I love food and most things related to food (growing it, cooking it, enjoying it).
I’ve had the good fortune of being an online marketer for 13 years. What do online marketing and food have to do with each other? Apparently a lot because for the past couple of years when I’m doing one of these disciplines I learn something that I can apply to the other. Today I’m embarking on a new blog adventure called, “The Morsel of the Story” and will hopefully draw illuminating analogies between search marketing and cooking. My love for food often crosses over into love of SEO (I’ve even helped with SEO for the purpose of experiencing amazing food. Check out our friends at this new West Linn restaurant, Allium Bistro)
I’ve never made Coq au Vin. It’s always looked intimidating and it takes a lot of time and planning. But a few months ago I set out to create my first Coq au Vin. I scoured my cookbooks and my favorite online recipe sites and came up with one from Bon Appetit Cookbook with illustrations and good step by step instructions that seemed daunting, yet doable. Coq au Vin takes twenty-one ingredients, nine steps and two days to prepare. Where to start? Accepting that there are risks and it may not be great allowed me to forget my concern and be excited about the potential reward.
My education and early career were in Journalism. I enjoy writing, but don’t have the confidence that all of my content development efforts will be rewarded with great exposure.
Writing well takes time and in online marketing 1 article out of 20 may provide great impact for you or your client. Writing is risky mostly because it takes effort that may or may not be rewarded. But when it is rewarded, that risk becomes encouragement and fuels creativity and excitement about a very important online marketing strategy.
Not every press release or blog post or article you write will be a masterpiece. Not every meal you create will be delectable. But encouraging yourself to pursue the masterpiece ups your game on a day-to-day basis. Now that I know I can make Coq au Vin (it was amazing, the family loved everything about it except the amount of dirty dished created in the process) I’m less fearful of preparing a duck ragu dish I love that used to intimidate.
Once a post or article gets picked up by the Wall Street Journal or American Express you have more confidence that efforts will be rewarded. (Read this marketing blog to learn more about facing risk and quieting what Seth Godin calls “the lizard brain”).
For every great effort it’s thoughtful to take a step back and acknowledge the “why?” Why make Coq au Vin rather than eating Chicken McNuggets, because ultimately it’s so damn tasty.
But there are other reasons, like the way the kitchen smells when it’s filled with the aroma of fresh sauteed garlic, smoky bacon and lightly simmering French Burgundy.
Why make a long term plan for online marketing rather than jumping on the “because everyone else is doing it” bandwagon? It’s risky sure, but there are great rewards.
Every day is filled with choices, like picking up Chicken McNuggets or creating Coq au Vin or responding to that “get on page one at Google for just $19.99″ email rather than creating a long-term relationship with a proven online marketing agency or creating long-term goals in-house.
Satisfying and long-lasting results come from dedicating the time, effort and acceptance of risk.
The Morsel of the Story? With great risk, comes great reward.
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