When people who are new to marketing / self promotion start talking to me about what they’re working on, there is one common mistake that I see them make. It’s also a subtle thing – subtle enough that I wanted to talk about it here more thoroughly can I could on Twitter.
So here’s a foundational principle you need to understand:
People are not obligated to give you their attention.
Some guy on his blog, 2020.
They are not obligated to click that link. To pick up that book and look at the cover. To play your game demo. To read the first 5 pages. The sooner you internalize this, the more you can stop fighting human nature and focus on effective promotion.
Two Ways to Make the Same Mistake
The Hyper Focus Hacker
There are two ways this mistaken assumption manifests itself. One way is to get hyper hyper granular. They read every article about tactics, they start AB testing various focus grouped thumbnails. They will have a 60 page marketing plan with a dozen variants of every promotional piece they’re working on, asking their friends which of these are best, and scouring blogs and pieces for the next big hack.
But it’s that focus on trying to find the next great hack – I hear blue and yellow provide better contrast colors and get a +0.03% CTR – is a dead give-away. They’re looking for some super secret Marketing Magic to show people JUST HOW WONDERUL THEIR STUFF IS, and once they’ve cracked that code they’ll have it made baby!
Now look – I’m all about a thorough workflow, and there’s a time and place for metrics. But fundamentally the Hacker is trying to find some secret, some shortcut, so once they have someone’s attention it will sell. It’s so hyper focused they’re missing the forest for the tree.
The Despondent Bemoaner
The other way I see this mistaken assumption manifest is that someone fires off a slew of Facebook ads, or promotes some tweets, or snaps a few Instagram Photos, and then they don’t understand why it isn’t taking off. They’ll take more pictures, tweet out pictures of cats, and try other stuff, and get increasingly frustrated – WHY DON’T PEOPLE CLICK THE THING
Worst case scenario, people get so frustrated they either quit, or they get bitter. “Well people are lazy readers, and Indie published books get overshadows by THE SYSTEM anyway.”
Reframe the Question
People aren’t obligated to click on something just because you put a lot of time into it. Sorry, I know, sucks huh? But instead of bemoaning WHY they aren’t clicking / buying / subscribing, ask first, is this interesting?
Most of the time, the answer is no.
Was that pitch actually interesting? I mean, not really, you spent 5 minutes telling me about your Grandpa.
Was that promotion actually interesting? Well, you just had a book cover that I couldn’t really see and “THE SAGA OF THE DUNSHIRE” printed really big on the cover. That… doesn’t mean anything to me.
Most small writers / artists / creatives don’t NEED the high fire-power of AB-focus-grouped-direct-mail commercial campaigns (nor do we have the budget and manpower of mega-corps). And marketing, like anything else, is a craft – there’s a lot to learn. But before you dive into minutiae or get angry at THE SYSTEM, instead take a minute, sit back, and have an honest reflection: is this interesting?
Two minutes of honest self reflection will save you literally days of heartache.
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