When I started working in ad agencies right out of college, I believed that their goal was to help get the word out about awesome products. How adorable. How naive. After attending my first focus group and seeing the kind of psychological information our clients wanted to incorporate into our campaigns, I learned 2 hard lessons: 1. the products aren’t always awesome and 2. the goal is to SELL, SELL, SELL (despite point #1).
This truth caused me to start viewing my industry as manipulative and shady. We would discuss how to prey on human fears to create a problem that could (of course) only be solved by our product. We would intentionally poke at insecurities and weaknesses. It made me sick to be honest.
So I tried for years to break out – to find products that were actually awesome to promote and teams that didn’t want to intentionally mess with potential customers psychologically to hit their sales quotas.
In the end, I was able to step out of the ad agency world and into marketing. This was a very fortunate move. I didn’t realize at the time, but advertising is obviously meant to advertise a product. In today’s world, that seems to have shifted to “sell the product by any means necessary,” but marketing is more broad (technically advertising sits under it).
Marketing is now synonymous with communication in my mind. It’s not about selling by any means necessary, but instead it’s about communicating your message. It’s about letting people know your product even exists, educating them about it and providing useful information.
But after my adventures into the darkness that was the Manhattan ad scene, I was jaded towards all kinds of advertising, including marketing. I viewed it all through a dark lens despite its apparent lack of evil intentions (compared to advertising specifically). I didn’t trust it. I had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t making the world a better place and knew that when I was working at ad agencies, I was actively making it worse.
I am now happy to report that I have changed my tune and that’s all thanks to this amazing blogging journey I’ve been on since taking this site live in July. Several meta-articles about blogging cite that the blogging workload is actually 20% writing and 80% marketing (an oversimplification, but stay with me…)
I read a few of these articles after taking my site live and was dismayed. I have to bring my work life into this?! Do I have to pull out my rusty advertising skills and manipulate people into reading my words by using clickbaity titles and fear-based tactics?!
As you probably already know: No – I didn’t.
I’ve been writing this blog for over 4 years and I never actually understood that marketing isn’t wholly evil until now. Since this blog currently doesn’t have any monetization of any kind, I’m not trying to get anyone to buy anything or give me money when I interact on Twitter or Instagram. In fact, I haven’t even changed my online habits since taking the blog live. I’ve just been me.
For the last several years, I would wake up, check Twitter, reply to some of my favorite bloggers and go about my day, checking in occasionally during a long unnecessary meeting or while waiting for the bus.
Nothing has changed. Recently after hearing a few bloggers talking about “marketing themselves and their blog” it finally clicked – THIS is what marketing is supposed to be. Just telling people you’re here! It’s not about manipulation or trickery. It’s simply putting your hand up and saying “Hey – I’m here too!”
If you have the best blog in the world and you don’t tell anyone about it (on or offline) your words will never be read. And I suspect we all write so not just us and our Moms will read it (though I did enjoy that approach for many years). We want interaction, discussion and even disagreements because that’s how we grow as people and evolve our ideas. So I’m here and happy to say that blogging finally helped me truly understand and appreciate my profession. Let’s see if this newfound appreciation helps the next 17 months fly by.
What are your thoughts on marketing and advertising? Do you think of them as wholly good or evil?
Thank you for sharing this. I have calmed down a lot from what all the metablogging community says you “should” do as a blogger. I feel that your approach is the best–just be yourself. I am impressed by your story and your writing all the time.
“I am impressed by your story and your writing all the time” Well you just made my day 🙂 . Thank you so much! That’s wonderful to hear. Happy to share and glad I’m not alone in bucking what you ‘should’ do. That sounds like a job to me 😉 .
It took me a long time to realize what bloggers meant by marketing too! I figured they meant buying FB ads and going on MarketWatch, which help but isn’t the whole picture. I also felt like everyone already knew each other because they would say my “friend so-and-so-blogger” and that I wouldn’t be able to break in because the clique is set. Boy was I wrong! There are actual friends and the community is welcoming!
I’m glad I’m not alone, though I’m embarrassed it took me so long since this has been my whole career *facepalm* lol. Interesting you thought there was a clique mindset before getting into it. I didn’t feel that way for some reason.
