To read the papers, blogs and listen to TV news is to get lost in a sea of contradictions. "Now is the time to double down!" some will say as they name the great businesses that were born in past turbulent times.  "Batten down the hatches!" others say as they insist you must cut costs anywhere and everywhere to survive the doom and despair that, almost, every business is fighting through.

Are either a true and pure strategy?  Bet it all or hide in the corner?

For starters, the last thing you want to do at times like these is get stuck while wondering which path to choose.  So, I put it to you, why must you choose one or the other?  Why not double down on the area(s) of your business that you are truly best at and batten down the rest?

Why not take the time (now!) and figure out what the most profitable activities are for your business. Find out what products/services your clients love... by asking them!

Here is a plan to consider:

1) Call as many clients as you can in the next 3 weeks and ask them why they choose to work with you over anyone else. Push them to be specific. This is for them as much as it is for you. At the same time, ask your staff what they think you do best.  Ask them why they think clients like working with them and the company.

Resist the urge to guess the answers in advance and let the clients real words come through.  In my experience, some clear trends will emerge, quickly.  Do not stress if what they say is different from what your competitors are doing or what you had hoped and wished they would say.   In fact, rejoice if that is the case. You already know your "world view" of your business. You want and need theirs. Finding the intersection where what you do best connects with what your clients truly give a shit about is your best target.

2) Write down those key products/services as your "core" offering. That is where you want to double down and innovate, improve and focus.  That is where the time, energy, innovation and money goes. It is the safest bet you can make. Communicate it clearly to everyone inside and outside the business.  Tell them your plans, what new cool tools are coming next. Show them that you listened to them and the specific things you are going to make real.

3) With this focus in place, go through every single expense.  It should now be easy to decide which ones support your core and which ones do not. If it does not, then batten it down (Reduce it to an absolute minimum or eliminate it completely). Do it all at once. Explain the reasoning behind it to everyone and get past it.

If you feel that there is not enough money to invest in your core, try the "$1.00 less" exercise. To be candid, it is as painful as it is effective.  Get your budgets, revenue, expense and any other reports you need all together and figure out how you design your business so that it spends at least $1.00 less than it earns. You may want to do this with a conservative estimate of what you think you will realistically earn in 2010.

Forget growth projections for now. Work with what is real and what you know for sure. When you reset the business to match where you really are it will be much easier to deal with focused growth from there forward. If you cannot get to that $1.00 less than try it again! Many years ago I sat in a lonely conference room late into the night with my CFO and ran through this exercise 8 or 9 times until we got our expenses to $1.00 less.  It's no fun, but I wish I had done it a year or two before. 

Fear persists when control does not exist. When you figure out those things you do best, what your clients care about and have comfort knowing your company will earn more than it spends... control returns.

Be honest with yourself (and everyone else that is in "the battle" with you) and attack the problem.

Batten down AND double down.

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A pre-requisite for a course I was involved with is the Kolbe "A" Index test that reveals one's instinctual abilities. From the site...

"What people can do usually has little in common with what they actually end up doing.

The reason? People have been taught to ignore their instincts, or worse yet, to fear or hate their instincts.

Ignoring your instincts and failing to appreciate the instincts of others can be disastrous.

When people act according to instinct, their energy is almost inexhaustible - like water running downhill. But, when people are forced to act against their instinct, their energy is rapidly depleted - like water being pumped uphill"

Obvious? Society seems to think otherwise.

From the very early days of school, to the upper echelons of business, it's always about focusing on improving our weak points. Rarely is it about celebrating that which makes us great.

Yes. I did say "Great." Greatness exists in most of us. And a person who doesn't believe that shouldn't be in business.

If all you care about and work on with your people is their weak spots, you will have a weak company. Forever. Lucky you.

Great companies are filled with great people. The more great the group, the more great the company.

Unlocking that greatness requires a focus on finding out where each persons uniqueness lies and matching their roles to it. The more that happens the greater the power your organization will generate.

And so the same thing applies again: Unique companies are filled with unique people. The more unique the group, the more unique the company.

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Many clients I talk to are apprehensive about how to approach 2012. I have two words of advice: Here. Forward.

It’s only natural: how we view our past experiences shapes how we tackle future opportunities. We can’t help being informed by the past. However, the trick - the secret - is not to get paralyzed. You have a choice. You can let the economic pains of the past two years rule you. Or you can regain control, and get back to ruling the future of your business. Decide.

