Twitter, marketing, and shit.

Pretend for a moment that you have a cast on your leg and you're having a hell of a time crossing the road.  Someone offers to help you.  After you're across, you talk briefly and learn they are on their way to their own business... Let's say its a bakery.  In a perfect world, you might consider buying a loaf of bread from them.  If you don't bring it up, they might offer for you to visit the shop.  Maybe they offer to deliver you product, on account of your leg.

It's the perfect sale, and no one knows it.  It just feels like nice people doing nice things for one another.

The problem is if we wait for the perfect scenario to unfold, we'll all go bankrupt.  This is why salesmen are doomed to be assholes.  Salesmen ask for the sale, when the customer doesn't.  When is a salesman not an asshole; when the product/service sells itself.

This is where marketing and advertising comes in... I think.

A delicious loaf of bread will sell itself to someone looking for bread.  The bread needs a salesman for someone looking for new tires.  Marketing is about finding those hungry for bread, and convincing them its delicious.  Then, it sells itself.

Marketing to me seems like the task of making things that aren't cool seem cool... And this act in itself is very uncool.  ...Unless you're presenting cool things for how cool they are.  That seems cool, but let's face it:  everything for sale isn't cool.

Ok.

So I've been giving away CDs of my band for a few weeks now on Twitter.  This is what I do:
1.  I start following people
2.  I engage in conversations.
3.  I offer people my band's CD for free
4. I mail them a CD, Sticker, and a button
5.  Wait and hope for some kind of word-of-mouth buzz to spread, which aids the success of the band's future projects.

I'm not asking for a sale.  I dont imply they owe me anything.  I'm just making friends and giving gifts.

I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW HARD IT IS TO MAKE FRIENDS AND GIVE AWAY FREE THINGS.

There is a catch to what I'm doing, but I would say its pretty mild.  I figure the more free stuff I give away, the more people will like me...  Perhaps they will feel an unconscious need to do something nice for me.  If that feeling leads to higher attendance at our shows or the SALES of future merchandise, that's the "catch."  Not too bad, right?

But go back to the baker for a second.  What if you sensed that the reason they helped you cross the street was so they had the opportunity to pitch their bakery to you... That feels different, doesn't it?

Put yourself in both shoes, I guess.

Anyone want a free CD?