Marketing

I decided to put a byline on the CommunityWalk website that reads:

"The fastest and easiest way to make your own Google Map with photos, directions, comments and so much more!"

Now this sounds an awful lot like all those signs you see outside of random restaurant X that reads "Best burgers in the World!" or something to that effect. Obviously I am stating a subjective opionion as fact, which seems to be a key to marketing these days. Normally I would feel guilty about such a thing, preferring to present people with honest customer opinions and actual facts and let people decide for themselves whether or not CommunityWalk is the fastest and easiest way to make a Google Map, but I don't feel guilt at all.

Quite frankly I believe the statement and I think that stating it in this way will encourage people to explore the site more extensively, even if it is just to disprove the statement. I am proud of the product and I am not afraid to market it, in fact I think it is my duty to market it. I need to put this product into the hands of people that will truly value it. And if a statement like this encourages people to explore it and discern the value that they can take from the product, then I want to make such a statement as clearly as I can.

Some further thoughts on marketing can be found at Creating Passionate Users (http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/08/you_are_a_marke.html). They also promote marketing as something to be unashamed of. It's a very good read.