I think there is an industry that is just a little less bad than the porn industry, and that’s the “online marketing information products” industry.

I should know. I was addicted to it. And I still fall off the wagon every now and then.

I’m obsessed with learning about the next big thing in marketing: social media, content marketing, mobile marketing, copywriting, direct internet marketing, email marketing.

That was my state of mind just before I joined the Austin chapter of the American Marketing Association in November.

A coffee here, a blog post there, an e-course now and then

I was constantly trying to set up coffees with local marketing gurus to “pick their brain.” I deceived myself into thinking I was providing them value by offering to buy their coffee.

I also am an obsessive reader of marketing blogs. I think I’ve read almost every single blog post on Copyblogger.com and the Content Marketing Institute.

And of course there’s always a new eBook or eCourse that for a mere $97 promises you the next secret to getting clients by writing your way to success.

I know I’ve been a sucker for a couple or ten of those.

And then I decided to join the AMA…the ultimate learning environment

I started thinking: what better way to learn than from an organization full of experienced and savvy marketers? I could pick brains to my hearts delight, go to the monthly luncheons and other events using my partner discount, hob-nob with the leadership, and just soak it all then.

I’d become an expert in no time.

Then I was recruited to be a volunteer. I was assigned to be the blog editor, posting guest articles as well as some of my own articles.

And I started noticing something. I actually started learning more by doing than by reading and picking people’s brains.

Because you learn more by doing

In the book The Talent Code author Daniel Coyle talks about “Deep Practice,” whereby people who are learning something new get into a zone-like state. This is the ultimate “learning by doing.” You do something you’re a little uncomfortable with, make a mistake, go back and correct it, then do it again.

This was happening to me.

I’d write a blog post, share it on social media, see if it got much traction, then go back and try to write another one that was more relevant and compelling than the previous one.

I also learned that people were actually interested in what I had to say. Some of the blog posts I wrote got re-tweeted and commented on, and drove a significant amount of traffic to the website.

And I learned something else: I learned that by giving and teaching I actually knew more about some things than other people.

The Austin AMA – The Place to Learn How to Market Yourself

The Austin AMA provides fantastic services: great events, access to information, good networking. But you also learn the right way to market yourself, and that is to give and to teach and help others.

You learn the confidence you need to share your own knowledge with others. You discover your own voice, and that it’s a valuable and unique voice.

Because nobody can know everything. Even the marketing veteran with 30 years experience can learn something from the new marketing person who has become an expert in a niche that the veteran knows nothing about.

Join the Austin AMA, learn from others, and from yourself

This month is the Austin AMA spring membership drive. Click here: https://austinama.org/membership/ and find out what deals you can get, and what are the many benefits of AMA membership.

And view the great video produced by Matthew Lemke and featuring Gina Hollis.

But don’t forget: you’ll get access to some of the brighter marketing minds in Austin by joining the Austin AMA, but you’ll learn way more when you volunteer and start doing some marketing instead of just reading or hearing about it.

And you might even pick up a client or two in the process!