You know the one rule everyone loves to preach?
“Don’t pay to play.”
Know how I know? Because I have said it myself. Truth: I have never paid to be featured. I have never paid to speak. I have never “sponsored” to speak. BUT I feel differently about it than i once did.
Why?
Because the TOOLS (mostly search) have changed and DO NOT differentiate between pay to play features and “pure” features. and
Because PEOPLE and PSYCHOLOGY have NOT changed, leaving AUTHORITY STILL a primary driver of success. (You get paid MORE for who you are than for WHAT you Do.)
But also…
The same people who are PURISTS about NEVER “paying to play,” are the same ones:
buying ads, paying publicists, hiring ghostwriters, and sliding sponsorship money under the table to get themselves featured.dropping five grand on a mastermind to sit next to someone with a blue check.
Nothing wrong with any of this, but as they lecture you on NEVER “paying to play,” when they WANT attention and visibility, they’ll take every shortcut, every backdoor, every “strategic partnership” that puts their name in lights.
Here’s the truth:
I have PURE media options. AND those that people pay to be a part of. I use both for my WOWx members.
But, visibility is always paid for — in money, time, sweat, or repetition. You don’t have to be ashamed of how you invest. You just have to be honest that you did.
(To be fair… I have never actually poo pooed on pay to play media. I have ONLY poo pooed when people have PRETENDED to be SHOCKED by their inclusion when the article CLEARLY says SPONSORED, ie. paid for. JUST BE HONEST. You don’t have to SAY you paid for it, just share it with pride and lose the whole “surprised” act.)
When I call it out, people squirm.
Because I expose the part of this game everyone’s playing but pretending not to.
I refuse to make visibility a moral issue. It’s a math issue. A strategy issue. A success issue.
Brutal truth:
Everyone wants the exposure, but only a few are honest about the cost.
If you want a MIX of media…
SURROUND SOUND visibility …
get a full year of it,
month after month,
compounding like clockwork
in WOWx.
Message me to join for November.
THE DOUBLE STANDARD RE: PAY TO PLAY VISIBILITY (The truth no one shares.)
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