Marketing Parasites vs. Permission Marketing: A Battle of Attention
As Forest Gump famously said:
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
An absolutely brilliant “Obvious Adams” observation.
Look around and you’ll find that 99% of marketers today are equal parts stupid and lazy. And that’s being nice.
Now, before you get all riled up here by my little rant, let me give you some additional context to my attention-grabbing article title (After all, I’m a marketer too, so just practicing what I preach 
)
Case in point:
I receive around 5-7 text messages a week on my cell phone from “marketing parasites” who I don’t know, have never met, nor ever want to meet.
Yet, in their brilliance, they think it’s highly intelligent and even strategic to send ICE COLD SPAMMY TEXTS to my personal cell phone – as if I would eagerly reply and BUY-BUY-BUY whatever the hell it is they’re pedaling.
Here is a text message I just received this morning:
“Hey, did you get a chance to take a look at my previous message?”
Really?
So that I may be of service to you, my beloved Marketing Muse readers, let me start by adding some value and giving you some actionable advice.
If you are in the advertising, marketing, or “sales” business of any kind – read this book first before you do anything.
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.
A summary of the concept from Seth himself:
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention…Real permission works like this: if you stop showing up, people complain, then ask where you went.”
NOTE: This book was originally published 26 years ago!…
…yet 99% of the marketing world continues to ignore its core message at its own peril.
Stupidity is all around us.
Because demand for consumer attention is at an all-time high – today’s marketers’ resort to trickery and deceit as their go to strategy.
Big mistake.
Not only do you lose the sale, but you also destroy all trust and credibility in the process…and there is no coming back.
This is not rocket science – it’s the simple concept found in The Golden Rule…
…treat others as they want to be treated themselves.
Self-Proclaimed Experts, Charlatans, and Marketing Buzzards
The fuel for my muse is the self-appointed, self-anointed “go-roos” of the day.
There are no checks and balances today – if you say you’re an expert, you’re an “expert.”
Really, is that how this thing works?
I’m afraid not.
That’s why I pay close attention and study the legends of decades past – because these fine folks had only 5-6 main distribution channels for their sales and marketing messages…
…newspaper/magazine ads, television ads, radio ads, billboards, direct mail…
…and those channels had a huge cost of entry.
If your message to market was not on point, you were cooked, (and out of business.)
Because it’s all about ACCESS and DISTRIBUTION.
Brands need access to their market and distribution for their message – but before the internet you had to pay a hefty toll to get access and distribution.
Today?
You can reach anyone, anywhere, anytime for pennies.
The World Wide Web (that’s what they used to call the internet for the youngsters out there) has enabled infinite access and distribution for anyone with a few bucks to spam, err, spend.
And that’s in large part why we have the “rise of the charlatans and marketing buzzards” – the tide that sinks all marketing boats.
If we’re being honest – today’s “intelligence” factor is just a ruse.
Like an apple whose outer skin looks fresh and appealing while the inside is rotten to the core.
Let’s face it – people like to play intelligent…online and on social media today…
…just like a character in a theatre play or movie…
…because admission is free and they can proclaim whatever they want…
…and lots of unsuspecting preyed upon folks will take the bait.
And the more they play the intelligence ruse game, the more “intelligent” they appear (a virtuous cycle of perpetual ineptitude).
Case in point, beside business strategy, marketing, branding and advertising – I have an odd fascination with economics, markets finance, and the money supply – how these things inter-relate and influence one another.
Am I a market pundit?
Of course, I am just like the rest of the “know-nothings” on CNBC and other financial networks.
Sure, I have opinions, but really, what the hell do I know?
But these “intelligent” folks like to shout from the rooftops loudly proclaiming their worldview – as if they are certainties and not mere probabilities.
They all bring their cognitive-biased narratives and stick to them – no matter what the economic data or real world is saying.
Believing in guarantees and certainties is a fool’s game.
Because we all know, besides death and taxes, there are no certainties in life.
But here’s where the real stupidity lies – in the people who buy it in mass.
Like sheep, following the road to stupid.
Perhaps nobody plays the “of highest intelligence” part better than the honorable Fed Chair Jerome Powell. To be clear, I have no personal beef with the Fed Chair, I’m just stating the obvious, or what’s obvious to me. You?
If you ever want to learn a new language (it’s called “um word salad dita“), then check out one of his recent post-meeting speeches…you’ll be in a stupor for the next 4 hours.
So, what’s the moral to this little story…
…be wary, open your eyes and ears, and pay very close attention…
…find the “motives and agenda” in the context of the moment…
…soon you’ll start to see these things as “obvious.”
But I must admit, it’s taken me a lifetime to figure out what’s “obvious,” because to recognize it is complicated.
Unfortunately, I’m no Obvious Adams.
And that’s why I say, “it’s complicated, stupid.”
Because to be stupid is complicated.
And why uncomplicated…
…is simple…
…and simple is smart.
See how I’ve twisted everything up here and confused you – I told you this was complicated!
Alrighty, that’s enough of Warren’s narrative for today…I hope you enjoyed.
