Saturday, January 31, 2009

30-Day Marketing Challenge: Saturday Bonus Bloglink Edition

This week brought us some great marketing and query posts from around the web. Here are a few of my favorites:

Kristine Hansen at the fabulous Renegade Writer Blog shared Seven Tips for Standout Queries.
My favorite, besides going for the quirky, is to slow down:
"Take a deep breath (yoga breaths if that’s your thing) and let it sit for a day, maybe even overnight. What you might discover during your time away is an added source, or a fresh idea for a sidebar. Not only will this make for a stronger pitch but you’ll feel more confident about its idea too."
Jenny Cromie, whose blog, The Golden Pencil, I raved about yesterday, did a great post this week on whether it ever makes sense to work for free. I'd argue no, but she does a great job of breaking down the options strategically.

Then, Erik Sherman, whose pearls of wisdom I've shared several times, wrote on his blog this week about what to do when your marketing efforts fall short of expectations. In Erik's typically thorough and thoughtful manner, he gives very concrete suggestions for appraising your efforts.

I also love that he says that a 10 percent success rate on your marketing is "very healthy." I knew I wasn't the only one who thought so!

And finally, though this isn't directly about the world of freelance marketing, it is a concept that I strive to take into my marketing efforts: Taking a vow of stability. What Gretchen Rubin, in her Happiness Project blog, is talking about is monks who take a vow of stability to stay at whatever monastery they are directed towards.

She applies this to marriage (which is apt), but I'd also argue that it applies to marketing. After all, setting a bottom line for how much and what kind of marketing you'll do and then sticking to it whether it's boring or not, whether you're busy or not, is another form of stability.

And I would also argue that so doing creates a lot more financial stability in your life as well. Try it out and tell me what you think.

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