Another lesson in inadvertent marketing...One thing leads to another (apologies to the Fixx)...

An email I received yesterday has persuaded me to revisit what I termed "inadvertent marketing" in a previous post.

I am using that expression to refer to things we do without the intention of marketing ourselves that end up having the bonus effect of increasing business. My original example focused on one of my ebooks, Front Page News, which is a guide to writing successful press releases.

My goal in writing that ebook was to sell it, market it and profit from it. I suppose the thought of branding myself as a press release know-it-all probably limped through my noggin somewhere along the line for a second or two, but my focus was purely write/market/sell ebook.

That aspect of the whole process went tolerably well. By the way, if you haven't picked up your copy, the price goes up from $14.95 to $29.95 on the 25th (see, I am still marketing it).

The interesting side effect of the ebook, however, is that it has doubled my press release business. Just having the ebook out there with my name on it has increased my exposure and has drawn attention to the service. That's my example of "inadvertent marketing."

Just like the song says, "one thing leads to another," although I have always interpreted the Fixx message as being

Okay, now that I completely repeated an earlier post, let me add some new information...That email I mentioned in the first paragraph...

I know another freelance content writer who recently booked a job writing several articles on a particular medical procedure. It wasn't the most lucrative assignment in the history of freelance content writing, but it slid just far enough into the acceptable range that this individual took the gig.

The writer has parlayed that experience into another (better paying) job writing more on the same topic. The work on the first collection of articles created something of an "expert" status taht has multiplied its original value.

That was not the writer's original goal. The plan was just write/sell. It grew into a marketing tool all on its own.

I think experiences like these remind us that successful marketing comes in many forms. I am increasingly convinced that we don't recognize many of our best promotional tools. Inadvertent marketing is great, but I am redoubling my efforts to use what I have learned from it as an intentional strategy.