feed hat blog

What does the recent FTC announcement mean for a humble, professional, freebie-accepting, affiliate-pimping, mostly-broke blogger eking out pennies or flats of free soda per post?

It means you need to write a blog disclosure policy.

What if you have nothing to disclose? (Pity the fool who has nothing to disclose.)

No matter. Write one anyways. A blog disclosure policy is an opportunity to demonstrate your character. It is an opportunity to sell your character and even your soul.

Because what else have you got to offer, really?

Your blog disclosure policy is a vehicle for soul-selling, storyselling, storytelling, and maybe even making some cold hard cash – even if you’re not there yet.

You’re A Blogger. Act Like One and Sell Us a Story.

If you’re a problogger, or you want to be, then you’re probably in the business of “content marketing.”

This might mean that you pimp out your online products with landing pages and direct-mail-ish sales letters that “hammers the reader with red headlines, yellow highlighting, and aggressive copy that grips the reader like a terrier shaking a squirrel“.

Sonia Simone calls this marketing with a harpoon. It is targeted, deadly-effective, and you’ve only got one shot at it.

Still, since you’re a blogger, you’re probably doing something different (at least most of the time). As Sonia Simone goes on to say, you’re probably marketing with a net. A friendly, supportive net:

Great content creates a high level of trust and rapport, and educates your potential client about all the benefits of doing business with you.

You might hold onto that prospect for three days or three years before he decides to buy. It doesn’t really matter. As long as you keep delivering value, that person will stick with you and stay tuned in to your message. And when he’s ready to buy, he’s yours.

Did you catch that? Trust, rapport, value, your message…those are some pretty revealing and high-bar keywords.

If you are blogging, you really are selling yourself. Your soul. You’re not just storytelling. You’re storyselling.

Your disclosure policy is one more page – one more place for your reader to get to know and like you – in your online diary.

Ten years back, my soon-to-be wife, Cindy, and I first noticed the bombarding beat for Marshall Mather’s “My Name Is.”

“What an ass,” I said as the two of us sat to watch the Grammies a year later. “It’s sad he can sell so many records just by being vile. Really, how much talent can that possibly take?”

“Have you heard the record?” Cindy asked.

“No,” I admitted. “But I’ve heard enough to know he’s an ass.”

She pursed her lips in silence as I stuttered through a series of half-articulated examples — the criticisms of others slipping through the filter of my voice. Unlike me, she was withholding judgment of the music until she’d heard more of it.

“You know if you listen to the album you’ll be a lot more entitled to an opinion, right?”

My wife has taught me, and continues to teach me, more than anyone else.

The next day I bought the Slim Shady LP along with the newly minted Marshall Mathers album. I then spent the next few months in a new sort of aural awe.

I’m not sure what my expectations were, but they certainly weren’t to meet a man who would murder my preconceptions of the alphabet.

Though I’ve always been drawn to great lyricists and songwriters, I’d never heard anyone able to effectively indulge satire, rage, sorrow, shame, guilt, regret, power, passion, loneliness, bravado, stupidity, genius, leadership, idiocy, misogyny, sympathy and, believe it or not, tender compassion. And Eminem was doing it in a stream of pentameter that would, I’m certain, cause William Shakespeare to shudder.

Plus, the dude is a brilliant storyteller.

Marshall Mathers is a lyrical sniper with a shotgun, and vents more in a few hundred words than many are able to effectively communicate in pages of copy. When I listen to an Eminem record, I’m hearing a man who cares about every single syllable and the exact tone of its delivery.

This isn’t to say all his songs are good. In fact, each album has a handful of songs I find both repugnant and unendurable. Yet they are always peppered against gems of absolute genius.

Eminem is a complicated artist, and could easily provoke pages of arguments on his positives, negatives and overall impact on our culture for better or worse. But as a writer and marketer, few can touch what he’s managed to accomplish.

Meaning that if we pay attention, there’s plenty to learn.

What Eminem can teach you about writing

1) Write and read all you can

Marshall started writing while just a child, constantly sanding the rough edges of his craft, knowing without doubt that the only thing that would get him out of the trailer park and into a better life was furious effort and endless practice.

