Napalm Marketing
I was just discussing some of my personal marketing tactics with a friend and described them as “Napalm Marketing” where they are effective but you burn a few bridges. As you know, i’ve been a bit loud over the last few months trying to get my name out there more. We had the whole Silicon Alley People Choice Affair, my letter to Bill Gates, a voracious attack and discussion on the new your tech meetup discussion list against outsourcing to India and a period of a few weeks where I was so worked up and overworked that I became an arrogant prick. I apologize for the arrogance, I hate when I do it but it usually happens when I’m running too fast to have time to think. Now, I’m grounded so I’ll be fine. However, I do not apologize for my aggressive Napalm Marketing approach.
Napalm marketing is when you make yourself stand out and do audacious publicity stunts that achieve your goals but make you look like an asshole or showman in the process. Now, you may say that it’s not worth it. but it is. 9/10 people will know who you are as “that guy” and eventually forget about the tactics you employed. Also, just by getting your name out there, you are enhancing your long term credibility. After all, all press is good press right?
If people are ones that you can develop relationships with then those people will know who you really are and will forgive you though may castigate you for your audacious maneuverings - in the end, they will still take you seriously.
In the end you lose a few people that you didn’t know to begin with and at least those people now know who you are so if you run into them you have a talking point and hopefully can develop a relationship from there.
The most important point of marketing is that people are average has a very short memory for details, they only remembers grand generalizations (eye witnesses are notoriously wrong) and remember the old game “telephone” where you whisper something in one person ear and see what the last person thinks it was and almost always its totally different.
However, once you have achieved your goals of being more known and out there, DO NOT continue the tactics because eventually you will piss off your friends and then you are fucked. Your friends never forget.
PS. Dedicated to Larry
