Nathan Hangen

Marketing is overrated [VID] http://bit.ly/d5Pw19 (no babies were harmed during the making of this video)

Marketing is Overrated http://bit.ly/d20HS8 Blogging.alltop

I like you even more now. Newcastle. Yum.

Excellent points Nathan. Art. Exactly.

It seems the trend is make something to make it – to have it for sale. Launch it. Market it. Repeat.

Ask yourself: Am I prepared to make this the BEST it can be? Am I prepared to create something of TRUE value?

If you're not ready to put the effort into it for the above – then does the world really need it?

Marketing isn't overrated. That's abit of hyperbole to get our attention. But Marketing isn't the key, which is what I think you're saying. Marketing isn't the point. The product is the point. And if the product isn't amazing – why does it exist?

Nathan – the kids are doing nothing for your “I'm an asshole” image.

You ever just feel like saying, “Man. I don't care about any of this.”? I find myself saying that more and more these days, in relation to this market. It's the little clue I give myself that I'm starting to disengage and need to shift my focus elsewhere.

So my solution has been to get really involved in other markets and take all this knowledge and apply it somewhere where people don't know about it yet – and teach it and evangelize it in new markets that I'm more passionate about (like I love the personal finance market, and I even love the cooking/baking market). That's where my long-term income is going to come from anyways.

It's also why I prefer to work with clients, versus launching new products and just being in constant launch mode. I like people.

I don't know if marketing in and of itself is overrated, or if the marketing we're doing currently is what's overrated. Probably both.

haha, I didn't have a choice, and I needed content!

I do feel like that, every day. I don't know how to battle it. On a daily basis I have people asking me for products to buy, and I realize I don't have many…but I don't want many.

I have a few things that I really believe in, but I'm moving away from the MMO and the marketing stuff into more tangible product lines.

I'm really excited about the mobile stuff and Blogger Beats, for example. Beyond Blogging will always be a core part of what I do, but that's about as far into the info-marketing as I want to get. There's too much fun to be had to be locked in a niche.

Not sure either on the marketing, which is why I've tried to start following other people in other niches. I'm just tired of screaming.

Can always count on you to call it straight

So delicious. Not as good as Lion Stout, but it's always on sale at my local Rite Aid and it's in my top 5 favorites…I certainly can't complain

Hey Nathan,

a grrreat product IS marketing itself. Because if it's awesome, people will spread the word, and that can turn into a wild fire. The old way of launching your products is becoming more and more obsolete in some areas – we have to advance, I agree.

People still follow the old model, the one you describe, because everyone wants a piece of the cake without really adding something new. The best products ARE the marketing – like Zappos: shipping shoes two-ways, providing offers from the competition on the phone etc. The worse your product, the more you have to promote it.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nathan Hangen, Alltop. Alltop said: Marketing is Overrated http://bit.ly/d20HS8 Blogging.alltop [...]

Your video has just made me realise how important videos and that personal touch in blogging. Think i'll have to go comb my hair and crack out the video camera.

Marketing is Overrated http://bit.ly/b57VDS via @nhangen

It's not marketing that's the problem – you have to have marketing no matter how good the product is. The problem is the way we all market on line. Everyone seems to have decided that to market an online product you have to create this huge wave of hysteria about it, introduce some kind of false scarcity and try to make a million in a day or a week. That just isn't sustainable, and that's why everyone talks about launch fatigue.

In traditional markets it just doesn't work like that – Zappos is a good example. That business started drop shipping other people's stuff and didn't make any money for some time. But they gradually built up a reputation and a head of steam and became a major player.

Your Blogger Beats is like that. No big launch, you just got it out there and people started talking about it. Some clever and selective market will help it to grow. And it's a good example of the route out of this problem – create decent stuff, price it sensibly and keep selling it over a period of time.

Marketing is Overrated http://ow.ly/17BrGA

RT @christiantjr: Marketing is Overrated http://ow.ly/17BrGA

Don't get me wrong…I LOVE marketing, but I just think it's overrated.

Instead of creating a product called “How to get people to buy your shit,” people should be creating “How to create something people want to buy.”

The question is…would your product sell over time without a launch? If not, maybe there's a clue.

Like I said on Twitter, I just don't want to be a carnie.

If it works for others great, who am I to tell them how to do business…I just know it's not personally fulfilling for me. I got off track again, and this is my attempt at righting the ship.

RT @davidrisley: RT @christiantjr: Marketing is Overrated http://ow.ly/17BrGA – It's all hype?

Great video Nathan! I've been thinking along the same lines the last several months and am now in the launch phase of my first coaching program. I didn't want to scream loudly at my target market, but rather get them to change their way of thinking and challenge their view of what they think they know about Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

I fully agree, that the market is reaching a saturation point where there is launch after launch of the same thing in different ways that do not set themselves apart from the masses. The key to moving a customer to buy is to appeal to their train of thought in a way that makes them challenge their own thought processes an hopefully move them to purchase what you have to offer.

I'm glad someone finally said something about the saturation of product launches out there. I'm tired of visting marketing blogs where all they talk about is launch, launch, and then launch some more. What happens after the launch? Oh yeah, more launching.

I just discovered Danielle Laporte's site the other day and I feel comfortable there. She's not trying to push something on me. Instead she wants to be my friend and create a cool place for people to hang out in. I know that sounds kind of chessy but let's face it. Who would you rather support? A friend or someone trying to make you buy Version 96.7 of their crappy e-book about MMO or how to get 1 million Facebook friends?

I'm a dad of two little ones also, so the kids were a nice touch!

It's funny that May was the month of launches and now June is the month of launch evaluation. I saw a bunch of your comments on Navarro's site today as he is talking about launch-fatigue too.

I tend to think that the problem is not the launch process. It happens in all markets for all kinds of things. I think the problem is that there is no innovation or art in the launch process. We should be creating art…but we should also be using art to launch our products and services.

I think you are on to something by causing people to stop and evaluate what is going on. Thank you for prompting us to think and not just drink the kool-aid!

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from with the product launch end of it. It does get old.
I also agree with you and CJ that marketing is vital and necessary at the same time. It's really about finding what marketing works for you, while at the same time creating that work of art you described.

Brandon

Happy Birthday, Gabriel!

You know how I feel about this, Nathan. You're stepping up and changing the game. And we're watching.

Lead the way.

Cheers,
E

[...] is Nathan’s son – the one you see in the background of this video and in the photo below. It was his eighth birthday the other day, and we were talking and decided [...]

[...] with last month After seeing these two posts, I knew I was not the only one who felt overwhelmed: Nathan Hangen & Dave Navarro (look at the comments on both too…interesting stuff [...]

I don't think marketing is overrated, I just think it is not being used properly (myself included), and people are getting immune to the same methods.

[...] might have seen my video, but in case you didn’t, my son Gabriel, who’s in the above photo, turned 8 this [...]

Well….did you make a video?

haha, you stole the grrrrrrreat from my man Karl Staib

j/k

Anyway, I'm finding that zappos was onto something. Sneaking a surprise in what would normally be a regular experience is a surefire way to make happy customers. It's fun too.

Well….did you make a video?

haha, you stole the grrrrrrreat from my man Karl Staib

j/k

Anyway, I'm finding that zappos was onto something. Sneaking a surprise in what would normally be a regular experience is a surefire way to make happy customers. It's fun too.

Marketing is Overrated – http://bit.ly/9QBQGF