This may be of interest.....
"Marketing Yourself as a Free Agent: The Smithsonian Caper"
By Harry Wiland
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At least 50 percent of my work as a writer and media consultant entails
researching a client's needs and convincing him how I might help his company
take advantage of opportunities he did not know he had or was too busy to do
anything about. The research is the easy part. The challenge is to get the
prospective client to sit still long enough to hear my pitch. For the past
few weeks, I've been preparing for such an event, a caper, if you will. Now
it's time to make contact. My target: The Smithsonian Institution.
Day 1. Monday, 5:08 PM. Cinematographers call it "golden time" because it's
the optimum time to shoot film. I call it VIP time, because it's the best
time to get decision makers on the phone. There is no assistant to run
interference.
I dial. The phone rings. Steve (name is changed) picks up. Bingo. Steve is
the media point person for The Smithsonian Institution and, with travel and
back-to-back meetings, almost impossible to get a hold of. Steve doesn't know
it yet, but he needs to talk to me about an opportunity that is too good to
pass by.
There are less than a dozen premium brands that both reflect American and
worldwide culture and have gained the public trust; the Smithsonian is one of
them. It is made up of 60 different semi-autonomous institutes and museums.
From my research, I know that it continually faces two needs: money and space
for its myriad of exhibitions. In fact, less than 5 percent of its inventory
is currently available to the public. That is where I come in.
I suggest to Steve that his salvation lay with the intelligent use of new
media. The institutions' shortage of space and money could be solved with a
more comprehensive use of the Internet. I propose that e-commerce should
serve as another venue for the Smithsonian's extensive consumer product
catalog, and the Web could serve as the home for a vast virtual interactive
exhibition space. I also suggest marketing alliances with companies like
Amazon and Barnes and Noble. His response is cautious, but I'm confident that
wheels are set in motion by the call. I give things a week to percolate.
Day 8. Monday, 9 P.M. I work better when the phone isn't ringing. I create a
presentation on my laptop (batteries fully charged!) and plan for a
face-to-face meeting. Steve is a creature of habit and has always eaten at
the same restaurants in the years I have known him. I decide to start having
my lunch there as well. I won't be wearing a ski mask and black from head to
toe, but I feel as if I'm about to sneak into The Smithsonian.
Day 10. Wednesday, 12:35 P.M. Steve and I spot each other at lunch and he
graciously invites me to join him at his table. Laptop in hand, I accept.
What a coincidence (wink wink). It is now or never.
Steve becomes more and more intrigued with the possibilities I present. One
of his concerns is that there is no one at the institution to supervise this
expansion into web-based commerce and exhibition. I have anticipated this
possibility.
The second half of my presentation illustrates how I can take that all on,
recruiting, on a free-agent basis, the technical, business and design talent
required to spearhead the effort. It all makes sense to him. Now he has to
convince his boss. I continue my campaign.
Day 30. Tuesday, 3 P.M. Through weekly follow-up emails, I've been informing
Steve of the progress other comparable educational and cultural institutions
have made by embracing the web and implementing e-commerce as a significant
part of their business plan. My persistence is paying off. Steve calls me. He
has set up a meeting with his boss to see how we might work together. I'm on
the inside now.
<source: http://careers.altavista.com/sponsors/freeagent/articles.html>
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