Sep 07 2007
Exposing the Marketing Guru
While my wife claims I’m guileless and gentle, I prefer to think of myself as a brutally honest curmudgeon with an advanced bullshit meter. In this information overload environment where everything seems over-hyped and the most critical success factor is boldness of your approach, I believe that the most valuable skill is the ability to eliminate the clutter and get to the core concepts.
The great marketing gurus have this secret in common. They repackage age-old ideas and make them relevant today by citing current examples of success and failure. So most of what you read about here and in most blogs is really just a discussion of concepts you already understand but may have forgotten or just plain ignored. Keeping this in mind, I’ve developed a personal preference to operate as an analyst with historical perspective.
A frequent theme you will see in my postings is how new concepts really aren’t new at all. They’re age-old concepts that have come to life again as the means for delivering them changes. Seth Goden recently addressed this theme when he stated.”Just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed.”
As technologies advance and options for how to go to market expand it’s natural for confusion to arise. I have very effective solution to this problem. Just boil it down to the basics. If you have trouble doing this I am willing to do it for you. Now please excuse me while I go to the kitchen and prepare a demi-glace for tonights dinner…
