You Just Never Know ...
One question I've been asked before is, "How can I best spend my time when it comes to marketing?" It's a great question. Unfortunately, I have no answer. But I do have some thoughts ...
Many people approach marketing as they do cooking. They tell themselves, "If I follow this recipe, then I'll get these results." Of course, if we had one great recipe, then everyone would use it. Instead we have ideas to try. Ideas that we hope will work.
Personally, I love dabbling in everything. I'll blog here. I'll send postcards there. I'll send a gift box to this person or that person.
Most of the time I don't know the results, but sometimes I get fun surprises ... like this CCM cover.
A few days ago I was in the kitchen making dinner when my son came in. "It's so cool to have a famous mom."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Uh, Mom, your name is on the cover of CCM Magazine."
I looked and sure enough it was. Why? Because I blog over at www.ccm.org/triciagoyer and they pulled one of my blog for the magazine. How cool is that?!
Did I blog because I knew I'd make the cover? No. I blog because we subscribe to CCM mag, and I love Christian Music, and I love connecting with people.
I've experienced other cool things like this lately. A media interview turned into a possible speaking event. A donation I made for a MOPS giveaway led to one woman buying all my novels and sending them to her mom who is a librarian (and who is now spreading the word about my books). Even my little ole' newsletter connected me with an editor who hired me for a work-for-hire project.
Do I do any of these things to get something back? Not really. I share what's happening in my writing world because I want to tell people how God is at work. I get excited about what He's up to. I give because I enjoy giving. I blog because I enjoy connecting.
Marketing is fun to me because I love to see what grows from the small seeds planted. It's evidence of God-at-work ... connecting His children to spread His messages.
You're so hip.
Posted by: Mary E. DeMuth | October 02, 2007 at 06:56 AM