Graham and I have started a new project. We are Dos Amigans: two Amiga nerds who are broadcasting our foray into software development on the Amiga platform. We’re having a lot of fun doing it, too. You can tune in every Thursday at 18:00 UTC. We hope you’ll join us.
Wow, that felt weird.
Like many folks around me, I struggle with marketing. It always makes me feel … a bit dirty to talk about the things I make or services I provide. I think a lot more people would find Dos Amigans interesting if they only knew it existed, but we haven’t really done any marketing yet. The audience we have now is already bigger than I thought we’d have, mostly because they’re our friends, or exist on a discord where “stream announcements” are welcomed.
A lot of the things I do would have far and wide appeal if people only knew I was doing them, but I often avoid talking about them or drawing attention to them. This is a post about that.
I posted a link in a stream chat to Dos Amigans the other night because it was asked for, but it felt weird. Graham messaged me and said “I feel like the amount of promo we could do without being cunts is significantly higher than the amount we do.” And he’s right. We are the dudes making the thing, so why do we feel like cunts for telling people about the thing we’re making? Even when they might enjoy it? Even when they ask for it? Why does it feel so weird to talk about the thing that we’re doing?
We aren’t the only ones who feel this way. Eric Diven, of Long Walk Woodworking, recently posted on [a popular “news” website for “hackers”] thread about his move from software into woodworking: “It feels a bit weird to mention it, but [Cabinet on Stand] is also for sale through the museum” (emphasis mine.) Why does that feel weird? The entire thread was about Eric’s departure from software, and the whole audience was there to congratulate Eric and learn about what he’s doing next. I was very happy to learn where his work could be purchased.
Every marketing professional will tell you that marketing is “just letting people know that your thing exists,” but that’s just marketing as described. Marketing as practised is more often “trick people who don’t need your thing into thinking they must have your thing.”
I think marketing as practised is why some of us have such a strong negative reaction to marketing. I often go out of my way to make sure I’m not drawing too much attention to the valuable things that I’m doing that someone might be interested in, because I don’t want to be seen as a sketchy marketer who’s tricking people into buying my stuff or giving me their attention.
In the last week, I’ve noticed that a person (who was off my radar, because I had blocked them for being a smarmy prick and lacking substance) has made a considerable amount of money and gained a lot of attention because they effectively marketed a programming practice that I taught them. Because I’m not telling anyone what I’m thinking, or doing, or solving, other people are free to take it as their own. “It’s almost like we’ve been conditioned not to compete with the alpha capitalists,” Graham pointed out.
If I’m avoiding marketing, nobody will know that my stuff exists. If nobody knows it exists, then I’m more likely to be discouraged and give up because it won’t look valuable. If I market my things myself, at least I know that I’m being honest about what I can provide. Perhaps it’s time for nerds like me to learn how to do a bit of marketing. Maybe, to paraphrase a former boss of mine, “Marketing is too important a job to be left to marketing professionals.“
I’m going to try talking more about the things I’m thinking, the things I’m creating, and how you might benefit from them. I hope I don’t come off as the sleazy kind of marketer, I really just want to share the things that I’ve enjoyed learning and creating so that I can help folks and be encouraged to do more.
My question to you, dear readers, is: where are the marketing books and materials for people who want to be honest and up front, and not try to trick people into buying things they don’t need? Do these materials exist?