A Step Back

Hello everyone! Well, it's been awhile since I've last posted, but I wanted to say that I'm taking time to learn as much as I can. I've been looking into books that I need to get a hold of to learn more about marketing. So far, I'm going start with Dr. Robert Cialdini, who's actually a professor at my alma mater (and a sociologist, not a marketer). Dr. Cialdini has done a lot of work on how social groups respond to different things, and his work has huge implications for business, sales, and marketing. Exciting stuff. I'm also going to pick up a few books by Malcolm Gladwell, who does a lot of analysis in a lot of different areas of life. So as soon as I can get some cheap copies, I'll start a different stage of the research process.

In the meantime, I'd like to take a step back from my last post, which was more than a little ambitious. I mean, I certainly understand that a guy with no experience doesn't really belong critiquing national ad campaigns. I haven't studied the target demographics, I haven't seen any focus group reports, and I definitely do NOT have experience in marketing. That being said, I'm going to try and explore some areas of marketing that I maybe didn't even know existed until I started networking with professional marketers.

I recognize the difference between the creative side (ad photography, ad layout, etc.) and copywriting, for example. I actually think I could do both, but I know me rather well and no one else does, so until I show someone I've got what it takes, I doubt anyone would believe me. I call this the "put up or shut up" method of pursuing a job and I'm going to start taking it very seriously. There's a wonderful blog post by Ian Lurie about how to write copy, and I intend to take his advice. I'll try to get a better education about what makes good copy writing as well, but I think that nothing prepares you for a career besides diving right in, learning as you go. So my next post will be about a couple different items that I wish to practice writing copy for and see how I do!