Marketing Won’t Save You

Programmers and other technical people tend to underestimate the importance of marketing. There is, in fact, a common dislike for marketing within many technical communities.

In this blog, I talk a lot about promoting your content, building a mailing list, social media, etc, because marketing can do wonders for your site/project/career.

Though I’ve advocated (here and elsewhere) for the importance of marketing for many years now, I’d like to make a point that is sometimes overlooked.

Marketing on its own won’t save you. Yes, it is crucial for your success, but unless your site/project provides real value to your users, all the tricks in the book won’t do you any good.

To put it into mathematical terms, marketing is necessary but not sufficient to achieve success.

In the specific case of blogging, you can generally bring value in several ways:

• Answering key questions your readers have.
• Saving your readers time by doing the research or legwork for them (e.g., cheat sheets, checklists, comparative reviews, even regular reviews).
• Introducing your readers to new concepts that can benefit them in terms of getting closer to reaching their goals.
• Amusing your readers with a humorous opinion piece. In general, it’s a good idea to entertain your readers once in awhile.
• Inspiring your readers, leading them to take some beneficial action they would normally not be compelled to take.
• Being thought-provoking, stimulating your readers’ imagination or leading them to consider thoughts they might have not otherwise contemplated on their own.

The key is to sit down and answer the question, “How will what I’m about to write bring value to my readers?”

I’m very interested in providing value with each post. So feel free to comment or reach out with specific questions you may have. I’d love to tailor some of my posts specifically to what you find valuable.

 

Image credit: The Blue Diamond Gallery