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Business owners all over the world are frustrated. They can’t find good marketers. True, everyone and their cat claims to be a “digital marketer” today. But can they deliver? It’s easy to go look up a couple of “marketing hack prompt videos” on instagram and YouTube, and announce you’re now a ”digital marketer”. But here’s the dirty, little secret: the actual knowledge of marketing is NOT there on YouTube or Instagram. Not even on Udemy or Coursera. And forget about colleges or universities altogether. I was lucky to have found a “secret” gathering of marketing geniuses. They laughed at the so-called “social media marketers”. And they made loads of money, almost predictably. And no, you won’t find them in the lists of YouTube or Instagram influencers. One of those geniuses is Ben Settle. And I owe a lot of my business and marketing wisdom to what I have learned from him. So, Ben was once being interviewed by a “digital agency owner”. Within minutes, Ben could sense they did not know ANYTHING about their industry. He asked them (I’m literally quoting his words from his own email here), “Haven’t you guys studied Ogilvy, Burnett, Foote/Cone/Belding, Thompson, Norman, Barton, or any of the old school agency guys who literally built the modern marketing world as we know it?” The answer? SILENCE. *crickets chirping* And I have seen it myself too. People just don’t have the basics of marketing, and they are strutting around making promises they don’t know how to fulfil. I have a marketing degree. Everyone at college wanted to “get a job” at the biggest advertising agencies: Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, BBDO, etc. And yet, we never heard their founders’ names or what they stood for. No mention of David Ogilvy, Or Leo Burnett, or Bruce Barton, Albert Lasker, or any other founders of modern marketing whatsoever. I’m grateful to people like grizzled pros like Ben Settle, Dan Kennedy and John Carlton, who pointed me towards the REAL fountain heads of marketing knowledge. Books, lectures, seminars and biographies of the giants who literally created marketing as we know it. Every dollar or dirham that is being made online today can be traced back to the teachings of Dan Kennedy. And he, in turn, learnt from the old masters. The “kids” who implemented the teachings of Dan Kennedy and Gary Halbert on the internet are some of the biggest names in internet marketing today. And yet, the irony? Most of the social media “experts” you see around today can’t even name those big names. Because they are too busy chasing algorithms and AI prompts to look for the foundations that really matter. And let’s face it: Chasing REAL knowledge and wisdom is work. Not everyone is willing to do that work. I thank God that I was (and am) willing to do that work. Anyway, rant over, I guess. I’m just thankful to the old masters I’ve invested several years and a lot of money learning from. Hunting for their out-of-print books. Because they taught the fundamental truths of business success since the first humans started trading and making money. It’s all in the mind, my friends. And minds are shaped through stories. I’ve been telling stories professionally for brands like Coca-Cola, TikTok, Unilever and Barclays for more than 16 years. And for countless startups. I’ll be sharing everything I know about business storytelling in the upcoming issues of Dastaan World Magazine. Till then, I’d suggest you go and grab the bundle of the previous issues here: https://dastaanworld.gumroad.com/l/ErywZ?wanted=true It will get you up to speed for the upcoming issues. And it’s full of stories, poems, artworks and interviews of some of the most creative people living today. And you’d better starting exposing yourself to good stories right away if you ever hope to become a good storyteller for your own brands and businesses. I’ll see you next time. Shakaib Feroz. |