Marshall familiarized himself with the greats until storytelling was as natural as drawing breath. He may have started by imitating the pioneers who came before him, but Eminem soon blended their legacy into his own brew that was like nothing else.

2) Edit ruthlessly

Eminem’s best tracks harbor some of the tightest writing I’ve seen in any medium. One has to wonder just how long he spends on each song, considering how securely each syllable is cemented in place.

Not only can Em craft a compelling argument in prose, he can also structure it in a way that would dazzle Dr. Seuss, not only by rhyming words that shouldn’t rhyme, but by packing more poetry into a verse than should be technically possible. Only fastidious editing can pull the written word so taut.

3) Write what you know

One of the things that makes Eminem so polarizing is that his message flies from mind to mic with only the thinnest filter in between. Listening to his music is like tuning into a live therapy session that would make Tony Soprano seem stable by comparison. It’s easy to believe that Marshall is speaking directly from his heart and unique set of experiences.

4) Start strong and finish stronger

The best of Em’s songs achieve something rare in commercially produced music — they realize a powerful climax prior to their conclusion. Many of Marshall’s songs are written as arguments, and it’s usually in his third verse when he drives his point home, often with a lyrical sledgehammer.

5) Be concise and use powerful sentences

Marshall pares his arguments down to the marrow. His intuitive sense of flow allows him to seamlessly drift from the measured cadence of ordinary speech to an unrivaled intensity of verse, but it is always the power of his writing which enables him to drive his point home with such precision.

What Eminem can teach you about marketing

Eminem is a terrific writer, but if he wasn’t also a natural marketer, he might very well be still living on the wrong side of 8 Mile.

1) Put yourself out there

Be tireless and undaunted. Marshall paid his dues in underground clubs as the only white boy to step up and take the mic.

I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed. I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage. But I kept rhyming and stepwritin the next cypher, best believe somebody’s paying the pied piper . . .

Em knew that no one was about to hand him anything. If he wanted his voice heard, it was his job to spread it.

2) Be extreme

Try speaking to everyone and you end up speaking to no one.

As Sonia recently pointed out, Jenny Lawson and Naomi Dunford aren’t for everyone, but those who love them, really, really LOVE them.

See I’m a poet to some, a regular modern day Shakespeare, Jesus Christ the King of these Latter Day Saints here. To shatter the picture in which of that as they paint me, as a monger of hate and Satan — a scatter-brained atheist. But that ain’t the case, see it’s a matter of taste. We as a people decide if Shady’s as bad as they say he is. Or is he the latter — a gateway to escape? Media scapegoat, who they can be mad at today . . .

3) Tell a story

Build a backstory that is unique to you and you’ll develop a following that can belong to no one else.

Marshall’s storytelling was evident in his first LP, but he cemented his place as a teller of unforgettable tales in the second album, most notably with the song Stan, which tells the story of a crazed fan who does double duty in the song as a doppleganger for Marshall. Eminem used this narrative as both a means of self reflection and as a response to the many critics questioning the cultural impact of his music.

4) Experiment

Eminem’s music is crammed with experimentation. From the simple lo-fi beats of his earliest work to the wicked carnival rhythms which characterized his partnership with Dr. Dre, and all the loopy meters in between, it’s easy to imagine that Marshall isn’t happy unless he’s trying something new.

Not every experiment works, but at least he’s willing to play in the lab.

5) Address objections

A big rule of marketing is to address audience objections before the audience does.

Eminem has a history, going all the way back to his first major release, of addressing critics head on without flinching.

How many retards’ll listen to me and run up in the school shooting when they’re pissed at a teach-er, her, him, is it you is it them? ‘Wasn’t me, Slim Shady said to do it again!’ Damn! How much damage can you do with a pen? Man, I’m just as %#&@#! up as you woulda been if you woulda been, in my shoes, who woulda thought, Slim Shady would be something that you woulda bought?

