!)