As I was writing my best-selling book, The CEO’s Guide to Marketing, I did a fair amount of research. I spent time scanning marketing books, researching marketing websites and watching countless marketing videos on YouTube. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something similar, or worse yet, better than I was writing.
I’m hesitant to say what I really think about what I found because it doesn’t sound very nice. So, let’s just say you should be careful which marketing “expert” you listen to.
Much more than a clear understanding of marketing, there seems to be an odd collection of characteristics that qualify people as marketing experts—the most important being a shaved head. In addition, it helps to have a pair of geeky glasses, talk with great passion, have an exotic-sounding name, use the term brand as a synonym for product (and use it ad nauseum), and throw around names like Apple and General Motors as though you were their former CEO.
Nothing will expose the wannabes from the true marketing experts faster than a solid understanding of marketing basics. Thirty years running Media Relations Agency has shown me that most marketers, and unfortunately some “experts”, haven’t mastered the basics. Consequently marketing is perpetually confusing for them.
If you feel you don’t know marketing like you should, or maybe you can tell that your team seems to be blowing whichever way the creative winds take them, you should read The CEO’s Guide to Marketing. It’s a practical process book that makes marketing easy to understand. It will also give you the confidence to call B.S. on some of these so-called “marketing experts”.
