Category: MarketingCategory: Marketing

Jamie Cox wrote “Going viral is overrated,” all about a LinkedIn post that went viral, reaching 17,000+ people and getting around 35,000 impressions. What happened next?

• Project Inquiries: 1 (unqualified)
• Site Visitors: 0
• Newsletter Subscribers Added: 0
• LinkedIn Followers Added: 162

They won the “keep people on LinkedIn” lottery, sure, but otherwise their viral hit was a dud.

A viral hit can lead to opportunities, but that’s how casinos stay in business. People buy lottery tickets because of the slim chance they’ll win while forgetting about the many months of losing.

Like Angela Hollowell said during our video chat:

“I’m not tempted to leave LinkedIn because my LinkedIn reach has gone down… I’m tempted to leave LinkedIn and posting on any social media platform regularly because of the time that it takes for me to do that when I could be spending more time writing a better long-form article.”

Yes, you can make quick posts that get 35,000 impressions. But you can also write long-form articles that make you two sales and pay your rent for the next three months.

Communicate your ideas effectively with an audience that cares and you won’t need to spend your time at the casino.

I first saw Kareem Rahma doing Keep the Meter Runnin on Instagram. Then Subway Takes a bit later. Absolutely fascinating talk about his journey, and just how much work and effort goes into putting these sorts of projects together.

I love this part so much:

I had bet on myself so many times that I accumulated so much junk that was useful. Junk knowledge, junk information, junk intangibles. Like, that’s a lot of stuff too—the intangibles. Like, saying “100% agree” or “100% disagree” was not a part of the plan. It’s just what came out of me.

The biggest hook in the show wasn’t planned, it just happened. But it “just happened” because of the many years of accumulated “junk.” It’s easy to think of things that didn’t quiet make it as failures, but maybe it’s best to reframe those as “junk knowledge!”

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My childhood included a home foreclosure and a family split because of it. Calling my parents in their later years meant talking into an answering machine, “hey guys, it’s me, Seth” and then my dad (usually) picking up the phone. “We’re here, we’re here, yes, hello!?”

They screened their calls to avoid debt collectors.

Somehow my sister and I have avoided any major financial disasters, so long as you don’t count credit card debts that come and go every few years.

All that so say, I’ve got some shame around money and (of course) taxes.

I had a phone call with a good friend and we laughed about a tax situation I’m currently facing (don’t worry, it’s fine). We shared our collective money horror stories and I felt better afterwards. Shame crumbles under the weight of laughter.

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Here’s a bit from my interview with Rusty Pilgrim:

Q. I have to be honest —my opinion of marketing is pretty close to that old Bill Hicks joke where he says, “Are there any marketing people here? You? Great. Kill yourself. Seriously —kill yourself.” That’s more or less how I’ve always felt.

But your approach is completely different. In fact, it’s so different that I wouldn’t even call it marketing. Was there a specific moment or event that led you to take this path?

A. Lots of Seth Godin books, starting with Purple Cow. Make something remarkable, and people will make remarks. It five people like it, maybe they tell five more. If they don’t, start again. Either re-work everything, or play to the crowd, or double down and find the right five people who might enjoy what you’re doing.

Not everyone is going to love what we do, and that’s okay. Even the most famous people on the internet are complete unknowns to most of the world. So to me it’s all about making a thing that you can make, making friends, having fun, building community. If that leads to paying some bills, great. If not, at least you’ve enriched the lives of those around you.

Michael Gilbride talks about spending big bucks in hopes of a big return. Most of the time we call this gambling!

“Instead of spending a sh**load of money on a music video and praying it goes viral, what could we do that would guarantee her music gets in front of her target audience?”

The artist had a song about body dysmorphia. Rather than making a music video and hoping her target audience would see it, she ended up booking a performance at an outpatient center for eating disorders.

In doing this, she’ll perform in front of an audience more likely to appreciate her message. That’s the guarantee, the possibility of making one fan.

Spending thousands on a music video may lead to the same outcome, sure, but performing in one space for a few people is a safer bet.