I've
never talked to a single writer who enjoys marketing as much as or
more than writing itself. Some writers are quite good at it, perhaps
because of previous experience or that je
n'est sais quoi
that gives them a knack for it, but the truth is that writers (and
most other creative types) just want to create. We'd be over the moon
to be free to let our imaginations spit out entertaining content and
let someone else convince the world to buy it. This does happen for a
select few, of course, but for the rest of us, it's not enough to
just bake pies. We also have to tell everyone how delicious they are
and hope that people believe us.
Marketing shares many similarities with the creative arts, and there
are also many differences. In marketing, as in the arts, you have to
be imaginative, empathetic, sensitive to your audience, courageous,
have thick skin, be willing to fail a lot, and always try to come up
with a cool new idea. On the other hand, there are metrics and
analytics and rubrics and percentages and industry jargon and a world
that is moving at a breakneck speed and doesn't care how much time
you need to bake your creative pie because it's already found
something else that's more exciting. Simply put, one side of
marketing is really fun and the other side is really boring.
Actually, that's not so different than writing...
No matter how I or other writers feel about it, marketing is
essential to any writer's success, and unless you're a big name with
a big publishing budget, you have to do it yourself. After searching
the interwebs, I decided to sign up for Udacity's Digital Marketing Nanodegree. It's a three-month online course and so far, I'm enjoying
it. I've still got a long way to go but I've already learned a lot
about marketing basics and social media marketing, and I haven't even
gotten into search engine optimization, Google analytics, email
marketing, and many other marketing channels. I'm not expecting
miraculous results but with so many free and inexpensive tools
available to writers like me, I'd be foolish not to take advantage. I
also don't want to waste my time spinning my wheels or shooting
arrows into the dark and praying that I'll hit something. That's
where the numbers come into play, and that's where I need to focus.
So here's hoping for a fun and productive journey into a world that
can be a bit intimidating but one that needs to be conquered.
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