The problem we face is that the sting, stress, and strain we endured these past years have stayed with us too long to remember any other way. We don't approach our clients the same way. We scale back our wildest hopes and dreams. We now know that the bottom of the economy can drop out. A steady stream of news, tweets, and posts remind us the future is uncertain. Each reminder puts our minds back to those times of uncertainty and pain. And so we make every decision based on that place of worry.

That pain was real. The worry turned out to be correct. However, Then is not Now. And what Now requires is two basic things: Here. Forward.

Challenge yourself. Come out from hiding under your desk. Shrug off the weight of the recent painful past. Recognize when your thinking is hindered by the pain of the past few years. Try this: Everything now starts from here and moves forward. Every decision, action, conversation, and the stories you tell (yourself, your clients, and your market) need to be about what is next, not about what has been.

What do you want your business to look like at the end of 2012? Don’t form your vision based on the news or on how you are feeling coming out of the business meat grinder of the past few years. Give me your vision from where you are standing right now and looking forward. Are there big dreams and goals you had for your business (and for yourself) that have been lost or abandoned along the way? How can you give yourself the time and space to reclaim them? How can you re-imagine them? How can you re-launch them?

The answer is elegantly simple, so say it with me (And keep saying it to yourself):
Here. Forward.

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The company that acquired my logistics company in 2000 had also completed the acquisitons of a few of our competitors in the months before and after our deal was done.  They thought it would be a good idea to bring us, now former business owners, all together to talk about ways we could integrate, create synergies and a variety of other corporate buzz words. As we "geniuses" sat around the table talking about slick new ideas to link our computer systems, marketing ideas and the like, someone finally piped in and said "That all sounds great gang, but when clients call me the only thing they ever ask me is: Where's my stuff?"

He was right and I was wrong. In the cargo/shipping business, "Where's my stuff?" Is what clients cared the most about and probably the only thing they cared about as it related to us. Everything else did not matter if you could not answer that question at all times (Or, better yet, answer it before it was asked). And if you did the best job keeping your clients in the know about the whereabouts of their "stuff" you would be alone at the top of the industry.

It was the core of what our clients cared about. 

I speak and write a lot about the need for a company to have a plain and simple purpose and to focus on their basics. And most people decide that they must go away can come up with something fancy and impossible for their competitors to duplicate. They feel that if it is too simple then their business is not sexy or unique enough. They are wrong. 

Restaurants need to create food that tastes amazing -  It does not matter how nice the place looks or how great the service is if the food stinks.

Airlines need to get you safely from point A to point B on time and at the lowest cost - TV's, Wi-Fi and fancy airport terminals matter little if they faill on this basic. 

And I could go on and on (and often do). Every business in every industry has their basic. The ones that dominate their industry know what it is and stay relentlessly focused on doing everything they can to prove it. It fuels their innovation, marketing and the reason their company exists. It stops them from having meetings to talk about anything that does not help them deliver that basic with perfection.

Where's my stuff?  Simple, clear and basic. And what our clients valued the most.

Why would you want the one thing that everyone in your organization needs to deliver to be anything else? 

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Why?

Because times are hard for nearly everyone, business has become a place of too much stress and laughter is still the best medicine.

Everything in this little eBook is intended to be funny not offensive. Please do not take it any other way. If it makes you laugh, please pay it forward and share it with others.

Click here to download the PDF or enjoy it via Scribd below.

The_Little_Book_of_Business_Jokes_Vol1.pdf Download this file

And for a more serious read, please subscribe to my mailing list and receive the PDF of my book, Your Business Brickyard, for free.

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I hate it when people call themselves “entrepreneurs” when what they’re really trying to do is launch a startup and then sell or go public, so the can cash in and move on.  They’re unwilling to do the work it takes to build a real company, which is the hardest work in business. That’s how you really make a contribution and add to the legacy of those who went before. You build a company that will stand for something a generation or two from now. 

Steve Jobs (From the Autobiography by Walter Isaacson)

(And quite related to my post from yesterday).

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We are all so consistently attracted to shiny objects that we miss the real story.

The #17 company on the 2011 Inc. 500, ClearCorrect, develops clear removable braces. They grew revenue from $100,000 to $8.7 million in 3 years. 

Valuation Management Group, #22, provides real estate (Yes, real estate) appraisal services for banks and credit unions. They grew revenue from $317,000 to $25.4 million in the past 3 years. 

Every state in the country (and across the globe) are filled with great companies like these and the Inc. 500 and 5000 are filled with them. Great because they are growing by making more revenue than they put out in expenses.  Business that should not only be admired, but should be studied. Their methods, determination and purpose should be what we all try to emulate. 

