Brian Clark just ran an interesting contest.

The idea behind his Twitter Writing Contest was simple: compose a story in exactly 140 characters and post it on Twitter. That’s it.

But notice the story had to be exactly 140 characters. No more. No less.

I loved the idea and told Brian I’d offer a signed copy of my book, Hypnotic Writing, to the winner. He agreed.

I just learned the winner was Derek Dysat.

His winning Twitter was:

The priest at the funeral home asked if she had been a loving mother. The children all stared at each other. The silence spoke volumes.

I wrote to Derek, congratulated him, and asked for his address.

He gave it. He then surprised me by saying, “I have to be honest and say I’m not familiar with any of your work, so I’m actually looking forward to the book.”

Not familiar with any of my work?

After writing about thirty books, being in five movies, appearing on national television, in countless newspapers and magazines, and running hundreds of websites and international publicity campaigns and writing hundreds of articles and blog posts, he never heard of me?

Never?

I’m not really surprised.

It’s a wake up call to all of us: you must keep marketing.

There’s an entire world of people who never heard of you (or me) who would probably like you, love you, or even buy from you.

But they never heard of you.

And they never heard of you because you’re not marketing enough.

Most people have a bad attitude toward marketing. But I’ve redefined it:

Marketing is sharing your love for what you do with the people who will most celebrate hearing about it.

Think about it.

Marketing to people who don’t care about your product or service is where marketing becomes tainted. People don’t like it. You can feel it. So you don’t like it, either.

But marketing to people who want to hear about your product or service, when you love your product or service, is true passion. It’s divine. And it’s a win-win you can celebrate.

I wrote back to Derek and said, “I’ll work harder on my marketing in the future.” 🙂

Ao Akua,

Joe
www.mrfire.com

PS – Brian Clark is at www.copyblogger.com He posts numerous wise ideas and insights about copywriting there. Well worth repeated visiting. Go see.

PPS – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mrfire 

15 Comments

  1. June 5, 2008 at 9:19 am

    What do you think about James Arthur Ray’s Harmonic Wealth system and his marketing campaign. Did you or your companies have anything to do with his marketing campaign blitz?

  2. June 5, 2008 at 11:22 am

    James is a friend and I support him and his book. Yes, I mailed to my list about his book. James and I were on Larry King together. I like him.
    joe

  3. June 5, 2008 at 1:25 pm

    Is it possible to reach and be visible/known to all 2.5 billion people in the world? 😉

    Maybe, maybe not. Yet I keep telling myself, “I’m already a rock star—I’m just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up”. 😆

  4. June 5, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Ah! Thank you, Joe – I was *just* writing about this yesterday

    I’m currently preparing for a teleseminar on marketing for metaphysical practitioners and your redefinition is PERFECT.

    There are no accidents!

    bright blessings,
    Elizabeth

  5. June 5, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    Ok, to be fair, after I looked at your site I did recognize you. No doubt I know who you are now!

    Thanks for getting me the book so fast! I got some free time coming up and plan on digging in soon.

  6. AwakenThePlanet!-Reply
    June 5, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    A wake up call is certainly what humantiy needs at this point in time.We are closer than ever to a time of great change.

    Google FEMA camps.We have 600 FEMA concentration camps in the USA awaiting something huge.

    Bilderberg Meetings are taking place June5-8 and they are deciding on when the US is going into Iran.There are people in the military currently a small number,who are getting the word out that the preparations for war with Iran are currently taking place and that the draft will be reinstated if we do go in.

    Bilderberg aka new world order is also probably covering depopulation.Which has long been one of their goals.We Need To Awaken As Many People As soon as possible so that we can join as one and stop this.

    infowars.com,truthnews.us,and prisonplanet.com all the information their is extremely well researched.It’s real,it’s here and We Can Still Stop It!

  7. June 5, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Joe,
    Excellent definition. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about marketing with no agenda. In other words, I want people to only want my goods and services if that’s what they need in their life right now. I guess that’s the “people who will most celebrate hearing about it” aspect.
    Thanks.
    Steve

  8. Marie-Reply
    June 6, 2008 at 2:55 am

    I found out about Joe two years ago when the famous Ho’oponopono article about the psychologist who cured the criminally insane was forwarded to me by an online friend, and have enjoyed his work ever since then.

    BDW, I personally don’t like aggresive marketing where I am reminded over and over again to purchase a product, or to buy more and more, and I think lots of folks resist this. Just giving input as a consumer as I had this marketing tactics with a magazine subscription and they lost me.

    Marie
    http://www.justabreathaway.com

  9. June 6, 2008 at 6:06 am

    A great wake up call Joe. I guess we all see marketing as a chore because it’s never ending, we can never relax and take a day off. We market 24/7.

    I guess we need to start seeing it as play time instead of task time 😀

    Love,
    Claudia

  10. June 6, 2008 at 9:54 am

    I like to think of my business being a delicious cake that I’m sharing with others. Some people don’t like cake, & some love it – you would still offer everyone a slice, wouldn’t you? And when a person doesn’t want any cake, do you take it personally? So….how about some YUMMY cake?

    Blessings,
    Elizabeth

    P.S. Joe, there’s some frosting on your mouth.

  11. June 6, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Welcome to the Twitterverse! Remember Twitter is a conversation, so follow those that follow you back, (ignore the spammers who follow 12 thousand people and have only posted two tweets…)

    TWEET ON!

    DRM

  12. June 8, 2008 at 2:31 am

    I like your definition of Marketing, you always articulate things very well, no doubt why you are so popular!

    Derek apparently recognized you, but I think there are still some people, if not many, don’t know about your work, even they know about you, they might don’t know about some of your books.

    I’m so impressed with your book about Ho’oponopono, so we (maybe not me, the divine intention?) created a group here:

    http://www.powerfulintentions.org/group/hooponopono

    Since I don’t know much abut Ho’oponopono, most of things on the site is from your materials (free to distribute ones). But it would be great if you could give us a short description of Ho’oponopono and possibly a comment for the group, please? 😎 🙂

    This is my marketing attempt, lol!

    Thank you for reading this Joe.

    I love you, I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you.

  13. June 9, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Joe, I have posted your marketing definition next to my keyboard, where it will inspire me every day. When I provide relevant marketing to others, there lives and my life are enriched.

    Thanks!
    Willie

  14. Arlene Hinsdale-Reply
    June 10, 2008 at 11:46 am

    Joe – I love your definition of marketing! I just opened my own home business and am doing some research on advertising/marketing. This definition brings a whole new meaning to my perspective. Now the key is to find the people that will “celebrate” what I have to offer them. I was curious if you have heard of the software program Glyphius? I came across this in my research and wanted to know if you have had (or heard of) any successes with this ad copywriting software? I will continue to watch for your insights to help motivate me as I build my business. Thanks for the new perspective!!!

  15. June 13, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    Oh dude that’s funny! It just goes to show how fragmented the Web (and the world) is.

    Even someone as famous as Joe Vitale comes across people who don’t know him from time to time! Another great article.

    Timothy Aaron Whiston

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