Marshall Mathers is complicated and undeniably controversial, and though his critics would correctly point out that his music is filled with hate and vitriol, few of them seem to acknowledge that he is also manipulating his own material, taking his arguments to such ridiculous extremes that he turns them into farce.

Love him or hate him, the man known as Eminem has proven that he’s an important force in both modern music and culture. You don’t have to like his lyrics or his message to learn something from him. I’m grateful for the day my wife wondered out loud if I really knew what I was talking about.

About the Author: Sean Platt is a direct response copywriter and independent publisher. Follow him on Twitter.

More here: 
The Eminem Guide to Becoming a Writing and Marketing Machine

You battle an insidious enemy every time you sit down to write, and it usually wins.

It squeezes the impact out of your ideas, leaving a limp and lifeless copy carcass laid to rest in your text editor.

It’s your emotional needs filter, and it’s draining the message out of your message.

What’s an emotional needs filter? It’s a filter you’re running your ideas through when you write.

Whenever you feel like you’re taking a risk, an emotional response is triggered. Your emotional needs feel threatened. The filter is engaged, and your bold copy turns into a big puddle of boringness.

The good news is that this filter is only winning because you’re letting it. It’s actually possible to simply decide not to do that anymore, at which point you can actually use the tried-and-true techniques that you already know (instead of just knowing about them) and write great content.

Here’s how to ensure your content doesn’t get choked to death before it reaches your audience.

The facts

You have ideas. Ideas that come to you out of nowhere, electrifying you with inspiration. You know the ones I’m talking about.

There are lots of people out there just waiting to stumble upon your ideas because they provide the perfect solutions to their own problems.

Those people are salivating, ready to jump at your ideas like a great white shark to a sea lion. All you have to do is successfully deliver those ideas to them.

But the problem is that those ideas don’t make it from your brain to your finished copy. Your emotional needs filter kills them before you can click “publish.” And no one’s problems get resolved.

There are three components at play here:

1. You want approval
2. You want control
3. You want security

These emotional responses are convincing you to suffocate your ideas.

Blast through these roadblocks and you will actually solve the problems of your audience instead of peddling to them.

You’ll define a niche instead of chasing one.

You’ll attract a tribe instead of imagining one.

Stop wanting approval

You want everyone to like you.

You’re tweaking, editing, re-wording, and omitting important parts of your ideas based solely on that. Your desire for everyone’s approval is killing your content, which in turn is getting you lost in the crowd.

Wanting everyone’s approval is pointless for two primary reasons:

1. It will never happen
2. It’s not useful to you or your audience

The fact is that it’s not your job to get approval. It’s your job to put your unique and creative ideas into a form that communicates them effectively.

If you keep your message true to the source, there will be people who love it. There will also be people who hate it. That’s a guarantee.

And you actually want it that way. If everyone is neutral to your content because you’ve watered it down like cheap beer, it’s not helping anyone.

Stop wanting control

You want to control everything.

You want to control how everybody reacts to your content, what they say about it, and what they do with it.

And that’s just the beginning. You also want to control how they perceive you, what they say about you, and what they do for you, too. And that’s still just the beginning.

Obviously, writing to influence your audience to take certain actions is helpful and recommended. But you’re taking it to extremes.

Let go of wanting to control everything and your ideas will actually make it into the minds of your audience.

Yes, some will dislike it, but your tribe will love it!

Stop wanting security

You want to survive.

You perceive other writers as competition, and that seems threatening. There are so many out there vying for your audience. You’ve got to make sure that you don’t offend any readers. You’ve got to make sure that you do nothing to turn readers away. Socially domesticating your content seems like the perfect solution!

Stop doing that.

Wanting security is causing you to publish bland, cliché, or just plain milquetoast content that actually works against your end goals.

Attracting an audience that is crazy about your ideas is paramount to your security. You can do that by keeping your message true to the source.

Notice when the emotional needs filter kicks in

When you write, let your creativity flow in all its glory. Say what you really want to say. Get it all down.

When you revise and edit, make sure it’s for the necessities: punctuation, conciseness, coherence, etc. Follow the tried and true mechanical and strategic guidelines.

