High Tech Marketing Blog

Last night I went to my first high school wrestling meet. It was intense.

My oldest son joined the team this year and last night was their first meet. Previously, Ryan has always participated in team sports. He has played football and lacrosse, both of which are tough and physically demanding.

By the way, if you are wondering what this has to do with marketing, I’ll get there in a minute.

There’s a big difference between team sports and wrestling however. When you wrestle, all eyes are on you. It’s just you against the other guy. Nowhere to hide. No one else to blame. No one else to share the credit with. It’s an entirely different level of pressure on the kid. And I have a new found respect for anybody who can do it.

At this point, my ERAM kicked in. ERAM stands for Everything Revolves Around Marketing and it describes how my twisted mind views much of the world.

I started thinking about some of the similarities and differences between internet marketing and wrestling, especially for people just getting started in either.

My son is lucky to have a good group of coaches who are helping him learn a brand new sport. He’s learning the basics of move and counter-move. But also some specific tactics and holds he can use to attack or defend against his opponents.

I realize how this is similar with getting started in Internet marketing. At first, the information comes in like water from a fire hose. We are overwhelmed with all the different aspects of internet marketing.

But after a while, there is usually some aspect of it that makes the most sense to us. For different people, different aspects of marketing seem to fit better.

For example, an analytical person might be more attracted to PPC marketing where keeping track of click through rates, conversion percentages and quality scores is crucial to success.

People who enjoy writing might be drawn towards article marketing where they can put their skills to use. Or perhaps blogging makes sense to them.

Eventually, you have to stick a stake in the ground and dive deeper into the particular area that interests you so that you can build your skills. Hopefully you can find some good coaches along the way that have been successful in that area and it can lead you to success.

But just like wrestling, when you step onto the mat the success is all on you. No coach or system will do it for you. At some point you have to step into the lights and put your skills on the line. Nobody can do it for you.

You may not win your first match. But you learn from it and move onto the next match (or marketing campaign) and improve as you go.

There is one important difference between wrestling and marketing.

Wrestling is a zero-sum game. One wrestler wins and one wrestler loses each match. And whatever your record is before this match doesn’t really matter. All that counts on today’s score board is how you do against this particular wrestler.

Fortunately, marketing is not like that at all. You don’t win in marketing at other people’s expense. In fact, helping other people reach their goals is a great way to help you reach yours.

It’s what we call abundance thinking. Is there competition? Yes. But there are always multiple solutions in every market niche. There is always room for new idea or a new twist. Established competition proves there is a legitimate market.

And yesterday’s competitor can easily become tomorrow’s affiliate partner.

As a rookie, my son didn’t actually wrestle last night. But at Saturday’s meet he is definitely wrestling at least three times. He’s nervous, but also very excited. He’s spent a lot of time in the gym with his coaches, getting ready. This Saturday, he steps into the lights.

How about you? Are you on the sidelines or are you in the game? I doubt any wrestler thinks he’s completely ready for his first match. But whether it’s yor first match or your first foray into marketing, you have to get out there, get something started, and improve on it.

Good luck in your match.