Andy Warhol Marketing and Networking

I take this sign to book events and when I go home, I leave postcards for my book. See them in the little slot? The postcard has my book cover on the front and a recipe on the back. The most recent is a Kale, Apple, Cranberry and Avocado Salad. Revised from my blog, the idea is to keep it for easy reference, collect them all, and remember my book. These postcards are my current version of Andy Warhol marketing.

Years ago I was inspired by Barbara Winter who was the first and only person I know to talk about Andy Warhol marketing. The essence is simple--"be ubiquitous."

Andy Warhol was the definition of pop art in the 70s--Campbell's soup cans, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. Warhol's face was on magazines and newspapers everywhere, and even today his face is on IPods, t-shirts, beach towels. Now twenty three years after his death the New York Times still says, "He's everywhere, like an aesthetic vampire haunting the culture, taunting the art world, making cash registers sing."

I can't help but think that Warhol would have loved the networking/marketing world today. Internet possibilities of reaching millions more people are endless. I love the idea of expanding my circles of friends, connections and interests and writing about it, whether it be for Foodista, Culinate, Cookstr, FaceBook Scribd, or Linked-in. But sometimes I long for more traditional ways of networking and marketing, that face-to-face contact we all seem to crave.

Grassroots marketing involves doing events and classes can also imply networking on a more personal level. I am a fan of writers' conferences like this one and this one. Or as a chef, I might want to find fellow writers in the ICAP (International Association of Culinary Professionals). But sometimes there are mixers like this one, open to anyone interested in food, you never know who will be there.

My idea is you should go to any event with high expectations (keep your goals in mind). Here are a five things to ask yourself these five things before you network:

• What are my goals?
• Who do I hope to meet? Why?
• Will I connect with other people who can help me meet my goals?
• How will this help my book sales or build my platform?
• What are my limitations? Do crowds, dressing up and putting on attitude, or noisy backgrounds annoy me too much?
• What takeaway will tell me this is worth a repeat?

Think social networking on the Internet has to be more effective? Maybe you should ask yourself these same questions when faced with an Internet site.

While both approaches may work, I think Warhol would have chosen making Internet connections. Just a guess; what do you think?