dangletech

I’ve decided to change the tone of this blog; at least for a while.  We’ll call it blogger’s prerogative.  I’m going to make this blog more personal.  For those who are unaware, I’ve changed my employment status recently.  No, I wasn’t laid off like so many other Marketers in this economy.  I went from employee to employer.  I no longer work for a high tech software company.  Instead, I intentionally chose to finally start my own strategic marketing agency.  I figured it would never get better than the current market.  Think about it - with all of the Marketing staffing reductions taking place, expectations simply do not change proportionately by management.  In other words, they still need and expect awareness, leads, promotion, branding, packaging and pricing; both offline and online.  Sounds to me like an opportunity.  At least, that’s what my market opportunity assessment told me when I was considering this little venture of mine.  So here I am.

Intentional plug warning - if you need a good strategic marketing agency, contact me at http://www.darrylpraill.com.

So with that said what have I discerned so far in my first two weeks of independence?
There is more work than I can shake a stick at!  I haven’t had a chance yet to run my own darrylpraill.com lead generation program, or issue a darrylpraill.com press release, or develop some new darrylpraill.com channels, and already the inquiries are coming in simply via word of mouth.  Why is that?  I’ve pondered that and am going to suggest it’s because of two primary reasons: personal networks and quality of work.

People always undervalue the benefit of networking until the time comes when they need it.  Folks - you always need it.  In good times, you need it to beat the over-heated, competitive marketplace.  In bad times, you need it to pay the bills and survive.  Having excuses that you simply do not have time, that your calendar is too full, that you’re too overloaded to invest in yourself simply means that the bank will be depleted when you finally do need to make a withdrawal. 

Lesson #1 - make networking a priority.  It’s the way the world works now.  Do it via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, instant messenger, social media breakfasts, Monday networking, third Tuesdays, web analytics Wednesdays, business associations or any other group you can Stumbleupon.  Find yourself a Meetup and make it happen.  You don’t even need to be very social.  Just engage when engaged.  That’s it.

Lesson #2 - quality of work is important, and differentiating, due to the fact that so many Marketers merely execute rather than innovate.  Too many of us go through the motions of launching the trade show, or sending the email, or delivering the direct mail, or writing the collateral.  It’s time to be a Guerrilla Marketer.  Attack the problem using all of your tools, in an integrated fashion.  Use technology to automate and facilitate your digital dialogs.  And then - wait for it - use your network to get the public relations or the competitive insights you need to generate the buzz and the response you seek.  Be aggressive.  Take no prisoners.  Make no apologies.  And don’t back down when you get the inevitable push-back.

By simply doing that, your reputation will precede you and you will not be wanting for employment.

For me, what I’ve learned is that I was right to stick to my guns in the heat of the marketing battles despite the many who challenged the objectives or politicked for another agenda or outcome.

How about you?  Now, more than ever, you need to be guerilla and attack the objective whether it’s for you or for your client or employer.  Care to dare?