Four years ago, Shelly
Palmer was asked to stop pushing an “advanced media agenda” by the Emmy®
Awards Board of Governors after writing a book called “Television Disrupted”
that anticipated the transformation of network TV. The son of Julliard-trained musicians and a composer/producer
himself, Shelly was not one to mope over a blown recital. Instead, he gathered his instruments; forty
email addresses, some fellow digital enthusiasts, a lifetime of technical
innovations and started a project that focused on emerging media and what they
call a “digital life.”
900 business days later, the
Shelly Palmer brand is nearly ubiquitous.
He is on practically every
media platform from daily newsletters to radio, taxis to Facebook, websites to
books and a broadcast TV deal is in the works. His consulting practice is
highly lucrative and he gets paid to speak all over the world. Shelly will tell you he’s been very
lucky, but after spending on hour on the phone interviewing him, I can assure
you luck has nothing to do with it.
In fact, the success of Shelly Palmer is a beautifully conducted
symphony of marketing savvy, revealing a six-movement composition on how to orchestrate a personal
brand.
1. Give Away the Melody
The marketing cornerstone of
the Shelly Palmer brand is a daily email newsletter that now goes to a whopping
575,000 subscribers. Noted Palmer,
“We take the 3-5 most interesting stories every day, distill them down,
contextualize them and try to add value.” Initially, these stories were
just provided as headlines, which encouraged readers to visit ShellyPalmer.com
to get the whole story and of course learn all about Shelly’s other
“products.” This marketing as service approach led
readers to sing Shelly’s praises, for in a world of information overload, he helped
them “look like a genius to their bosses and less-informed colleagues every
day.” By “relentlessly putting
something of value in people’s mailboxes,” Palmer stayed top of mind as a
potential speaker or consultant, like a pop tune you simply can’t shake.
2. Beat Your Measures
Well aware of the need to
acquire a steady stream of “customers” cost-effectively, Palmer and Co “took all
the available technology to promote a marketing circle.” Email drove web traffic which drove
video plays which led to speaking engagements which led to consulting gigs and
so on. But unlike most start-ups, Palmer assigned dollar value metrics to all the
things you could do on his website even those without an immediate return. For example, a newsletter subscriber
with a corporate email address was assigned a value of $4 since it would have
cost them that much to buy such a name.
By carefully tracking everything from email open-rates, to website loyalty
and recency, to conversions, Palmer was also able to make informed improvements
over time. On a side note, Palmer
castigated the use of website hits, calling them “how idiots track success.”
3. Try New Tunes