Where did you usually see “my friend X”? I’ve seen it on guest posts and assumed that’s the regular jargon (even if they’re not friends), but haven’t really seen it elsewhere. And yes – yay for this welcoming community! My number of FIRE friends is quickly overtaking my ‘OG’ friends – I’m going to have to come up with a good reason I’m hanging with my OG friends less lol! Thanks so much for stopping by!
i think i started my little blog for two reasons. first, i wanted to see if i could write coherently and personal finance was something i knew a bit about. second, i wanted to try and figure out some of the technical and marketing stuff in case we wanted to sell something in our future. the first part has gone well with making a few connections like you but i’m really turned off by having to do the second part. i don’t know if i can take the time for the pinterests/reddits/instagrams of the world just for a few potential future dollars. it might just be a case of paying my little hosting fee and tossing my strong opinions out into the world for free.
“it might just be a case of paying my little hosting fee and tossing my strong opinions out into the world for free” – I’m all for that if that’s what you want to do! I’m obviously about doing what you enjoy and possible future dollars aren’t a very tangible incentive to use your time doing something you don’t want to. I imagine that if you want to sell something in the future you can figure out the tech and marketing stuff (or pay someone to do it if it still doesn’t interest you)!
I started my blog (three times over now) cause I have a lot to say and my wife’s gotten over me telling her about the joys of fixed income investing and dividend yields. I don’t market myself much, but it would be interesting to see what happened to readership if I did.
Haha – that is a wonderful reason to start any blog 🙂 . If you want any tips for non-spammy/not annoying types of marketing for a personal finance blog I’m happy to share. Basically I’ve found that there are places where people are very encouraging and supportive around the community and willing to spread your message for you if you put yourself out there.
Thank you for writing this. I felt this way towards blogging for a long time and it was actually your blog that changed my mind. I was so used to reading the type of blogs that seem to be made solely to push products or as a second job I thought that was all it was. (And good for them, but not for me).
Your blog showed me that there was another option, kind of like how FIRE is another option to working until 65 😛
The last line about “we want interaction” pushed me out of being a lurker and writing this comment haha.
Oh wow – that is so nice to hear!! Glad I could help show you another side of blogging (especially as an analogy to FIRE!) And THANK YOU so much for commenting. I was a lurker for years myself, but found it very rewarding to come out of the shadows. I hope you did as well 🙂 . Thanks so much for stopping by!
I love seeing the interaction going on in finance blogs, almost always positive/constructive so it felt way less risky than say joining in on a youtube comment thread lol
I’d love to have your tips on non-spammy/not annoying types of marketing for blogs. Now that I’m “out” I don’t want to go back!
It’s definitely less risky. I have yet to get any type of troll behavior – just encouragement and kindness. Happy to share my tips! I don’t see an email or Twitter handle (for a DM) on your site. Email me at APurpleLifeBlog [at] gmail.com and I’ll give you my suggestions. And definitely don’t go back 🙂 – it’s awesome out there!
Hi Purple,
Your message is spot on for me. I used to read a lot of FIRE and finance blogs but over the last several months something changed (for me). I felt like they were all selling something. I was tired of the ads and the affiliate links. I started my own little blog and I had to laugh when you mentioned your mom being the only reader. Right now I know that my mom is my number one fan! Thank you for sharing your message!
Yeah for some blogs it’s very obvious that their goal is to make money instead of providing ‘value’. There is a balance there and some blogs seems to skew more to one side than another. I personally don’t mind unobtrusive ads or even affiliate links. People should be compensated for their hard work, but when it gets in the way of the content I do find myself getting annoyed. And haha glad your Mom is your #1 fan too!! Thanks so much for stopping by.
I don’t find anything wrong with marketing. People work hard to produce anything and the revenue they make helps sustain the product and keep it growing. For bloggers, revenue is usually derived from traffic volumes and without any marketing, it’s difficult to grow the traffic to where you could start making money. When I find marketing annoying, it’s usually because of tacky placement of the message or inadequate product quality. Marketing itself isn’t inherently bad but in practice, people can do a poor job at it 🙂
That’s a great perspective. Seeing the inner workings of ad agencies definitely jaded me a bit where marketing is concerned. I think I have a healthier relationship with it now. I’m completely with you on tacky message placement and inadequate product quality. “Marketing itself isn’t inherently bad but in practice, people can do a poor job at it” – This is perfectly put.
As a fellow professional marketer, I completely agree with your feelings about the dark side of then business, especially the psychological trickery of advertising. I also can’t help but feel that what I am doing is far from being helpful… and so am taking action to move away from that world to actually helping people more directly.
Hello fellow marketer! Glad I’m not the only one feeling these things. Awesome job taking action to move away from that world and help people. Let me know how it goes!
I think marketing is only bad when the product doesn’t live up to the promise.
