It's been a while since I visited my own blog, let alone posted an entry to it. I have no guilt. Does anyone read these words anyway? And if a tree falls in the forest, is anyone around to hear it? Likely not. The Internet though is like a dense forest. So many trees, so many paths, so many words falling down onto blogs, what is actually the likelihood that someone will happen to choose the path to your tree?
That's the way it is when you're promoting something without any marketing dollars. It's the holy grail of marketing to figure out exactly how to take that little bit that you dropped somewhere in the dense network, and make it the center of attention, without even calling attention to it.
Some have figured it out. Most brands which have offered an incredibly valuable service that was discovered and utilized by a particularly influential group. Facebook had its Harvard students and their Ivy League breathen. MySpace its San Francisco music scene, Friendster expats. Google its Stamford computer geeks and designers. Each brand had no marketing whatsoever, beyond a press release here and there, and some of those about VC financing (advertising in and of itself). Most you mention, or visit, at least once a day--at least. They are a part of your life. They are a part of mine too.
The difference between a utility and my little musings, are the difference between the effectiveness of tools drawing a crowd v. content doing the same. While some content has succeeded in breaking that barrier, very few have consistently produced content capable of doing that, no matter the content's quality. Tools face a similar challenge, but if executed properly, if they truly solve a problem, help you make life a little bit better, a little brighter, they are far more likely to succeed.
If I had a hammer, instead of a pen.
That's the way it is when you're promoting something without any marketing dollars. It's the holy grail of marketing to figure out exactly how to take that little bit that you dropped somewhere in the dense network, and make it the center of attention, without even calling attention to it.
Some have figured it out. Most brands which have offered an incredibly valuable service that was discovered and utilized by a particularly influential group. Facebook had its Harvard students and their Ivy League breathen. MySpace its San Francisco music scene, Friendster expats. Google its Stamford computer geeks and designers. Each brand had no marketing whatsoever, beyond a press release here and there, and some of those about VC financing (advertising in and of itself). Most you mention, or visit, at least once a day--at least. They are a part of your life. They are a part of mine too.
The difference between a utility and my little musings, are the difference between the effectiveness of tools drawing a crowd v. content doing the same. While some content has succeeded in breaking that barrier, very few have consistently produced content capable of doing that, no matter the content's quality. Tools face a similar challenge, but if executed properly, if they truly solve a problem, help you make life a little bit better, a little brighter, they are far more likely to succeed.
If I had a hammer, instead of a pen.
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