I met a young entrepreneur recently who said they wanted to become a master marketer, but she couldn’t afford grad school.

“Grad school,” I spit-taked.  “Who needs grad school?  I can give you two ways to become a master marketer for a heck of a lot less.”

Want to hear ’em?  Well, here goes . . .

The first method is to market something yourself.  Produce a show.  Give voice lessons.  Sell something on Etsy.  Whatever you want to do, it will require marketing.  And nothing teaches you greater skills more than being in the trenches.

But that’s high risk.  And may involve some capital investment.

The second is a simple three step process that’ll teach you how to market something effectively . . . for free. Here goes:

1. Identify the industry you want to learn about.
2. Identify a product/person or brand within that industry that you respect.
3. Observe every single thing they do.

For example . . .

Do you want to bring a new soft drink to market?  Sign up for Coca-Cola’s email list, social media, YouTube channel, and more.

Do you want to sell bracelets on Etsy?  Find out who is selling the most bracelets on Etsy and examine their photos, buy a bracelet to see how they treat their customers, return that bracelet to really see how they treat their customers.

And yes, duh, for a musical or a play.

As you read/watch/study what these products do, make sure you . . .

• Take note of any initiatives that get you to take action.  (Buy, tweet, recommend, etc.)
• Count the impressions that you get, and how you feel when you get them. (Too many?  Too few?  Just right?)
• Ask yourself . . . are you thinking/considering/buying the product when you are not reading/seeing marketing?

Recent research estimates that the average New Yorker sees 5,000 advertisements a day.  A day!!!

It’s time to put those advertisements to good use . . . so pick a company that you think does it right, and then play Monday Morning Marketing Exec.

What would you do that was different?

FYI, I’d hire someone that brought me their own personal marketing study on three different products over a person than attended a three-year grad school program any day.

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If you’re looking to watch some new, fun and boundary bustin’ marketing in action for free, you should sign up for our Gettin’ The Band Back Together list.  I’ve got some crazy stuff in store, including a lot of initiatives that will NOT be public. (I believe the best marketing is targeted, velvet-rope-type stuff.)

And if you think I’ve done fun things for my shows in the past, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  What makes Gettin’ The Band unique to so many shows is that I’ve got a year to sell it . . . and I’ve challenged myself to sell a certain amount of tickets without spending any money.  That means I’m going to have to get super creative.

Watch what I do, and see how I do (and what you’d do differently) by signing up here.  Oh, and when you do, you’ll get a free CD (and maybe a little something extra as a surprise – see marketing already in action!).