Becoming more efficient with my time
To me, programming requires 100% focus and determination. When I'm programing an app like iPrioritize or the price guide, I want to spend every waking second pushing closer to launch. I get addicted to the rapid accomplishment. But once I "flip the switch" and become an online marketer, things change. You don't get out exactly what you put in. If I program for 8 hours I guarantee I'll make progress. If I market for 8 hours, who knows.
To an extent, marketing is a crapshoot. Should you try a whole bunch of stuff and hope something works (the throw a bunch of shit at the wall and see what sticks strategy) or should you focus on one core concept? I like to mix both strategies, and dedicate myself to four or five well thought out, sound techniques for driving traffic and ultimately acquiring customers. After some time, I'll start to prioritize those techniques based upon their yield.
Since marketing doesn't always show results right away, it's more important to set boundaries for myself and force myself to become efficient with time. I tend to set a schedule and tell myself I'm going to accomplish A, B, and C today, and then D, E, and F tomorrow. I focus on becoming efficient at my tasks and the accomplishment of said tasks, as opposed to solely focusing on the immediate results like I do with programming.
Programming turns me into an instant-gratification guy - I have tangible results that I can see right away. So naturally I always struggle a bit switching over to spending my time on SEO, PR, and other marketing that may or may not show results immediately...or ever. So to keep my sanity I'm really trying to do a good job executing the plan we've outlined. My three partners and I all agree we've got a sound plan, so the way I look at it the primary way SL will fail is if I panic or get lazy and the plan doesn't get executed properly. Hence the emphasis on small task accomplishment each and every day - keeping me motivated and sane.
Update on the actual Price Guide Marketing:
Now that I'm part of a corporation and not an individual, I'm willing to spend money a bit more aggressively. With that, I'm starting with paid marketing like PPC BEFORE doing things like PR (the type of PR I'm talking about involves contacting influential people in the industry and offering them free premium accounts in hopes that they'll spread the word) or the other marketing I outlined in my business plan. I'm intentionally "flooding" the price guide with traffic almost solely for the feedback and to get some baselines for conversion rates (i.e. what percent of visitors will sign up for a free/premium account). Hopefully I'll learn a lot about what needs to be improved with the site AND accelerate growth faster than I have in previous instances.
I'll keep you posted on how the next few days go, and whether or not that was a sound decision on my part.
To an extent, marketing is a crapshoot. Should you try a whole bunch of stuff and hope something works (the throw a bunch of shit at the wall and see what sticks strategy) or should you focus on one core concept? I like to mix both strategies, and dedicate myself to four or five well thought out, sound techniques for driving traffic and ultimately acquiring customers. After some time, I'll start to prioritize those techniques based upon their yield.
Since marketing doesn't always show results right away, it's more important to set boundaries for myself and force myself to become efficient with time. I tend to set a schedule and tell myself I'm going to accomplish A, B, and C today, and then D, E, and F tomorrow. I focus on becoming efficient at my tasks and the accomplishment of said tasks, as opposed to solely focusing on the immediate results like I do with programming.
Programming turns me into an instant-gratification guy - I have tangible results that I can see right away. So naturally I always struggle a bit switching over to spending my time on SEO, PR, and other marketing that may or may not show results immediately...or ever. So to keep my sanity I'm really trying to do a good job executing the plan we've outlined. My three partners and I all agree we've got a sound plan, so the way I look at it the primary way SL will fail is if I panic or get lazy and the plan doesn't get executed properly. Hence the emphasis on small task accomplishment each and every day - keeping me motivated and sane.
Update on the actual Price Guide Marketing:
Now that I'm part of a corporation and not an individual, I'm willing to spend money a bit more aggressively. With that, I'm starting with paid marketing like PPC BEFORE doing things like PR (the type of PR I'm talking about involves contacting influential people in the industry and offering them free premium accounts in hopes that they'll spread the word) or the other marketing I outlined in my business plan. I'm intentionally "flooding" the price guide with traffic almost solely for the feedback and to get some baselines for conversion rates (i.e. what percent of visitors will sign up for a free/premium account). Hopefully I'll learn a lot about what needs to be improved with the site AND accelerate growth faster than I have in previous instances.
I'll keep you posted on how the next few days go, and whether or not that was a sound decision on my part.
posted by Adam McFarland at
5/08/2007 09:49:00 PM
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