Hello Reader,

All marketing works.

You've heard (well, read, actually) me say this before.

It's true. All marketing has the POTENTIAL to work.

I could dress up in a hotdog costume and stand on the corner spinning a sign and that marketing would work.

Would it attract the right people? Ehhhh... I think it takes a specific type of person to see someone in a hotdog costume and think, "Why yes, I do need some marketing strategy and the hotdog costume lady is just the one to do it!"

But it would work nevertheless.

That's why when I talk to folks for the first time, I'm so pushy about finding out what marketing they're doing and if they're taking an active versus passive approach to it.

What do I mean by passive marketing?

I don't mean inbound versus outbound marketing—that's a (kind of boring) subject for (maybe) another day.

What I mean is, are you "doing marketing"—say, writing a blog post, posting on LinkedIn, running ads, and then doing anything to amplify and follow up from those activities.

What I find is extremely common is a passive approach to marketing.

Most people in solo- or micro- entrepreneurial spaces are only passive. And that's not a criticism—folks simply don't know that marketing is not set it and forget it.

There are bookends on either side of any marketing activity: the audience building and the follow up.

For example, if I'm creating an SEO strategy for a client, I need to understand the bookends (and if they don't have the bookends, help them create them).

Who are they speaking too beyond the imaginary client avatar? What's their buying psychology? How ready do they need to be to make a buying decision? That's the first bookend.

Then, we end it with the second bookend by understanding the follow up process, including a soft call to action for the "not yet" future buyer, a way to continue to connect and build a relationship (typically email), and creating a one to one follow up strategy.

There's a lot of activity happening that's not the "marketing thing!"

It's not JUST the Facebook post, or the article, or the ad, or the networking event. That's actually a very small part of it. You need the bookends. It's non-negotiable.

You can't market passively. No matter how much someone else's marketing makes you believe it's possible.

People who promise you systems and tools where clients magically come to you after doing one marketing activity aren't typically sharing the whole story: Who was their audience? How long did it take to build? How big is it? How did they foster connection and build that community?

That's where the real marketing story lies—the bookends.

Onward and upward,

Sarah

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