Content Marketing for independent entrepreneurs done differently. Here's your first tip: You don't need to grow your following.
An Email About Fishing - Fyreside Newsletter - 6/30/25
Hey Reader,No, I'm not talking about phishing, the steal-your-data kind or the tie-dyed-weed-smoke kind. This is an email about fishing. Baiting a hook, tossing a line, hauling a catch, gutting and cleaning, just good ol' fashion fishing! (Yeah of course it's a metaphor for marketing. Have you read this newsletter before?) Marketing is a lot like Fishing If you respond to this and say that "because you used 'like' it's actually a simile," I will unsubscribe you from this newsletter. The goal of fishing is to catch fish. The goal of marketing is to get customers. Done, easy, you get it. Here's the thing, fishing is INFINITELY more complicated than "go catch fish." Have you been around a fisherman lately? What kind of fisherman were they? Were they a weekend warrior who likes to spend Saturday afternoon cracking beers at the reservoir? Were they a deep-water angler with a map of every pier on the eastern seaboard? Were they a commercial fisherman who haul in shrimp or crab by the net-full? Maybe they were some combination of the above, or maybe you haven't talked to a fisherman lately and now you're scared that you know less about fishing than you thought. (Also, for the purpose of this newsletter, "fisherman" is a gender-neutral term.) "Fishing" is a BROAD term As noted, there's like, a thousand different types of fishing. I'd be lying to you if I said I knew more than surface level info about any of them, but I know there's a lot and I know they're all different. How do I know that? Because I have a pulse and it's incredibly obvious. Your buddy Kyle with the cabin he spends a week in every summer IS NOT participating in the same activity that Alaskan Crab fisherman are. The bait on the shrimp boats in South Carolina is not the same bait that Rick bought at Old Dutchman Bait & Tackle. These people have different goals. They have different methods, different tactics, different tricks and secrets and regulations and etiquette etc. etc. Tournament Fishing Hey, did you know tournament fishing exists? If you didn't, buckle up. Back in 2017, the radio station I worked for sponsored a fishing tournament. The aforementioned Rick was a coworker of mine and also, much to my surprise, a prize-winning tournament angler. In the lead up to the event, I made the mistake of asking Rick how tournament fishing worked. I acknowledge that I brought this upon myself, but I assure you I was woefully unprepared to be accosted with fishing knowledge at a high rate of speed. Rick went into great detail about his radar system, what he looks for in a fishing spot, how different lures attract different fish, when you throw a fish back and when you keep it to be judged, and more that I have thankfully forgotten because holy shit I hate fishing. Point is, that day I learned just how nuanced fishing could be and how much more it was than "go catch fish." I didn't end up attending the fishing tournament, but Rick did well I was happy for him. What are you fishing for? Idk the statistic, and to be honest I don't even know how to go about finding it, but I'd venture to guess north of 75% of all fisherman will never do it "professionally." Again, I'm talking out my ass here, but I have to imagine the number of people who call themselves "fisherman" and the number of people who have spent time on an industrial fishing vessel are vastly different. Whatever the percentage is, it seems that the majority of fisherman know that, if they want to catch what they're after, they can't just chum the water and trawl a net. Even the most casual of anglers have their specific methods. They're not just showing up to water, tossing a hook in, and hoping to reel in dinner. So why tf is that what you're doing with your marketing??? I'm not going to spell this metaphor out for you, I have faith that you're smart enough to put it together. Long story short, stop tossing a lure in the open ocean in hopes of catching the perfect customer. Neither marketing, nor fishing, works that way. -MCp.s.
Celebrating myself this week because I got all the print marketing for Base Camp done! --- Let's celebrate your wins next. Ask me how!
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Bahnfyre
Content Marketing for independent entrepreneurs done differently. Here's your first tip: You don't need to grow your following.
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