But when you are making your edits, be sure that you’re not engaging your emotional needs filter. Go through the checklist below when you find yourself hitting the backspace key:

• Am I making this change because I want everyone’s approval?
• Am I making this change because I want to control everything?
• Am I making this change because I’m obsessing over security?

If the answer to all three is “no,” you’re in good shape.

But if you answer “yes” to any of those, step away from the keyboard.

Don’t strangle the life out of your valuable message. Toss the emotional needs filter in the trash. It’s never done you any good, anyway.

About the author: Craig Wildenradt blogs about the Sedona Method, a technique that allows people to simply and easily release emotions that are holding them back. Craig also offers a free ebook and audio program that can get you started.

View original post here: 
How Your Emotions Are Strangling the Life Out of Your Copy

Is it time for a makeover?

Every so often I have this urge to make myself over. Change my hair. Overhaul my wardrobe. At the very least, buy a shocking new shade of nail polish. It’s a common conundrum for those of the fairer sex, though I wonder if there’s an equivalent drive in men, too. If there is, I suspect it may be behind that exhaustingly competitive need to have the newest, coolest toy on the block. But that’s just a theory.

The point being that sometimes makeovers are something we choose to do, and sometimes they’re forced upon us like some foul tasting medicine that’s going to cure what ails ya.

A couple years ago the IBM Institute for Business Value published a (at the time) unique assessment of how the Web 2.0 world would change advertising. The paper was titled “The end of advertising as we know it” (PDF — a summary PDF is also available).

At the time, October of 2007, the authors proposed that in the five years to follow, the advertising industry would witness a period of fast-paced and full-scale change that was unparalleled in the previous 50 years. Two years later and looking back, I think we can all agree.

In the paper, they identified four main ways that change was happening in the advertising and marketing industries: attention, creativity, measurement, and advertising inventories.

In 2007, the attention of consumers was shorter than ever before and, thanks to technology, it had become so much easier for the consumer to tune out ads. Consumer creativity was booming, thanks in large part to mushrooming outlets for amateur and non-professional content publishing. Suddenly, almost every action of the consumer was measureable. And the former monopoly of ad platforms was opening up to a free and choice-filled marketplace.

It was a strange, new world. And just when you thought you had a handle on it…

Two years later, and it looks like the change foreseen by IBM was just the beginning. The evolution isn’t over. Adaptation is just as important now as it was yesterday and the day before.

Thankfully, for the sake of this conversation, IBM’s framework for categorizing the change still apply. So what does evolving attention, creativity, measurement, and advertising inventory mean today?

Attention

Attention

Way back in 2007 (:P) IBM warned businesses that consumers were “increasingly exercising control of how they view, interact with and filter advertising.” This is obviously true today, but since then, SEO strategies have emerged to tackle this obstacle. Enter the Engagement Object™.

When losing a conversion happens as fast as a click on the back button, the burden lies with the business to keep consumer attention on the site. Address this by including compelling and engaging content on the site, including videos, podcasts, graphic images, maps, polls… Whatever the means, marketers need to keep visitors engaged and active on the site.

Creativity

Creativity

Thanks to the Web, content publishing became a thing of the masses. No longer are there elite publishers talking to a captive audience. Instead, every Internet user is a potential content producer. Not only is the potential there, but Internet users are usually more than happy to contribute.

In SEO, consumers’ penchant for creativity can be leveraged through user-generated content, such as customer reviews. Along with the benefit of gaining keyword-rich, relevant content, customer reviews increase a site and brand’s trust and credibility factors.

Measurement

Measurement

Now, this next verse is same as the first verse. Two years ago IBM described the newly-emerged clamoring of the advertising industry for data. The demand for measurement rose from the novelty of an environment where everything is measurable.

Lucky for marketers, this aspect of advertising on the Web hasn’t changed much. We’ve advanced our focus — for SEO it’s no longer about page views or rankings, it’s about conversions and ROI. But the value placed on measurement hasn’t faded. Analytics and web intelligence should be the backdrop of SEO efforts, after all.

