
Be Shameless - siddg
http://sameerparwani.com/posts/be-shameless
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alonmower
I feel like there's a balance this article is missing.

Yes, obviously if you're not doing any marketing and no one knows what your
company is, what it does, or how it's doing it's going to be a lot harder to
talk to customers/potential hirs/VCs

On the flip side if all you're doing is beating your own drum, spewing vanity
metrics, and not focusing on the things that truly matter to the business
(customers + product) then you're going to turn off a lot of smart, perceptive
people that you'd be lucky to have as your customers/employees/investors

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jwdunne
I think there is shameless and there is shameless. I don't see the examples
the OP mentions as being shameless really. Perhaps riding on the back of a
notable death or otherwise serious, negative event is shameless. For example,
in the UK, we recently had a roller coaster crash. An accident solicitor sent
out a marketing SMS along the lines of "Have you been involved in a roller
coaster crash? We can help claim the compensation you deserve". I would say
this is an example of taking shamelessness too far to the point where it's
disrespectful and ultimately harmful to your reputation.

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WalterSear
IMHO, it's a slippery slope, and it's a poor mindset to be in.

If you need to take advantage of your audience to get their attention, they
will not trust you, and the effectiveness of subsequent messages, and the
subsequent sale you are pursuing will be colored by that adversariality.

My personal anecdata, but I've watched 'not respecting your audience in
pursuit of attention' fail catastrophically several times. It's a popular way
to screw up.

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WalterSear
Don't do any of this. It's terrible, myopic, short-sighted and disingenuous.
It's part of the problem.

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cheese1756
What is your reasoning? Getting press isn't easy, and it can greatly help a
startup in terms of sales and contacts. Self promotion directly helps with
that, and also opens up connections that would have been missed otherwise.

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akhatri_aus
There's a hint of desperation in it that signals the product/service may not
be as good as it sounds.

Usually, good products are promoted by people who don't stand to gain anything
out of their promotion.

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ismail
Read 0-1

