37signals has an amazing post about ways to get people to notice you and/or your product. I have to put this up there as one of the best posts I have read all year.
It details what it takes to launch a product or a business, in purely white-hat terms. No longer is it about whoever has the bigger advertising budget. It’s about who can connect with the most people, on an intimate level.
It doesn’t matter whether you are launching a Freelancing Ebook (fantastic ebook by the way), a basket weaving tutorial for dummies, or a brand new sports product; it’s the relationships that you have with your clients that will lead to your current and future success.
You can go all kinds of directions with this conversation. It might be that your product relies heavily on your own professional network. Or maybe it focuses on some need that hasn’t been met yet. Or maybe it is taking an existing product and making it better. No matter what, you need to realize that your commitment to your customers extends beyond the time it takes to process their credit card.
I have about 5 years experience in online marketing, two degrees, two companies, and read countless books on business, and Matt from 37 Signals has summed it all up in 500 words.
Here are the subpoints of the 37signals post:
- Provide something of value
- Know your hook
- Stand for something
- Get your face out there
- Try to build real, sustainable relationships
- It’s the message, not the amount you spend on it
- Give stuff away for free
- Ride the wave
- Be in it for the long haul
- Be undeniably good
My favorite is, “Try to build real, sustainable relationships.”
To me, that’s what business is about - relationships. If you don’t have relationships, you won’t have revenue. And without revenue, you don’t have a business.
Besides, meeting people and pursuing relationships with them is what makes business fun. It isn’t you against the world! It’s everyone pushing forward for a common good. Revenue has a way of just fitting into the picture.
ps. Seth Godin commented as well.
