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> Blatant self-promotion manages to cause a visceral reaction in me Your visceral reaction is because you are not the intended audience for a piece of marketin

> Blatant self-promotion manages to cause a visceral reaction in me Your visceral reaction is because you are not the intended audience for a piece of marketing. For example, music that’s noise to me may be melody to someone else. We have had so many instances of being exposed to marketing not intended for us that we (a) don’t want to perpetuate the cycle by marketing ourselves (b) don’t even recognize good marketing any more. The reason for this is that in the internet age, we’re in an always-on marketplace. Being from India, the internet age feels like being in an tourist trap indian bazaar where someone is always trying to sell you something. This causes you to have your guard up until you can escape to the safety of your hotel room…and that is exhausting. The answer is to not participate in the tourist trap market. Build your own market (figuratively) by doing your marketing your way and hope people/buyers find you.

herbertl 4y ago
Great points about noise, and you really hit it on the nose with your final point—I've heard of a mental model of Twitter being likened to tapping a tuning fork and seeing who resonates (https://twitter.com/kevinakwok/status/1076967914580918277 https://twitter.com/kevinakwok/status/1076967914580918277). The most fun (and probably best) self promotion is done with fun in mind—Tom Critchlow's post on small b blogging vs. content marketing comes to mind (https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/02/23/small-b-blogging/ https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/02/23/small-b-blogging/), and he extends his thought with this one (https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/03/12/strange-attraction/ https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/03/12/strange-attraction/). I also liked Matt Webb's post on this (https://interconnected.org/home/2020/09/10/streak https://interconnected.org/home/2020/09/10/streak). Please excuse me if I'm being pedantic, I'd change the "hope" point to "showing a person"—even if it's just an email to a friend, cold emailing someone who you quote, etc.
herbertl 4y ago
Ah one more thing—I'm sure there's a better way to say this, but basically, the fact you're so considerate about noise is probably a great reason to actually post. I have a feeling the internet needs more people like you!

herbertl 4y ago

Great points about noise, and you really hit it on the nose with your final point—I've heard of a mental model of Twitter being likened to tapping a tuning fork and seeing who resonates (https://twitter.com/kevinakwok/status/1076967914580918277 https://twitter.com/kevinakwok/status/1076967914580918277). The most fun (and probably best) self promotion is done with fun in mind—Tom Critchlow's post on small b blogging vs. content marketing comes to mind (https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/02/23/small-b-blogging/ https://tomcritchlow.com/2018/02/23/small-b-blogging/), and he extends his thought with this one (https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/03/12/strange-attraction/ https://tomcritchlow.com/2019/03/12/strange-attraction/). I also liked Matt Webb's post on this (https://interconnected.org/home/2020/09/10/streak https://interconnected.org/home/2020/09/10/streak). Please excuse me if I'm being pedantic, I'd change the "hope" point to "showing a person"—even if it's just an email to a friend, cold emailing someone who you quote, etc.

herbertl 4y ago

Ah one more thing—I'm sure there's a better way to say this, but basically, the fact you're so considerate about noise is probably a great reason to actually post. I have a feeling the internet needs more people like you!