May 31, 2011

THE MOST BASIC MARKETING SKILL

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All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things.
— Bobby Knight


To market, you must be able to create and refine content.

That makes writing the most basic marketing skill. Writing lets you express your thoughts. Editing lets you refine them to convey what you really intended. You learn during this iterative process. Sometimes you get reach the magical A-HA when everything melds.

Why?

There's no real cost to writing. You don't need permission, a budget or a team. You don't need the latest gadget or extra batteries. All you need is a writing implement (e.g., pen, pencil, marker, crayon) and a writing surface (e.g., paper, napkin, whiteboard).

Writing reveals ambiguity early when changes are easy and inexpensive. Others can review your ideas: commenting is easier than the original creation.

But …

If you're not good at writing, there's still hope: you can brainstorm in a team with diverse skills and assign a scribe.

If you don't like writing, why not learn? You'll then have a valuable portable skill for life. You'll improve with practice. You'll get better at using social media (e.g., leaving comments on blog posts like this one).

Only Writing?

If you're better with visuals than words, that's fine. You're still using a medium that lets you invent, edit and iterate. You'll still creating a prototype and applying the second habit of highly effective people: beginning with the end in mind.

If you prefer talking, you can use a tool like Dragon NaturallySpeaking to transcribe your words into text for editing.

There's no downside to improving your skills. Once you have the words

Links

PS A picture may tell a thousand words but you'll need words eventually (even if only to describe the picture).

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