Why not start off my blog with some honesty and we’ll go from there. I hate self promotion. If I had a motto it would be talk is cheap. It seems odd, perhaps, that someone who feels that way about talk and self promotion would find himself in the marketing profession. A fair point but I did not start out on this path in the marketing profession. I didn’t care about marketing in the slightest. I began my career as a basement dwelling web designer with the goal of slapping together web sites from the comfort of my home in my spare time. I didn’t realize that the journey I had set out on would lead me to the discovery of everything right and wrong in marketing in general. Also I didn’t realize there would be failure, lots of failure. More on that in another article.
Now for my rule.
It’s always Self Promotion
Without self promotion you will be swallowed up by competition. Or you will be ignored entirely regardless of the quality of your product or service. I remember my early days when I used to think that providing quality was all you needed to be successful. I get it, this is true in some places at some times, but not forever. If you have found a magical marketplace in which everyone discovers you and promotes you out of love for you it won’t be long before someone else comes into that space and offers everything you do plus a fresh baked muffin and free shipping.
Now the tactical.
But let’s call it something else
Self promotion is more accurately known in the industry as Public Relations. This is a much better term to use because we know a lot about relations in this culture. What is our divorce rate, now, 50%? The term Public Relations does a good just of implying that you have a relationship with the public, whether you know it or not. Everyone knows that, to be healthy, relationships need to be nurtured and managed. Tell me, who is managing your relationship with the public, is it you, or is it the public? Let me tell you from personal experience the public is not loyal. If you don’t want to be in a relationship with the public then let me suggest a nice desk job for you.
Public Relations & Budgeting
There are two sides to your business, the internal and the external. We’ll call the internal side the Management side. This represents at least half of your budget, depending on your particular business. It might be less. The other side is the external, the fun stuff! We’ll call it the Public Relations side. Many people will refer to this as the marketing side, but marketing is really just a chapter inside the larger volume of Public Relations. This represents the other half of your budget. It might be more. It’s never less.
Wait. Did I just say that Public Relations would require half of my budget? Yes I did. Also, isn’t this a digital marketing blog, not a public relations blog? Yes it is. I’m going to write more in-depth about Public Relations, as it relates to digital marketing, next. Stay tuned!