If you are reading this, I must have got your attention somehow which is impressive. Everyone is trying to get our attention these days. That is part of marketing. It is a necessary evil. It is how businesses let you know that they exist and of community events going on. It is also overwhelming and exhausting. I simply want to hear music on the radio, to see what my friends are up to on social media, and watch my TV without constant interruptions.
Now that we have a small business, one of my primary duties is marketing. No worse of a person to do it then someone that 1) hates marketing and 2) is a scientist. Let’s talk about #2.
Scientists are not known for our marketing. Case and point:
That doesn’t get me excited or make me want to read it. It is a very standard journal article title. Here are two of mine: Managing and preserving the University of Alaska Museum’s rapidly growing Genomic Resources Collection. And Using the online collection management system Arctos to manage the University of Alaska Museum’s rapidly growing archive of cryopreserved genomic resources. Needless to say, I haven’t had people beating down my door over those.
However, media outlets take meh and make it hip, so you want to actually read it. So that mid-Cretaceous embryonic-to-neonate snake in Amber? Much bigger deal than the above title suggests.
OR
My goal this year is that I need to break out of my science marketing shell. To report more than merely the facts. Add some excitement and pizzaz, spark your curiosity, do something to get your attention, something to entice you to come to check us out.
So I went to a marketing talk by Mammoth Marketing put on by Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation for some ideas. They encouraged us to be surprising, twist your message a bit, and have courage.
I hope you follow along as I learn how to market and where to market. I have a feeling some things will be a flop and other advertisements, you’ll all be like “wow.” Perhaps one day I’ll be a legend like the Tip Top Chevrolet ads.
The Toy Quest 