Viral marketing & up the creek
A former editor and formerly close confidant will have a new book coming out about viral marketing. I’ve got to wonder, just a little, about how much of this was based on early work with me. Guess I’ll have to buy the book and see.
The whole idea of sending out the scopes, for free, was based on a quick conversation with said former editor, a few months back. That’s why they are called “experimental” as the feedback I’ve gotten is a little mixed. It runs in two, distinct categories, “I prefer the web page,” and “I prefer getting the scopes in my mail.”
With the web page, there’s added benefit – from my point of view – of advertising, promotions, links, and the quote from Shakespeare each week. More fun, more interactive. Even though I have the website’s extensive tracking program disabled, I can still get a thumbnail sketch of traffic, such as it is.
The e-mail distribution works differently. From the other day, I got three readings because one of the subscribers forwards the scopes onto another person. The other person called for a reading, and that would qualify as a success. What was funny, though, was the reaction to the scopes, “I don’t usually read them, just sort of skim through….”
I sort of skimmed through Tuesday. Ma Wetzel was in town, so I strolled up to her hotel, had some lunch room serviced in, those Scorpio’s sure know how to live in style, then I carried her suitcase down stairs, or rolled it on the elevator, patted her on the head, and took off for the creek. Hot weather, a trip by the post office, a dip in the cold water, all sort of works out the way it’s supposed to. Ma Wetzel was less than understanding about watching me walk off, but routing for my little jaunt just worked out perfectly. Got to say hello to a homeless guy I know, so it was a little bit of everything, from a deluxe suite overlooking the capital to my friends who don’t have a roof over their heads.
