Thursday, September 30, 2010

The What's Your Game? Game

If you don't read Naomi Dunford's IttyBiz, you should.

While much of Naomi's content is Rated R (frequent adult language, near-constant sexual innuendo, occasional partial nudity), she tells it like it is and is a brilliant writer.
Brilliant I tell you. Like Einstein + Shakespeare + Shakira brilliant. Naomi rocks. End of.

(In case you were wondering, I am trying to convince Naomi to publish a guest post I wrote about pirates, billboards, and liquor. Hence the sucking up. But she does rock, I swear.)

Check out IttyBizBookmark. Subscribe. Devour. Repeat. You won't be disappointed.

Anyway, once every two or three years, Naomi likes to dig up some cool thing she did two or three years ago, blow the dust off, and try it again. Today, she reissued her What's Your Game? game.

(Actually, she called it "What Do YOU Do? The Un-Meme Redux", but I don't know what that means, so I renamed it).

She challenged her readers (which in this scenario is me) to answer the following questions for their readers (which in this scenario is you). Buckle up.

What’s your game? What do you do?
"I'm all about helping the little guy. I see so many small business owners out there who are struggling to run their businesses, and don't have the time or the tools to market themselves effectively. It's like the internet is just passing them by, and there's a whole generation of consumers who aren't looking in the yellow pages anymore. I find it sad and frustrating and challenging and fascinating all at the same time. So that's what I do, I help local small business owners with their marketing. I do web design and SEO and press releases a whole bunch of other stuff, but I think the real value is in the relationship - having someone who is looking out for your business that you can bounce questions and ideas and concerns off of. That's me."

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?
"Lets face it, the knack and the love go hand in hand. It wouldn't do you any good to love marketing if you sucked at it. And it wouldn't do you any good to be great at marketing if you didn't love it. But I like to think I do have The Knack. For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by consumer behavior and how advertising drives and changes it, and I can often look at a billboard or a magazine ad or a website, or watch a TV commercial, and tell you with pretty decent accuracy whether it will be successful or be a total flop."

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?
"Anyone who owns a small business and knows they should do something (marketing wise), but doesn't have the time or the inclination or the motivation to make it happen. My clients are overwhelmed by it all, and I help them bring some order to that and get unstuck."

What’s your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?
"I know what it's like to run a business and worry about how you're going to cover the payroll or fix the truck. I'm somewhat unique in that my wife and I own a couple of very successful small businesses that have nothing to do with marketing. We have a proven track record of success, and I have a unique perspective on owning and marketing a small business. I also focus almost exclusively on local businesses. The big marketing firm in New York doesn't know the difference between Dunedin and Pinellas Park, and that can make a huge difference as well."

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?
"I'm always full of ideas, and my blog has really helped me put that energy to use. If I come up with some hair-brained new business or marketing scheme, I blog about it rather than launching a new venture, and that sort of gets it out of my system (and keeps my wife happy). So in the short term, I want to continue to grow my blog and my readership. In the long term, I'm planning a couple of e-books and courses of my own that will gradually replace some of my affiliate marketing products. I also have a day job and a business to run and two kids and a dog and a cat and a boat and all the other stuff that life throws at you, so I'm a pretty busy guy. But I'm having a blast!"



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