2 questions entrepreneurs should ask themselves before blogging on Medium
There are countless ways to market a startup today. From guerrilla marketing to cross-promotional activities to content marketing and social media campaigns, the means are almost infinite. Entrepreneurs, who naturally wear many different hats, often ask anyone within earshot, where does one start in terms of choosing the right marketing tactics to employ?
That’s the question I’ve been asking myself lately, because honestly? I’m passionate about AI, Blockchain, Machine Learning, I am also a teacher and a TM (transcendental meditation) practitioner, but I’m definitely not a marketer. So how did I end up here today, publishing my first blog post on Medium?
Advisors and friends had told me I should hire a PR firm, because PR is the best medium for establishing an unknown brand, but the PR firms I talked to shooed me away. They told me my budget was too small and that at this stage in Omni212’s lifespan, the best thing I can do is to produce DIY content and find a way to get it in front of an audience that will engage with it. The latter part of that tactic (hitting the target) is the complicated part — something even the best marketers struggle with.
I’m guessing I’ll find the secret sauce along the way, which I’ll then share with you so we can all do a better hitting our targets, unlike the poor chap in the above GIF.
2 Essential Questions
The majority of us writing for Medium are taking a risk by stealing valuable time and energy away from the things we do well as entrepreneurs to do something inherently foreign — write our own stories (DIY content) that others (if we find them) might want to read and engage with. That’s kind of intimidating! Regardless, I decided I should take up this challenge after successfully answering these two questions:
1. What makes a story engaging?
2. How can I suddenly become a good writer?
Had I not been able to answer these fundamental questions, no way would I have taken on this intimidating challenge. Therefore, I think it is my duty to lay out the answers I came up with so other entrepreneurs in my shoes can also quickly gauge whether or not a DIY content campaign makes sense for them too.
What makes a story engaging?
First, a good topic. And let’s face it: I work on cool shit. Leading-edge technology is fascinating exactly because of that — it’s leading-edge. The areas where I spend more of my working time sometimes seem to come straight out of Sci Fi novels. They seem fantastical, but they also have real world, business implications.
My life’s work is all about helping companies understand disruptive technology like AI, Machine Learning, and Cybersecurity. Because of that, I’ve been privy to some pretty cool learnings over the past few years. I’d like to share those learnings with you going forward, starting with my second post next week, which will focus on Blockchain and its potential impact on the banking industry.
Is it possible to suddenly become a good writer?
Someone close to me recently said writing was simply, “the written act of talking and you never shut up, so you should adapt to writing easily.”
I liked that. Then I learned about the concept of TL;DR!!
Will I become a good writer? Please, be my judge and provide me with some critiques, no matter how mean, along the way.
