Anyway, as old as this conversation is, Sean’s note made me want to kick in. Good old Sean. I can actually see what he’s saying, that a blogger shouldn’t be afraid to sell. It’s a real problem for many, and an ironic one for those who blog about any aspect of marketing.

That said, there’s undeniably the inverse issue, of bloggers so uninhibited about selling that they forget to do anything else. This is what I imagine Brian was reacting to.

But if I may step sloppily into the middle of this stew, I think what Gene — and by extension, I — was saying was that of course you can sell as often as you need to. However, WHEN you sell, you need to know how ready/aware that person your writing to is to be sold.

Say someone types “Copyblogger copywriting course” in Google. Well then, they’d better land on a blog or sales page or even order form that begins, “Double your freelance income for half price — copyblogger.com’s famous copywriting course on sale for 50% off until this coming Friday” or some such.

Offers will be made and made fast. Anything more would waste a reader’s time.

On the other hand, there are some that might get here by searching for “roundtables” that know nothing of Brian and the site, nothing of the course, and maybe nothing about the world of freelance copywriting. They will be a much harder sell and arguably a less likely one.

What they won’t be, most probably, is interested in a direct out-of-the gate pitch to buy a course. Rather, you’ll need to find a way in that surprises them, so that by the time you get to the pitch you’ve crossed that gap between where they and you reside. Maybe that means opening with a story. Or a news item. So long as you get in there in some way, without letting on immediately that there’s a product you’re about to sell.

Selling to the right awareness level is another way of saying you’re selling to the levels of trust. If trust levels are high, you can certainly sell in every post. If they’re not, then you’ve got some relationship building to do. Maybe that’s a more complete answer?

The more I read of the discussion about selling, telling, sharing value… the more I find myself coming at all this from a different angle.

Who do you want to work with? With whom do you want to do business? What sort of company do you want to keep?

These sort of questions drive me. I don’t want to sell to everyone. There are only certain kind of people I’m prepared to give my service to. If the “wrong” sort of person come looking to buy my services, I steer them elsewhere.

I use my blogs to reveal what sort of person I am. That ensures many people don’t approach me in the hope I’d work for them. I have no wish to spend lots of time putting people off directly. So I use the blogs to clarify the ground on which I stand. This puts some people off from even trying to give me business.

It’s important not to waste other people’s time. Important not to give the impression that I’m looking for work from whoever has money to buy me.

Perhaps I speak from a different position from most (I hope that’s true). I certainly feel I choose my clients carefully, and vet them before entering into any agreements with them.

Use your blog to bring vital matters out into the open. Blog to explain your business practices & especially your values. Blog to share your ambitions for the kind of world you intend to live in, and leave for future generations.

I long for the end of advertising – the death of advertising. It may never come but I’ll do my bit to help it on its way.

My business couldn’t satisfy all the demand I could attract if I tried another way. I’d have to build an empire of associates, staff, partners – and I no longer wish to spend my time managing others. [I've had plenty of practice at supervising others - I now wish to practise the art of building reputations & imagination management.]

To all of you I offer this thought: there is something not-quite-right about the paradigm Buy & Sell. I can’t yet quite figure out an alternative solution to the problem of replacing it with better thinking – but I’m working on it.

Thanks.

I keep my copy of ‘Breakthrough Advertising’ by Eugene Schwartz close at hand anytime I’m releasing a new product. The simple formula he’s laid out perfectly sets the compass on the marketing efforts.

(Btw… I have a couple private David Ogilvy books, that I’ll be sending your way for doing the interview series with Ogilvy and I. It’s great stuff from their archives.)

- Todd

I think one solution to mutliple levels of awareness is to immediately start breaking your lists up into at least smaller autoresponder lists.