Advertising inventories

Inventory

When IBM originally wrote their paper, online advertising platforms were in a state of flux. For so long, media advertising (online and on other channels) was restricted to the big players, the big networks, and the big names. But eventually there came a leveling of the playing field for ad platforms and the diminishing of an “ad space that was once proprietary”.

In the same way, content control has become democratized. Consumers have a say over the media messages they listen to. If they don’t want to hear it, it’s easier than ever to tune out. So instead of forcing the message, a portion of online marketing strategy revolves around delivering the message to a voluntary audience. When a consumer is looking for you, is open to your message, and wants to hear more about what you can offer them, where do they turn? A search engine. There’s no better player in this space than SEO.

When you feel the pull of progress, don’t push it aside. Evaluate your marketing and the changing world that it lives in. Then decide: Is it time for a marketing makeover?

View original post here: 
Marketing Gets an SEO Makeover

Think it’s impossible to write with a knife?

Not at all. You might even say it’s essential.

Well, to be more precise, no one actually writes with a knife. But good writers do edit with one.

For them, writing involves two separate but closely intertwined mindsets: crafting their message and then cutting away everything that’s not their message.

Yesterday, Jon Morrow talked about why you need to tighten up your writing. Today we’re going to talk about how.

Write for yourself, edit for your readers

Really good writing always begins with the desire for self-expression. Let your mind and heart say what they want without restriction. You’re rough-hewing the shape of your thoughts.

But once the broad contours have emerged in your first draft, you take your knife and carve off all the extra bits. Sculpt your article until the important details are clear, not hidden by chunks of irrelevant or uninteresting verbiage.

It isn’t easy. As writers, we all have a tendency to fall in love with our words. So here are seven tips to help you cut to the chase.

1. Find the spine of your content and stick to it

A blog post is a focused piece of writing — it shouldn’t aim to address more than one tightly focused topic.

Yes, that story about your telecommuting co-worker and her embarrassing webcam moment is pretty darn funny. But if you can’t make it 100% relevant to the point you’re trying to make, don’t use it.

You can’t make your audience chuckle if they’ve clicked away.

2. Cut the first paragraph

This advice is often given to novelists, who are counseled to write a rough draft and then ditch their entire first chapter (ouch!).

The reason? We often need to crank out a paragraph or two before we truly get a grip on the piece and where it’s going. Those first words are really just preparation for the good stuff.

Try cutting the first paragraph or two from your post and see what happens. You may find a much more powerful opening.

3. Don’t over-spice your words

Many writers liberally pepper their sentences with adjectives and adverbs, and it ends up like over-spiced chili. They think this intensifies their writing, but really, it just numbs the reader’s palate.

(Side note: Take a look at the paragraph above this one. Did you catch where it was over-spiced? I didn’t need the word “liberally.” The verb “pepper” and the simile “like over-spiced chili” were more than enough to get the idea across.)

Remember that just like chili, a little seasoning will add yummy zing to your writing. Too much will make it unpalatable.

4. Watch out for “creep-in” words

These are the unnecessary words you use without even realizing it. Two of mine are “just” and “actually.” And yes, it’s actually true that when I read through my first draft of this post, I just went back in and removed several of each.

Getting rid of creep-ins is a painless way to cut the fat out of your copy, and no one will ever miss them.

What are your own personal creep-ins? If you don’t know, ask a professional editor to clean up one of your posts and pay attention to what they take out.

5. Cut exaggerations

Were you so angry that you “literally had smoke coming out of your ears?” Was the sunset “heart-stoppingly beautiful?”

No, not really. Your readers will see these phrases for what they truly are: lazy exaggerations. Cut them from your writing, and use more precise words (see #6) instead.

6. Find a more precise word

Sometimes, we use a lot of weak words when one or two of the right words will do much better.

If you’re publishing a review of your local taquería and you write that “their burritos are really very good,” reach a little deeper into your vocabulary. Are they authentic? Zesty? Flavorful?

Picking the right word won’t just make your writing shorter. It’ll give your readers deeper insight into what you mean.

7. Reuse the leftovers

Ever notice how the best cooks don’t seem to waste anything?

