Geek Marketing 103
October 20th, 2006 by Chief NutAn article called “Geek Marketing 101” by John Dodds is referred to by Guy Kawasaki with a post of the same name. In the past year a major challenge for Acorn Creative has been to break into the Digital Communication / VOIP industry. These folks are, as they say here in NH, WICKED smaht. And they all seem to have a potentially fatal, but all too common, flaw. They want to market themselves with all the lingo, tecno-speak and acronyms that they can possibly pack into a 50 slide powerpoint presentation. I’m hoping the wisdom imparted on us all by John and Guy will shed light on a better path.
HOWEVER, this avoidance of techno-speak isn’t just for the megageeks of the world! Just about every industry has its own quirky language. When marketing your business, don’t fall into the trap of using jargon if you think that by doing so it somehow makes you seem more “in the know”. It doesn’t. What it does do is puts off people who might otherwise want to be invited into your world … without being demeaned or made to feel ignorant.
Clear communication without pretense is the way to win hearts and minds. Hype, jargon and spin should be left at the door.
I agree completely and allude to that in the intro. My blog is not geek specific and this post which is quite old was an exception stimulated by online conversations with fellow bloggers who tend to be more geeky then me. One question re communication though - why 103?
Comment by John Dodds — October 21, 2006 @ 5:49 am
Hi John,
Let me just say that I realize some of my titles are a bit obscure. If your article was “Geek Marketing 101″ and Guy’s article could, ostensibly be called “Geek Marketing 102″ … then mine should be next in line.
BTW, I love your blog … keep it up!!!!
Comment by The Chief Nut — November 9, 2006 @ 8:34 am