Always Be Marketing

February 25th, 2010

Dan Wood just posted an interview with me on the Mac Indie Marketing Blog. I love how interviews tease out thoughts that had never previously been fully gelled in my head.  Thanks for the thoughtful conversation, Dan.

Out of this experience came a new personal mantra: Always Be Marketing. This catch-phrase came to me as I tried to discover what it is that I actually do to market myself, my business, and my products. The answer fell somewhere between nothing specifically and everything specifically!

Another catch-phrase I bring up a lot when talking to other indie developers is Say Yes. This captures my belief that we developers are shy, scared, and would rather be programming than doing anything “out there in public.” So I often implore other developers to say yes to interviews, speaking engagements, etc., before your scared nerd-brain can take over and run screaming.

But Always Be Marketing sort of captures the same sentiment while driving the message home:

  • The local user group wants me to present, should I go?
    Always be marketing.
  • Another developer wants to co-market my product with theirs.
    Always be marketing.
  • What the … CNN wants me to be a talking head?!
    Always be marketing.
  • Should I really have a Twitter account and a Facebook account?
    Always be marketing.
  • I don’t have time to monitor searches, comments, feedback.
    Always be marketing.

OK, I’m running dangerously close to being a world-class prick if I really reduce my conversational skills to this kind of catch-phrase smack-down. But you can bet this is what my  internal dialogue is going to sound like from here on out.


6 Responses to “Always Be Marketing”

  1. Dan Wood Says:

    Daniel – I like your point about “your scared nerd-brain” — it reminded me of Seth Godin’s talk “Quieting the Lizard Brain” that I saw recently: http://j.mp/2HtVwT

    It also reminds me of one of the rules of Improv theatre about always saying “yes” in order to extend the other person’s chain of thought. Actually I think the principle is “Yes, and…” so you could take that concept and run with it. Yes, I’ll go present at a user’s group, AND I’ll offer one or two licenses to give away for their door prize. Yes, I’ll co-market my product with theirs, AND I’ll send out a note to my email list to let everybody know about it. Stuff like that.

  2. Shayne White Says:

    The last paragraph made me laugh out loud. :-)

  3. Dr. Zaius Says:

    This kind of thinking is easy in a world where you only need to do one thing. It would be better to ask “I have 99 bugs to fix, somebody promised me 5 grand for a certain easy job by tomorrow, or I could update my blog. What do I do?”

    “Always be marketing” – really?

  4. Daniel Jalkut Says:

    Dr. Zaius – sure, there are always priorities. But it’s far more important, in my opinion, to be able to recognize the intangible value of marketing as worthy of your time, than to recognize the somewhat obvious value of a $5K payday.

    And it’s also worth considering that “Always be marketing” is a much wider prescription than you’re imagining. Sometimes, for example fixing 1 of those 99 bugs, or taking the $5K contract could be the best form of marketing. My idea is to always be considering the impact of your actions in terms of your marketability. And to me, the best way to maximize all the angles is to try to get some balance of various activities.

    (And as you’ll notice if you browse the frequency of my posts here, I don’t exactly choose “update my blog” every day, either).

  5. Ernie Says:

    How about “always move forward”. If you need to market, then market. If you need to code, then code. Do what’s necessary at the moment to move closer to your current goal.

  6. Nestor Durnin Says:

    Hey I love your style, would you consider doing a guest post on my blog in return for a link maybe? Please email me back

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