20 June 2007
Attention All Hunters, Fishermen, and Outdoor Enthusiast: I Need Your Help In Defending the Sanctity of Our Lifestyle!
Posted by Darrell under: Rantings Of An Outdoorsman; Blogging About The Outdoors .
We are under attack and I need your help! Our entire way of life, our passion, our sport has been challenged by a group humdrum marketing specialists, and it’s up to us to respond to the challenge. Due to what I can only assume is a grossly over-inflated ego, an acquaintance of mine has made a public claim that his marketing Website is of more interest than one devoted to hunters, fishermen, and outdoor enthusiasts. (Yes, it’s true - these people somehow think that pie charts and marketing strategies are more interesting than having a fish on your line or a deer in your sights!).
They must be proven wrong at all costs!
You probably are beginning to wonder “What really is at stake here?” The answer is simply “everything you hold dear (pardon the pun)”. Let me explain.
A certain acquaintance of mine, who just happens to be a non-believer (by this I mean he doesn’t hunt), issued a competitive challenge to me. He, more or less, said that my simple blog that is dedicated to hunting, fishing, and everything sacred could never, ever, not in a million years be as popular as his blog. Now get this. His blog is dedicated to the tiresome subject of ‘marketing’. Me, being the competitive type that any hunter can relate to, scoffed at his silly challenge.
Really, now, how could anyone (even a non-believer) actually think that ‘marketing’ could be more interesting than hunting and fishing? To understand this, you have to step into the mind of an unbeliever. You see a non-believer doesn’t believe there are really that many of us. He thinks we are just some small cult of whackos that run around in the woods playing with guns and bows and stuff.
“There just isn’t a big enough demographic to fully support something as magnanimous as your blog”, I think I heard him say. “You are targeting much too small an audience”, he preaches. “However, it is a wonderful exercise in expression and will enable you to become more proficient at articulating your feelings”.
“Hey wait a second” I say. “I’m pretty good at hitting targets, even the magnificent ones, and I can feel my circulation just fine”.
At this point I can see him smirking and I think I hear him mumble something to the effect of “I doubt many of your hunting posse can read anyway”.
Them there were fighting words. You can call me and my friends a lot of names, but you’d better not call us possies!
“No, No, you’ve completely misunderstood everything! I’m just saying that hunting and fishing just isn’t an interesting enough subject to ever be popular with a mass audience. It’s not your fault. Don’t take it personally. Hunting and fishing just isn’t as interesting as marketing.” he said in his best calming voice.
He then showed me all kinds of things that I never knew about. And I’m talking crazy stuff, like bounce rates and referrer sites, and Technorati ratings. He showed me how he had way over 1,000 links to his blog and 1,000s of comments. “See people find what I write about to be interesting. I’m not saying that I’m that much more superior than you, its just that people care about what I write about. I mean, be honest here, who cares about hunting and fishing?” he said with a big ‘I told you so’ grin on his face.
That set me to thinking. My acquaintance is wrong! I know that fishing and hunting is a lot more interesting than business and marketing. How can Google’s new press release be more exciting (or interesting) than a spot and stalk Alaska bear hunt?
Our passion is more interesting than theirs (or at least - as interesting!) Now, all we have to do is prove it! I’m going to keep on adding pictures, stories, and posts about my passion – hunting and fishing. No self proclaimed marketing genius is going to convince me that no one really cares about hunting and fishing! I will not be deterred.
But, how, might you ask, can ‘I’ help defend this lifestyle that we all hold so dear? How can I stand up to the non-hunters and prove, conclusively, that we hunters are a large, organized, and ‘competitive’ community that will not bow to or run from any challenge issued by the non-hunting crowd?
I’m glad you asked! Your first step is to read this blog. Post your comments and help me make it better and more useful. Step two is to share (email ‘em around) any interesting or beneficial posts with your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and/or pets. Step three, and this one is REALLY important, is to LINK TO THIS BLOG!
Do you see why need to read these hunting and fishing posts, post your comments, share with your friends, and link to this site?
