I’m a big fan of North.com, the Portland, Oregon-based brand agency. Dave Allen blogs for North (in addition to many other things in his role as the director of interactive strategy) and shares his insights on marketing, digital strategy and much more.

One of his most recent posts includes fifty-two maxims about marketing, the internet, technology and more–pretty amazing stuff, especially when you filter them through the needs of a freelancer trying to market services and products. One of the biggest problems for some freelancers–I’m thinking of freelance writers and editors here–is catching up with the ever-evolving online world, its aesthetics, and its demands when it comes to keeping yourself and your brand as a freelancer as viable as possible.

It’s not enough to simply show up when it comes to creating a marketing strategy for yourself. Online, “I’m here” as a marketing/networking tactic probably worked in, say, 1989. But those days are long gone.

The Dave Allen blog entry linked above is a lengthy post, but a very worthy read, especially in the food-for-thought department with some of these–a very small sampling of the insights you’ll get from all 52 maxims, (which I should mention, Dave Allen gives credit for compiling to Katie Rauber.) If you don’t have the time to read the entire post, do yourself a favor an scroll down to the 52, all in bold as quoted from below–really outstanding stuff:

“42. There are no rules to creativity
43. Know your audience (or else)
44. Start with a minimum viable product
45. 81% of the top global Internet sites are outside the USA
46. You can’t litigate human behavior
47. Apps can be tested and analyzed then updated based on user use. You can’t do that with print or TV
48. 1% of your consumer data may hold 99% of the best insights (handle with care)
49. Ask: What do people naturally do? How/why will they interact with your brand?”