Not Quite the Marketing Monster I'm Made Out to Be

Responsibility, fear and excuses.

I reckon that’s about it. It sums up my attitude to life and the whiners I come up against pretty well and encompasses all the things I think wrong with society today.

You’re probably wondering what the hell I’m on about now, so I’ll tell you.

I got an email from one of my readers a while ago, a lovely lady to be sure, and she concluded by saying

“Really enjoying your blog posts and emails, you are so funny!! The word ‘curmudgeonly’ comes to mind!! but I think you are a softie really?”.

Now, I pondered this for a while.

Softie?

Hmm… Not really.

See, I’m not quite the monster I’m made out to be, yet it’s also not true my bark is worse than my bite. It’s not.

My bite is very powerful and can be fatal.

No, it comes down to my view of personal responsibility.

We’re all responsible for our own lives and actions, and if there’s one thing I detest it’s excuses and whining. OK, so that’s two things, but who’s counting?

Right now we’ve got the Greek economy teetering on the edge of collapse, and the reaction of many citizens is… to go on strike and demand the government “do something”. And then in the US there are gazillions of people “occupying Wall Street” for reasons I confess I don’t really understand.

I’m no happier at all the bailouts than anyone else, especially with how it’s been done here in Ireland. The banks have our testicles and they won’t give them back, to put it crudely. To the Devil with the lot of them. I hope they rot.

Sure, things have to change. But a complex-adaptive system like an economy comes about as a result of the actions of its constituent parts. Change the actions of enough of them, and the system changes.

I am forever sick and tired of people pissing and moaning about how bad things are, while at the same time doing nothing about making them better beyond yelling and screaming it’s someone else’s job to do it.

Because even if it is… so what? Identifying the guilty party doesn’t make things immediately better, and locking someone up for murder doesn’t bring back the dead. In the same way, screaming at “capitalist pigs” (of which I am one, and you can fuck off if you don’t like it) to wave a wand and sprinkle you with fairy dust won’t make any difference at all.

But you can change your own actions easily and quickly. Good luck trying to force change on others.

You know, I’d love to ask these people:

• How many marketing books did you read last year?
• How many seminars did you go to?
• How many courses did you take?
• How many trips to the library did you make to learn a new skill?
• How many marketing emails did you send?
• How many people did you ask, “What do you want and what aren’t you getting?”
• How many prospects did you add to your email list?
• How many Adwords campaigns did you run?
• How much SEO did you do?
• How many lists did you write on the different ways you could serve others?
• How many direct mail pieces did you send?
• What, exactly, did you do to increase your value in the marketplace?

Alas, the answer usually is going to be the same: “None… BUT that was because…”

Fuck ‘em. Nothing but excuses.

And then, take my continued exhortations for everyone in business to pursue the cream in your market, no matter what business you’re in.

I get so many emails from people who say “but my business isn’t a high end business”, so what can I do?”.

Well, it’s clear. You have three choices:

1. Stay as you are and make the best of it. You can probably do better then you’re doing now with smart marketing, but there’s probably going to be a limit to things.
2. Change the business you’re in so you are a high end business.
3. Swap to a new business altogether if there really isn’t a high-end in your market.

I seriously doubt #3 actually ever comes up, but I put it there because it is possible and even I don’t know everything.

Now, most people settle for #1. Which is fine. No one’s going to hold as gun to your head and make you do this, and if you don’t choose to do it that’s fine.

But make no mistake: you are choosing.

Yes, doing #2 is going to be work.

You’re going to have to research it and do some serious thinking about you, your business, your customers… and in making the transition, you’re going to have to make some very uncomfortable decisions.

Moreover, it might not even work the first time round.

You’ll make mistakes.

So you might decide it’s too risky, or you don’t want the hassle, or your drive for success isn’t strong enough to overcome your fear and inertia.

And that’s all OK. It’s your life, after all.

But please, Please, Puh-Lease don’t tell me you “can’t” do it, like there’s some mystical external power holding you back.

Because there isn’t.

I don’t care what your circumstances are, it’s all within your power to do.

For some it will be easier, yes.

But unless you’re actually dead, there is nothing actually stopping you… except yourself.

Business Supremacy for this month gets down and dirty with the serious business of Premier Positioning and Premium Pricing (and how you can easily double your profits in three easy steps). I now have just SEVEN copies left (it was eight this morning, but another one’s gone since…).

Join me and the rest of the Inner Circle here: http://www.BusinessSupremacy.ie

Tagged as: article marketing, irish business, marketing, positioning, premium pricing, pricing strategies, pricing strategy, small business marketing