Best piece of marketing advice or Video?

[Davidl]

I recently saw a video where steve jobs talked about marketing and his philosophy about it. Are there any pieces of advice that you received, not necessarily any technical advice (although thats ok too) but, general philosophical advice or any good speeches or talks that you have seen that you can recommend?

Also for the aspiring entrepreneur whats some honest advice that they typically don't want to hear? What are some ways for them to improve.

One great advice that resonates with me was a marketer, a famous one that set levis on the map. he didn't say it in a profound way but it goes something along the lines of "I enjoy when other people don't completely agree on what I'm saying, and have apposing viewpoints". I took it as a revelation that you hear all the time when people say the moment I gotten better was when I stopped doing X and start to do what I believe works. even if someone you highly regard and take notes from has a viewpoint and you have contradicting thoughts they aren't necessarily wrong. Sound very basic but it helps in the end to create original ideas and venture to areas where other people aren't willing to, by playing it safe by using philosophy that you don't believe in.

[Harold Mansfield]

One great advice that resonates with me was a marketer, a famous one that set levis on the map. he didn't say it in a profound way but it goes something along the lines of "I enjoy when other people don't completely agree on what I'm saying, and have apposing viewpoints". I took it as a revelation that you hear all the time when people say the moment I gotten better was when I stopped doing X and start to do what I believe works. even if someone you highly regard and take notes from has a viewpoint and you have contradicting thoughts they aren't necessarily wrong. Sound very basic but it helps in the end to create original ideas and venture to areas where other people aren't willing to, by playing it safe by using philosophy that you don't believe in.

For the most part I agree with this, but the tricky part is much like trying to determine if you're losing your mind or it's everyone else who is crazy.

I've worked with people who think ignoring every rule and best practice is being innovative, when in fact they were just idiots who didn't know anything.

It's true that you will never be successful emulating everyone else. However you can follow them up until the point that intersects with the thing that you think could be better. And then you have to go your own way and take the risk of being different.

A lot of entrepreneurs get caught up in following every "rule" verbatim. That if they just follow this program, this method, this thing that worked for someone else that they too will have the same success and they will stand above their competition in some significant way.

So it goes back to my first statement. You have to find your voice and do it the way you think it will work because that's likely the reason that you went into business in the first place...because you thought you could do it better or differently. But you have to be smart enough in your field to know that you're being innovative and not foolish.

In my opinion it's always that last 10%. There are 1000's of similar or exact same businesses out there. But what makes one stand out above the others when they all generally do the same thing? That last 10%. That one thing that a company does that is enough to make people gravitate to them. The thing that they commit to no matter what. It's not tricks or gimmicks. It's a sincere difference in the way that you do business that stands out in the eyes of the consumer.

The thing is about that last 10% is that no one can discover it for you. They can help you structure it, but it has to come from you. Most entrepreneurs have that last 10%, that's why they went into business. But they abandon it and fall back into the mold as soon as it gets hard or doesn't have immediate results. Again, back to my first statement...was it really a good idea or was I just crazy? For people who work in a vacuum that doubt is persistent.

Oh and the last thing is, you have to be willing to give that thing believe in..that difference that you think you can make 100%, all of the time with the understanding that it may not work at all, and then learn from it, re adjust and do it again.

[Freelancier]

For me it was the upshot of a 30-minute MBA lecture that had to do with manufacturing 12-packs of beer and coated paperboard and how the 12-pack had to survive going from chilled factory to hot loading dock to chilled truck to hot sidewalk in front of the store to the cooler inside the store to hot trunk of the car driving the beer home back into the refrigerator... and how each step can cause condensation to form on the beer that can ruin the coated paperboard of the 12-pack and it didn't matter how pretty the design was on the outside if the coated paperboard disintegrated when the customer was transporting it, because you were going to end up with a pissed-off customer and oh, by the way, your company didn't even create the coated paperboard, that was a VENDOR who screwed you.

The upshot: marketing is not only the obvious visible stuff; it's every time you "touch" the customer even if you don't know (or don't even realize) you're touching the customer. And if you don't pay attention to all those potential interactions, you'll end up losing customers.

[Davidl]

For the most part I agree with this, but the tricky part is much like trying to determine if you're losing your mind or it's everyone else who is crazy.

I've worked with people who think ignoring every rule and best practice is being innovative, when in fact they were just idiots who didn't know anything.

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Thats very true I think thats why most people try to work within the standard and play it safe, that way theres no way people can judge them as idiots. As long as it is honest (not just to be different) and comes from a deeper understanding like you said then it could work, not trying to mimic something as you are only pretending.

Even then there are people that break all the rules and get called an idiot, but end up successful and not by luck Ex. David Choe famous artist who owns millions of dollars worth of Facebook stock, made his first million by gambling before he had the stock and sells paintings for hundreds of thousands. I think he's a great example of someone who is "crazy" follows absolutely no rules but has the insight to know he's crazy and channel it.

I think once you get that idea of am I losing my mind it is redundant because to start a business and get tossed around learning to manage a new start up, you have to be a bit crazy to even attempt it, crazy is already built in you and thats what makes you succeed. What you have to look out for is not am I going crazy (which I thought about when everyone has the opposite opinion) but how can I get this crazy idea I have to work. At the end of the day anything that isn't mainstream is considered wrong because everything points to it being unattainable to the uninformed.

The only thing to think about is if your too crazy to know your crazy or hopefully you are just crazy enough to know your crazy. Its that middle ground I think that creates top athletes, business owners and new innovations among other things.

[Davidl]

The upshot: marketing is not only the obvious visible stuff; it's every time you "touch" the customer even if you don't know (or don't even realize) you're touching the customer. And if you don't pay attention to all those potential interactions, you'll end up losing customers.

In university I had a class dedicated to learning about how paper was made, how it interacts with the environment and in these sort of situation.

I like this piece of advice a lot. I thought about this before but never had it written out in front of me. There truly is a lot of little things that seem like they are make no difference but actually makes the most difference.

I suppose its overlying strategy that is the framework and the tactics that you use that create the end result, starting from customer needs and going backwards from there.

[JC]

I recently saw a video where steve jobs talked about marketing and his philosophy about it. Are there any pieces of advice that you received, not necessarily any technical advice (although thats ok too) but, general philosophical advice or any good speeches or talks that you have seen that you can recommend?

Also for the aspiring entrepreneur whats some honest advice that they typically don't want to hear? What are some ways for them to improve.

One great advice that resonates with me was a marketer, a famous one that set levis on the map. he didn't say it in a profound way but it goes something along the lines of "I enjoy when other people don't completely agree on what I'm saying, and have apposing viewpoints". I took it as a revelation that you hear all the time when people say the moment I gotten better was when I stopped doing X and start to do what I believe works. even if someone you highly regard and take notes from has a viewpoint and you have contradicting thoughts they aren't necessarily wrong. Sound very basic but it helps in the end to create original ideas and venture to areas where other people aren't willing to, by playing it safe by using philosophy that you don't believe in.

You should consider reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson if you haven't already. He was very eccentric but incredibly in tune to what consumers want with an amazing will to bring these products into existence. One of my favorite books!

[JC]

You should consider reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson if you haven't already. He was very eccentric but incredibly in tune to what consumers want with an amazing will to bring these products into existence. One of my favorite books!

For some reason I tried to edit my last post and I ended up creating this one lol. Just wanted to add as far as advice, I always try to remember that people who often fail see problems where successful people see opportunity. Of course I don't always naturally see opportunity, but I try to as much as possible.