Professional writers work the same way. When they edit, they don’t delete their writing forever. They put it aside and often use it as inspiration for something else.

I’d recommend starting a “Leftovers” document where you paste in your cuts. Whenever you’re searching for an idea, you can poke through it, and something will probably grab you. Use it to start a new post.

You can do it!

I know it’s hard to cut words. We’re all afraid of running out of something to say. But in my experience, that never happens.

Trust me when I say that there will always be more words where those came from, and you will find them when you need them. Just remember to carry your knife with you.

You’ll need it.

About the Author: Michelle Russell blogs about the perils of perfectionism — with and without knives — at Practice Makes Imperfect. You can also follow her on Twitter, where the 140-character limit forces her to keep her knife sharp whether she wants to or not.

Continued here: 
How to Write with a Knife

When I wrote a few weeks ago about making your email so good it can’t be stopped, a few readers wrote to ask for more specifics.

It’s an understandable request, given the percentage of permission-based messages that are being thrown away by email service providers.

So beyond providing killer content, what can we do to give our messages the best shot of getting through?

Build trust before you pitch.

Remember, the success of any email marketing program depends on genuinely compelling content. You want your readers to dig through spam filters, complain to their email providers, and do anything they can to make sure they’re getting your content.

Most email newsletters are pitchfests, which makes them no fun to read. Make sure yours is nicely loaded with cookie content, so readers begin to be trained to open everything you send.

If you don’t build this trust and credibility with great content, the rest of the techniques won’t work very well. But there are a few practical things you can do to give your messages the best possible fighting chance.

1. Start every newsletter with a great autoresponder

The autoresponder feature of your email provider lets you create defined sequences to send to your readers. The millionth subscriber has the same experience that the first did.

This means that no matter how busy you get or what disasters you might be coping with this week, your new email subscribers are always well taken care of.

A great autoresponder builds a strong foundation for your relationship with your new subscriber. The old cliché is true: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. The warm, friendly feelings you’ll establish with your first 10 or 15 messages will carry over throughout your relationship.

2. Use a single warm, personal message early on

This is a trick I learned from Product Launch Formula founder Jeff Walker, and it creates a really nice rapport with your list.

Early in your autoresponder sequence (I usually put it at message two), include a cheerful, warm, individual-sounding message. Something informal, like, “Hey, really good to see you here, hope you enjoy the content.”

You’re not trying to fool anyone that this was an individually typed message for that recipient, but you are trying to create the same feeling of personal relationship. Invite questions, comments, and feedback at this point, and let them know that you’d love to hear from them.

I typically create this message as text only, rather than HTML. This is also a good spot to use technique #3.

3. Ask them to white list you

No matter how good your email provider is, some messages end up in spam filters. The best defense against that is to convince your readers to add you to their list of “safe senders” or their “white list.” And the best way to do that is simply to ask them.

I send a text message in one of my sequences right before a message with a few red flags in the content. (The message has the audacity to talk about making money. Shocking, I know.)

The message explains that the next email in the sequence is a little more likely to get trapped in a spam filter, so this would be a great time to add me to their safe senders list.

Some readers immediately white list me, which is great. Others don’t, then the message is caught in a filter the next day and they see that adding me to their approved senders list would be a good idea.

Obviously, it’s smart to get yourself onto the white list as soon as you can, so you’ll want to bring the subject up early on.

But if you do have a message you can’t reasonably lower the spam score on, this technique can give you a good reason to ask a second time.

4. Conversations have two sides

Make sure you’ve got a real human being monitoring any replies to your email marketing, and that that person is giving thoughtful, personal replies to each message they get.

It’s also smart to use an individual person’s name in the “From” field, rather than the name of a company. Anything you can do to capitalize on the intimate nature of email just makes sense.

When I started adding the words, “Just click reply to ask me a question, your message will come directly to my personal in-box,” I noticed that more people felt comfortable doing just that. And not only do questions and feedback build nice rapport, they’re also a fantastic window into what your customers want and need.

