How to do self promotion right (with no gimmicks attached)
by Fred Roed on 19/12/07 at 9:27 pm
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At World Wide Creative, we admire a company like 37signals a lot. These guys seemed to have cracked the code to making a profitable business online. Their outfit has created worldwide bestsellers in useful software solutions, despite being a small, disparate bunch of techies and selling their products solely via the web. Featured in Time and countless other publications, 37signals have been widely proclaimed as poster boys for the New Economy. Founder Jason Fried and his crew have clearly done a great job at self-promotion.
Or have they?
Read this article by Seth Godin, where he puts an interesting spin on a post written on 37signals’ blog, a brilliant piece entitled ‘10 ways to get “ink”‘. [Summary: Matt from 37signals writes 10 pointers to their promotional success, all of which are very humble, straightforward and honest. Seth comments on it in his blog saying that they missed one important point. 37signals don't do 'self-promotion', they do 'you-promotion'.]
Here’s an example of 37signals’ approach: Actually be a friend instead of a guy trying to get something. Keep your interactions human (a sincere, honest note will go a lot further than a buzzwordy press release). Seek out ways to help others. It’ll all come back to you.
Interesting how un-marketing-like their message is. 37signals’ marketing success boils down to very basic principles, with not one faddy bookstore-bestseller catchphrase in sight…
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
