Louis C.K. – Marketing Rebel
Louis C.K. currently rounds out my five favorite comedians of all time list(the others are George Carlin, Bill Burr, Dave Chapelle and Jerry Seinfeld), and his new marketing strategy might have moved him up a notch.
He recently released a brand new comedy special, “Louis C.K. Live at the Beacon Theatre,” and decided to sell it on his own instead of going through a major distributor. If you’re not familiar with releasing albums/videos, it can be tricky to sell them without a good distributor. Nowadays, most artists use iTunes and other digital download sites to promote their work. It takes a great deal of promotional work and buzz to generate enough sales to cover your costs and start earning a profit doing it on your own. In fact, it takes balls to forego the major distro route.
The folks at Marketing Pilgrim wrote the post I read this morning about Louis C.K.’s experiment selling his work on his own. I’ve been a fan of Louis C.K. for years now, and I think this move is fantastic. Coming from the world of indie music and being someone who has been deeply entrenched in DIY promotions, it’s great to see someone of his stature doing this. As the Marketing Pilgrim article points out, this is a chance to think about how you can market your own products and services DIY. You’ve heard of Duct Tape Marketing and Guerilla Marketing, and consider this move by Louis C.K. as following some of their ideas and making them work. Sure, DIY takes some extra effort, but the rewards are that much more meaningful.
At the very least, I hope reading this post and the linked article spark the old noggin to start thinking about what you can do differently for your clients and your company that others may not be willing to try. Be a rebel … at least think about it.
I hope you enjoy the read.
Cheers.
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