And as you know, I work in advertising, too, and I don’t have any icky feelings at all. It might be because the products I work on are ones I used even before I started working on the accounts.
I’d say my job helped me appreciate blogging soooo much more. At my job I voice so many ideas that get squashed. But with my blog I get to take that creative energy from my job and actually execute things the way I want.
That’s a great, succinct way to put it! So glad you don’t have icky feelings and work on products you actually like (maybe I should have tried that 😉 …). That’s awesome how blogging helped you make your own decisions and express your creativity. I haven’t really thought about it from that angle!! Super cool. That adds even more meaning to blogging for me. You’re completely right. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Nothing has gotten more ruined by ads and algorithms than Instagram. Unless I catch someone’s story I miss so much content. Evil…
Iiiinteresting – I haven’t even thought of that! A lot of the people I follow actually save all their stories on their main page so I don’t ‘miss’ anything. But I also kind of accepted that if this is how the platform goes (look every second or FOMO) that I’m not going to invest in it. I did my first story last month lol and I may never do one again.
Thank you for your honest and informative posts. I haven’t stopped reading since last night lol. I live in Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 , I’m 46 and semi retired. I started an animal rescue 7 years ago and that is where I now spend my time. The gratification is enormous, but it came also really bring you down. I’m lucky that I planned well financially and thought about money and spending the way I did. I can now be free to do what I see as truly important. I was so busy working before tho, that I did not see the sad things going on in the world. I didn’t have time to think about all of the animals that needed my help . Recently someone mentioned that our organization should have a blog. I’m not that internet savvy… I didn’t know what a blog was. We get clobbered with messages each day to take animals, to help with problems related to animals. We spend 4-6 hours per day just answering messages. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to benefit from a blog? Could we pay some of our vet bills this way?
Since last night?! WOAH! Congratulations on your semi-retirement and your animal shelter! As for making money from a blog – that’s not my expertise since I don’t make money here, but from what I’ve heard it’s a very long process to make any significant amount of money from a blog (especially enough to pay vet bills). As for benefits it would help people get in touch with you and know what your shelter is about, but it seems like you already have that covered if you’re getting enough messages that it takes 4-6 hours to respond! Did this person say why specifically they thought you should have a blog for the shelter?
Hi! So I just stumbled upon your blog the other day – and I’ve been reading until 4AM in the morning from Korea LOL. Well truthfully speaking, I discovered your blog at 3AM, but that was because I am trying to launch a blog as we speak and I REALLY wanted the theme to be the colour purple. I literally googled purple blogs, and yours was the first thing Google recommended!
I’m glad I clicked onto your blog, because besides the similar penchant we have for the colour purple, I also worked in marketing/PR agency and c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y relate to your first paragraph on the constant pressure to sell. For example, even though our team’s marketing campaign would go well, I never felt wholly good about it because the product we promoted was actually detrimental to the environment (another interest of mine). So I’ve been having a dilemma as of late, because I know I like marketing and might be even good at it (or not hehe!) – but the selling mentality just doesn’t align with my values. However, blogs like these remind me why I am still interested, because like you said, I think marketing is an important ability that lets people know about the good stuff already out there. Because if you hadn’t cleverly put the keyword ‘purple’ into your blog name, I might not have stumbled onto this gem of a site in the first place.
I face a second dilemma though: this ‘Karuna’ theme is the exact style I’ve been finding for HOURS (sleek design, easy-to-read font, big photo at top), but then again I don’t want it to be a rip-off of your design – because I don’t think both of us would want that. I’m trying to change the default colour as a minimum (sad I know, bye bye purple..); do you perhaps any resources you’d like to share that might help me with this? Because the theme is limited, it seems I might have to use some code..sigh.
Thanks in advance! And please keep the posts coming 🙂
Hi There! And woah – even reading through my blog for anywhere near an hour is super impressive and flattering! I’m sorry your agency experience matched mine in the pressure to sell products. And ugh I’m sorry your product went against your values – that sucks. I’m glad you got out of there.
And yes my ideas on marketing have shifted and I now think of it as “communications” instead of the narrow advertising/selling. And glad my ‘promotion’ of purple led you here – that’s so cool 🙂 .
As for Karuna: I’m no wordpress expert, but just from poking around it does look like you’ll need some code if you want to change the underlying theme color. Though other things you can do is change the background color or add the green stripe that’s present on the main theme example. You can also just run with the theme as is and have a different picture 🙂 I don’t mind. It’s a free theme after all – I’m sure a lot of people use it.
I’ll definitely keep the posts coming 😉 ! Thanks so much for your awesome comment!