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11 Comments

First blog post, not sure we are doing it right.

We decided to put together some of our research and share it with the public for our first ever blog post. We have shared it out on our social media, but still aren't great at getting traction in the space. It is nice to have something published and out there, but it seems we have a long way to go in figuring out how to market ourselves.

Any ideas on what we could do better? Did we miss anything crucial?

Your comments and wisdom are always appreciated <3

Blog post below.

https://medium.com/@anthonyhoopes/5-ways-to-guarantee-first-time-delivery-d9515dec4ed7

  1. 2

    Don't talk about your own startup in the third-person. Own up to it, and be PROUD! There's no such thing as self-shilling, it's called marketing. ABC. Always Be Closing.

    The tone of this post feels weird coming from the founder, but would seem fine if it was an independent third-party. I wouldn't list disadvantages for your own product, especially if it's the last part of the blog post. Sandwich it by talking about the upside of using catchall so you leave a good taste in the reader's mouth.

    1. 1

      Thank you, this is great advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to read the post. I'll make sure it incorporate this into the next blog. Tone was definitely a concern at the time of posting, but I rolled with it. It is good to see the concern validated so I can make improvements. Really love the Glengarry Glen Ross reference, ABCs are easy to forget. I'll make sure to skip coffee today.

  2. 1

    IMO:

    I would say the content has very little value.

    "send it to work" -- as soon as i read that, I'm out.

    ---

    When the purpose of your content is just to plug your app/service, it's going to be pretty low quality in general, IME/IMO.

    The purpose of the content is to provide value to the reader. Focus on that first, and then think about what to write.

    1. 2

      Thanks for the feedback. You are absolutely right the post isn't coming from the best place, is a bit too pitchy and needs to provide more value to the reader. I'll work on this for the next one.

  3. 1

    Hey Anthony 👋

    It might just be me - I’m old and a little grumpy sometimes. But I really don’t enjoy posts or emails for that matter, with animated gifs - they distract from the actual content and I feel like they’re as cliche as the “made with ❤️” footer blurbs you see on every second site/webapp these days.

    Also, medium 🙅‍♂️
    It’s one of the two sites I dislike more than any others I can think of. Quora, with it’s semi-gated content is also a huge pita. Half the time it (medium) doesn’t load on my iphone and forces me to use the app. I install the app then uninstall it, repeatedly.. 🤦‍♂️
    Not great for content marketing, if you ask me.

    I’m sure many other people love the animated gifs and medium, it’s just not my cup of tea.

    HTH

    1. 1

      Hey Shaun, thanks for taking the time to read the post. I think you are on to something here. I definitely went with a bit of a formulaic approach and I can see how it comes off as pretty cliche. I'll work on that. What are some sites you really enjoy reading content on?

      1. 2

        Off the top of my head, I like the posts at gaps.com and detailed.com (both are by same person), stratechery.com and aeon.co

        The last two I pay for, they’re not content marketing, I just find them interesting.

        FWIW I thought your post was actually quite good, apart from the gifs. :)

  4. 1

    Just keep writing something. At least a blog post per week is good enough :)

    1. 1

      Thanks for the encouragement, Matt! I'll keep at it. :D

  5. 1

    Hey @BananaHacker. The post looked good. Blogging can be a tough space to operate in and see results from. Takes a lot of time and effort.

    1. 1

      Thanks for taking the time to read the blog and providing feedback, Jason. I'm glad you felt the post looked good. You said it, a lot of time and effort indeed. Its good to know its a tough space, I think my expectations were a little too high hehe.

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