No matter the time or place, something will be new, shiny, or trendy. Regardless of how attractive these things may be, always stick to the basics before venturing beyond.
After reading Taylor Pearson’s 100K Frameworks, number 3 stuck with me the most, Be Old School, Boring and Execute, along with #6, First Sales, then Marketing. Basically, he’s saying (because it worked) stick to the basics, get on the phone and pay attention to what works. In his example, cold calling, trade shows, Adwords, email and organic traffic were the ticket. I’m sure everyone can do at least 2 of those things (ie: you already have a phone and an email account).
Some of these basics online can be completely over looked, like the founder of World Star Hip Hop attesting that his key marketing tactic was watermarking all of the videos. Although controversial, World Star has build a huge following using the basics. In his interview with Alexis Ohanian on Small Empires, he explains how a lot of their marketing was just plain simple.
Here’s that full interview. The entire Small Empires series has been a really good look into some young companies that are doing very well.
I truly believe that no product or service is so special that it deserves exemption. Paul Graham explains how companies in Y-combinator, one of the top incubators for startups, need to recruit users manually in order to succeed. However these founders happen to crowd source users is up to them, but its still the same as a sales guy, first day on the job. You’ve got to start somewhere, where do I get my leads? Back to basics.