5. Pay attention to spam triggers, but don’t obsess

Most good email providers will let you know if your content has certain hot buttons that are likely to be flagged as spam. Some of them are obvious, like pharmaceutical brand names.

Others are annoying, because they tend to be the words and phrases that have the most selling power. For example, links that say click here can make your content look a little spammier to the filters, precisely because savvy marketers know that explicit calls to click here get better results.

This is one good reason to put a long sales message onto a landing page, rather than an individual email message. The last thing you want to do is to use less persuasive language just to keep a spam filter happy.

Always remember that you’re writing for people, not filters. When you make your readers happy and deliver the content they need and want, no spam filter can stop you.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

Read more from the original source: 
Five Ways to Make Your Email Marketing Work Better

I’d like to say thanks to the people who sponsored the blog this month, without them there wouldn’t be regular posts here.

Text Link Ads – New customers can get $100 in free text links.

CrazyEgg.com – Supplement your analytics with action information from click tracking heat maps.

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Interested in seeing your message here? There are banner and RSS advertising options available find out more information.

This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review.

Thanks to this Months Sponsors – June 2009

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Thanks to this Months Sponsors – June 2009

“Hey man, spare some change?”

Rain or shine, the professional panhandler works a busy corner every day in my neighborhood. He sets up shop right by the ATM, on the theory that people who have just withdrawn a hundred bucks are more likely to give him a dollar or two.

The location is good, but prospecting is tough. Day in, day out, he sits on a stoop, asking people for a couple of bucks. He sees it as a numbers game – 98% of the people who pass by will say no or just ignore him, but if he asks enough people, a few will pony up.

Is panhandling effective?

Strictly speaking, I guess you could say it works . . . but most of us would agree that asking random people for money isn’t a great career choice. You have to deal with continuous rejection, your income is wildly unpredictable, and you get wet when it rains.

Too Many Marketers are Like Panhandlers

“Hey man, spare some change? Check out this great offer I’ve got . . . it’s just what you need, you’ll love it, really.”

On an intuitive level, most of us understand that it’s better to deliver our message to the right people. We know that we shouldn’t panhandle – but then we go out and do the opposite of what we know is right.

We model ourselves on the salesman who goes door-to-door hawking vacuum cleaners. Sure, he might sell a couple by the end of the day, but do we really want to be that guy?

I call this approach evangelism. The goal is to change someone’s mind and convince them to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do.

Why Evangelism Doesn’t Work

Most of us have deeply-held beliefs about everything from religion to politics to what kind of sandwich we like to eat for lunch. You probably aren’t going to change my mind about almost anything, and I’m probably not going to change yours.

So let’s not try to sell unwanted vacuum cleaners to each other.

The alternative to evangelism is recruitment. Instead of knocking on doors or begging for spare change, recruitment is all about opening your own doors to the people who are already naturally predisposed to your message.

Instead of needing to be sold, these people are dying to hear what you have for them.

At its best, recruitment involves welcoming a select group of people and challenging them to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

When people feel simultaneously welcomed into a group and challenged to go above and beyond their current limits, you’ve got a group that’s eager for your attention.

I call this a small army of remarkable people. Seth calls it a tribe, Gretchen calls them super-fans, Sonia calls them a village.

Regardless of terminology, these are the people you want in your group. You can think of them as your basic church choir. And preaching to the choir is a good thing.

“Come if You’re a Good Fit” Instead of “Come As You Are”

Recruitment also requires the gentle filtering out of people who aren’t a good fit for what you offer.

Wish them well . . . then wish them to go somewhere else. Most people won’t pitch a dollar in the panhandler’s bucket, and most people probably aren’t suited to what you have to offer.

That’s okay. Ignore the atheists outside the church. Rise above the noise, recruit a choir of your own, and start preaching.

Here’s wishing you well in your next sermon.

About the Author: Chris Guillebeau preaches to a choir of remarkable people at the Art of Nonconformity site. His 279 Days to Overnight Success manifesto offers a free case study of how to build a career in new media. Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisguillebeau.

Originally posted here: 
Why Preaching to the Choir is a Good Thing

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