Our entire reputation as a community rests upon it! We can’t let a bunch of boring marketing people beat us. Maybe, the next time my ‘non-believing acquaintance’ starts showing me his stats, I can be the one smiling – on behalf of all hunting and fishing people out there – because we all know hunting and fishing is a lot more interesting than ‘marketing’ – and we’ll have proved it!
12 Comments so far...
Ty Says:
20 June 2007 at 10:48 am.
Darrell,
I have to say you have been busy lately with your “chronicles”. This is a neat idea, the blog looks great. I could not help but to read a lot of your posts, especially this one about ‘defending’ sanctity of lifestyle. As you know I have been involved in Internet Marketing for over three years but for 16 years I performed “Blue collar” work, and I do have to agree with you, pie charts and marketing strategies are not more interesting than having a fish on your line or a deer in your sights!). I lean more towards the fishing part, I never hunted much, but I love fishing.
There is a saying that I just love and it appears that you agree with it, and perhaps people that read your blog will agree as well, it is: “Slow Down To The Speed Of Life”. There are more important things in life as you get older, why not enjoy life yet still make an honest wage.
If I could merge out of IM I probably would, I miss my camping trips and fishing extravaganzas. Keep it up bro,
Your fellow victorian home painter…
Darrell Says:
20 June 2007 at 12:16 pm.
Ty, It was a blast when we spent a day catching huge shad with a net! Remember? I like your “slow down to the speed of life” saying. I let many years speed by and I hope to not fall into that trap again. I’ve found that trying to find some balance in life is a journey in itself.
Kristine Shreve Says:
21 June 2007 at 3:22 pm.
Oh dear, I’m torn on this one. As a marketing professional I do find marketing interesting. Is it more interesting than hunting/fishing/outdoor sports though? That’s a tough one.
Marketing isn’t really interesting enough to appeal to a mass audience either. I’d say more people would probably be interested in fishing/hunting before they would be interested in marketing. As someone who is a marketer, I’m a bit sad to say that, but let’s face it, marketing is really only interesting to people who perform a marketing function for a living. You won’t see a lot of doctors or lawyers reading marketing blogs, while hunting/fishing could be of interest to almost anyone.
Matt Says:
21 June 2007 at 3:24 pm.
It’s quality, not quantity, that matters. By the way, that post read like it was written by a “marketing” professional.
Darrell Says:
21 June 2007 at 3:56 pm.
Matt, Thanks and Wow! If I could prove that hunting and fishing was more interesting than marketing AND that I know at least a little bit about both - all at the same time - my ‘Marketing Expert’ non-believing friends might just rally behind ‘us hunting folks’ - and help us get our message out! BTW, I do (as bad as I hate to admit it) have some friends that are re-knowned ‘Internet marketing experts’ and they’ve assured me that links really do matter. You are absolutely correct, though, about the nature of the links. They must be from ‘quality’, similar content and message, sites. One of these guys really did imply that ‘us hunting folks’ just won’t get it AND that I’m absolutely wasting my time writing about my passion (hunting, fishing, and the outdoors) rather than Marketing or Entrepreneurial Management (both subjects at which I’m proficient - questionably). He contends that no one really cares about hunting and fishing enough to read about it. I’m intent on proving him (and everyone like him) wrong. Thanks for the help!
Thanks for the links and comments! - Now, Here is My Take on Internet BLOG Marketing & The Importance of Links » AlphaTrilogy.com Says:
21 June 2007 at 5:53 pm.
[…] “Attention All Hunters” post seemed to be relatively well received. I appreciate ALL of the comments, emails, and […]
AlphaTrilogy Mentioned On Some Great Sites - What An Honor! » AlphaTrilogy.com Says:
22 June 2007 at 2:59 pm.
[…] think Kevin Paulson, of HuntingLife, kicked it off with a post about my “Attention All Hunters” post. He called it The Greatest Link of The Week. WOW, Thanks Again […]
BA Says:
29 March 2008 at 8:49 am.
Love your site and agree that hunting is more exciting than marketing. I’m considering doing a blog that shows the amazing links between the two ideas though. Hope you will check it out.
Hunt on!
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