Pete Townshend started a blog last September. He is writing a novella. As far as I know, his only promotion was to mention it on his website. Granted his website is more promotion than most of us could wish for, but the entire content of the blog–even more–is at at the website.
Go ahead. Check them out. I’ll wait here.
Pete Never Was One for Convention
From his days with The Who, it was clear Pete marched to a different drummer. When it comes to blog marketing and promotion, it seems the same way. As far as I can tell, Pete didn’t follow any of the recommended wisdom.
- He didn’t get his own domain name.
- He’s using an unadorned blogspot template.
- He didn’t list his blog in Robin Goodââ¬â¢s RSS Top55 – Best Blog Directory And RSS Submission Sites.
- He doesn’t post consistently or often.
- He doesn’t read his comments.
- He rarely comments back.
- It’s probably safe to assume that he doesn’t comment on other blogs.
- Community doesn’t seem to be important on Pete’s blog.
- He doesn’t have an RSS feed or subscription button anywhere in sight.
- I suspect he doesn’t spend time thinking about keywords.
Well, he does have a picture, under the picture it says
What is well known is that I’m a rock star. You are not worthy etc. In fact you are worthy. And so am I. We deserve each other.
That’s how Pete writes.
I read four of his comments. One is a request to offer up prayers. One is a statement that visitors are reading the chapter wrong. One was a joke, I think. It was hard to understand. The last is an apology that the next chapter isn’t there.
Where Does that Get Him?
Pete Townshend’s first post–Sept. 24,2005–has 347 comments. Pete’s current post has 1,107 comments. His commenters are the same 30 or so people who talk to each other about all kinds of things. His site meter is locked, so I can’t tell you how many visitors he has had.
Technorati says he has 1,995 links from 529 sites.
His Wholinkstome profile looks like this:
Pete Townshend doesn’t need to do promotion for his blog.
Why Doesn’t Pete Townshend Need to Do Promotion?
Pete Townshend is a rock star. He doesn’t need promotion. He is a brand. He’s a big idea of his own. He can start something new, and his customers find him. He can ignore all of the rules and ride the interest on the quality music and the top-notch promotion that’s already been done. It’s been compounding year after year in his “virtual marketing account.”
But he’s Pete Townshend–definitely an exception to how things work.
Me? I have to do all of kinds of promotion like everyone else does. I figure I always will. So I do some every day. My virtual marketing account is barely open. Still I’m counting on the lasting value of every little investment I make.
What have you done lately to add to your virtual marketing account?
Sorry, Pete. I wasn’t talking to you.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Nice post.
So if we become brands (Brand You in the Tom Peter’s sense) it will follow us in everything we do. It doesn’t matter if you have a blog, wash cars or sing rock songs. the brand you create will follow you.
You are your brand.
I just wish I was Pete Townsend…
I think that’s how it works. Yeah, Chartreuse. I do.
Good marketing is sticky, like a sticky post. It stays with you.
I don’t wish I was Pete Towshend though. I wish I was Peter Gabriel. . . . or Tom Peters . . . or . . . the me I’m gonna be, hope to be, work on becoming.
Liz
You’re a rock star to us, Liz
Nice of you to say so, DavidC.
You’re my newest best friend. 🙂
Liz
I’m too fat to be a rock star, but I can be an awesome Peter in the future. But… I think those people are “famous” or have their fans because they didn’t care anything enough, so they focused on their on message instead of focusing in how to deliver that messages to acquire fans.
Thing is, you can get sick when a guy open a blog and suddenly have 40,000 visitors per day; while you are trying to get just 1,000.
I had beg for comments on my blog, and nothing happened. I think the best thing to do, is closing comments, having fun, and start posting every time you feel you have something worthy to say.
I’m going for it. Hear me rock.
Hi Javier,
You rock. You bet you do. I blogged for weeks before I got my first comment and it come from someone on the other side of the world!
Rich, at ebusiness strategy, a high subscription sight gets very few comments. I stop by sometimes to leave a comment because he looks so lonely in his picture.
I know what you mean.
Liz
I have no idea who Pete Townshend is. But I guess he’s quite famous. At least his blog is – PR6 is quite an achievement. (Successful-Blog.com is also PR6 – congrats, Liz!) Famous people can drive flocks of people to their blog just because of their name. That’s the power of branding. That’s not to say that small-time, no-name bloggers can’t become celebs… it just takes a whole lot more time, effort and creativity!
Hock,
Pete Townshend played with the rock band “The Who.” The did the first rock opera, “Tommy.” You probably know who he is–just not his name. 😛
You betcha we can bring crowds to our blogs and our business. We just have to be quality, consistent, and strong in our brand. 🙂
Liz