Me at the M-A-C counter: Timing is (almost) everything

I was in Bloomingdales today, investigating possibilities at the M-A-C makeup counter, when one of the people there asked me if I want to be in a Today Show segment.

“We’re doing a makeover on TV,” said one of four tall blond women.

I said, “I’ll do it if you’ll mention my blog on TV.”

Apparently the scheduled model did not show up.

So they asked me to write down the name of my blog.

The makeup artist looked into the camera and said, “This is Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist blog.” Then he worked his makeup magic.

“Contouring” is the makeup tip of the day, by the way. But that is not the big takeaway from this post. The important things are:

1. Always find the angle for self-promotion.

2. Luck and timing are 50% which means being ready for anything .

3. Be gracious. It seems like it would be really easy for the producer to edit out the Brazen Careerist part, but I didn’t say anything about that. We’ll see on June 22 when the segment airs.

Comments (1)

What a stroke of luck. I have a very limited advertising budget but have struck up solid relationships with several of the “trade” journals and newspapers in my market. I but the add space they have a hard time selling, usually at a discount and usually with artwork deadlines of 8 to 12 hours. Being able to produce good artwork that meets the publishers requirements helps them. Getting our name in front of the customer, even if it is on a page they may not expect, helps us.

We just try to be in the right place at the right time, ask for specials, and remain flexible.

Posted by Benjamin Strong on June 9, 2006 at 2:14 am | permalink |