Always Be Marketing

Dan Wood just posted an interview with me on the Mac Indie Marketing Blog. I love how interviews tease out thoughts that had never previously been fully gelled in my head. Thanks for the thoughtful conversation, Dan.

Out of this experience came a new personal mantra: Always Be Marketing. This catch-phrase came to me as I tried to discover what it is that I actually do to market myself, my business, and my products. The answer fell somewhere between nothing specifically and everything specifically!

Another catch-phrase I bring up a lot when talking to other indie developers is Say Yes. This captures my belief that we developers are shy, scared, and would rather be programming than doing anything “out there in public.” So I often implore other developers to say yes to interviews, speaking engagements, etc., before your scared nerd-brain can take over and run screaming.

But Always Be Marketing sort of captures the same sentiment while driving the message home:

The local user group wants me to present, should I go?
Always be marketing.

Another developer wants to co-market my product with theirs.
Always be marketing.

What the … CNN wants me to be a talking head?!
Always be marketing.

Should I really have a Twitter account and a Facebook account?
Always be marketing.

I don’t have time to monitor searches, comments, feedback.
Always be marketing.

OK, I’m running dangerously close to being a world-class prick if I really reduce my conversational skills to this kind of catch-phrase smack-down. But you can bet this is what my internal dialogue is going to sound like from here on out.