You Hate Marketing? No, You Don't!

By Dallas Hodder Franklin

Do you hate marketing? Do you cringe at the thought of promoting your writes or services after putting your labor of love into them? Maybe you feel you don't have the money, time or passion. You think of yourself as a writer, not a marketer. Sound familiar?

Actually you truly don't hate it. You just 'think' you do. You actually have the money, time and passion but aren't using them to your advantage. Let's look at the money aspect first. Many of the opportunities, especially on the Internet, are FREE! Yes, that's right.

You don't know html? Neither did I until I taught myself. Now I don't have to pay someone to do it for me because I took the time to learn it and save myself money. There are countless sites online that'll help you learn how to do a Web site. And when I come across something that's unfamiliar to me, I learn it! These are choices I've personally made for my Website. The marketing I do is absolutely FREE too! It just takes organization and discipline. Allotting an hour or two a day works wonders! You don't have to pay to host your site either. There are many sites that want you to set up a Website without any cost to you. It helps them make money with advertisers! And you can make money too, if you have the right attitude. Just go to any search engine and put in 'Free Web Hosting' and you'll find many sites available.

One of the first steps in making any progress is looking at the whole picture. Not just the picture today. But a vision of where you are going and envisioning it before you reach it. That's the power of the mind. You don't walk anywhere without knowing in advance where the obstacles and clear ground is before taking the next step. The same is true with visions. You are now learning to see with your mind's eyes. You are making a clear path to see you through to the end result that you envision.

And a twin relative of this perspective is a true belief in what you are setting out to accomplish. You must truly believe your books or services are important, and that you have a message or ideal worthy of sharing. Your books or services must help others in some way. And in helping others, you create your own rewards. You also must keep your integrity intact. No matter how much growth you accumulate people will see through you if you lie to them. Once you let go of this, you are doomed to fail. We all recognize lies eventually, even in savvy advertising techniques used by big corporations. So honesty truly is the best policy!

Now we come to passion. That's an easy one. It will naturally follow your beliefs and integrity. When you truly believe in your product and recognize its worth, the passion is already there. Think of it like it's your child. Many of us do think of our books as our children. And rightly so! Your heart and soul is poured into it, just like your children carry a part of your heart and soul. It's the end result of your labor of love. You don't bring your children into the world and then leave them to go willy-nilly. You nurture, protect and teach them. And this is also how you need to look at your book or service. Nurture it. Protect it and teach others what you have learned or what you can offer for their benefit.

And this ultimately connects you to the issue of time. Just like it takes time to raise your children, so does it take time to market. You don't give birth to a child and then expect him or her to be a teenager the following week. You want your child to grow at a consistent and healthy age naturally. Your book-child is the same. And once you grow at a steady pace and others become more aware of this book/child the effect just ripples outward. Your child has learned to spread his or her wings and is soaring across the sky touching all those encountered along the way. You are no longer crawling, stumbling, walking, or running but now flying!

And remember, you have the same number of hours in a day as Stephen King, Anne Rice or Pat Conroe. They just use their time to their advantage and you can learn a lesson from them. Sure they have big publishing companies helping them advertise, but it didn't start out that way for any of them. They all had one thing in common. They believed in their writings and had a desire/passion to share it with others. They used their creativity to help them succeed. And so can you! Actually you have an advantage because the Internet wasn't available to them when they were struggling to succeed. So, don't look at your challenges as shortcomings. Instead search inside any 'shortcomings' and pull out the positive. It's always there, sometimes well hidden but always there.

Now we get back to the original question, 'Do you hate marketing?' Of course you don't! You truly just 'think' you do. And that's the operative word, 'think'. Much of our success has to do with how we think. Our attitude about who we are and if our book or service is valuable to others. Before we set out to convince someone else that what we offer is good, we must believe it first. How can you try and sell it if you aren't sure what you offer is any good? Obviously you do believe in what you're selling or you wouldn't be putting your heart and soul into it.

But that little voice inside your head will often pipe up and try to dissuade you. You'll think of umpteen reasons why your book or service isn't up to par with the competition. Rather than thinking of it this way, shift your perspective and know that there's enough out there for everyone and just because others are successful doesn't mean you can't be too. Actually their success is proof it's possible for you to succeed! Always comparing ourselves with others is really a form of self-sabotage. Believe in your self. Don't think of marketing as a chore but rather as an opportunity to share your child's beauty with the world.

Convince yourself that you LOVE marketing! You've already had countless hours telling yourself that you hate it, so now reverse that thought programming and do the opposite. I used to think I hated marketing too. Not anymore! You'll be surprised at how effective this will be and in time you'll realize you truly do love marketing because you love your 'child' and want the very best for this creation. Have fun! Be creative with your marketing. Do you hate marketing? Nah! You just thought you did. Now you know better! It's your child and your child is worth it. And so are you.

©2002 Dallas Hodder Franklin
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Dallas Hodder Franklin, Writer and Creator of the writing site designed for Writers. SellWritingOnline.com delivers while you discover how to sell your writing online. Visit us at: http://sellwritingonline.com