But we don't.

We talk endlessly about how much money the latest new idea raised their series A,B,C round of financing. We listen in the echo chamber of blogs and other media to the endless chants of social media and the cloud. 

Twitter, for all the good it has done in the world, has not earned revenue that is anywhere near the huge sums that have been invested in it. And there is no clear path to show that it will. Ditto for the great Facebook.  And last years darling, Groupon, may be technically insolvent leading up to its IPO despite having raised hundreds of millions of dollars. These are the businesses that capture our attention and our lust. 

Sorry to point out the obvious but, envying someone that raised a lot of Venture Capital money is not about building a business. And, when you consider that most VC's average a 33% success rate, receiving that money does little to ensure any kind of success for the business.  They are bets, chips set out in front of a roulette wheel, waiting for the ball to drop on just a few so they get the returns they want for their funds. Returns, not businesses because that is the business THEY are in.

What I propose... Let's celebrate the operators. The business leaders that build businesses that endure. That use their profits to hire. That are driven to build a lifestyle for themselves and for those that work with them that would like to find a place where they can work for their entire career. That are not waiting for the company to be flipped like a speculative real estate investment. Who make the hard choices to make cuts so they can ensure the business survives in tough times. Who build relationships with customers instead of countin users. They have the lessons and skills you really can use. Today.

The best businesses in this country no longer fit into the ideal of what too many think is success in business and life. That needs to change.

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The Diner in my somewhat sleepy town is painfully empty.  It is as painfully empty as most any store or restaurant you walk by these days.  No doubt this change causes incredible stress to the owner of each business leaving them way too much time to consider all the extra things they could do to try to change their fortunes. We are all there or worried we will be there.

But let's turn those thoughts around.  How could you do LESS to change your fortunes?  Consider that people actually do NOT want more from you and would welcome you giving them an amazingly great and simple moment.  If there ever was a time that the saying "Longing for simpler times" rings true it is now. I hope that fact remains long after the recession is over.

So why can't that Diner end the stress that comes from maintaining that enormous menu that is trying to please everyone?  What if they just focused on making the PERFECT burger, fries and shake?  Every ounce of energy focused into a finite offering that will be extraordinary.

No more.  No less.

In the process, they will have reinvented their business.  They will have found a way to be different than their competitors.  They will have found a way to have people start talking about them again and spreading the word.  Not from that extra mailer or ugly banner with a "buy one get one free" offer.  Just connect to what people went to Diners for in simpler times and deliver it with perfection.

The Shake Shack in New York does just that and the lines run around the block....and back.

And it is true for every business.

What did "simpler times" in your industry look like?   What is the Burger, Fries and Shake of your industry? Of your specific business?  Are they the absolute best anyone could ever find?

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The current economic situation sees a lot of people talking about the power of returning to the basics. (Hooo....rayyy!) Get inspired to do it yourself by reading the posts linked below and then set aside a few hours (or a day) and figure out what YOUR basics actually are.

What is at the core of the promise you make to your clients, customers, staff, boss, wife, children,etc...?

What does the perfect execution of each one look, feel and sound like? 

And the usual 3 questions I always ask:

Define the action(s) - What do you (specifically) need to do to get there?
Create accountability - Who will do it?
Set a deadline - When will it be done?

There will be nothing you can count on to always work more than the basics.

But don't believe me...

Tom Peters wrote about it here:

The Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics Are the Basics: The Worse the Times the Better They Work... We get in trouble when we forget the basics. We get out of trouble when we remember the basics. We stay out of trouble when we become perpetually "insane" about the basics.

Douglas Rushkoff returns to it here:

I’d love for businesspeople who feel all is lost to recognize that this is such a perfect moment to return to core competency, to remember what it was about their industries that excited them to begin with, and to reconnect with the processes and attitudes that make work fun and meaningful again.

It’s not too late.

On a Macro level Thomas Friedman quoted Dov Seidman in this op-ed piece:

In a connected world,” Seidman said to me, “countries, governments and companies also have character, and their character — how they do what they do, how they keep promises, how they make decisions, how things really happen inside, how they connect and collaborate, how they engender trust, how they relate to their customers, to the environment and to the communities in which they operate — is now their fate.

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The constant refrain I hear from almost every business owner I meet is "Get us to the next level."

Ah.. the illusive "Next Level" and the very real feeling of stuck.

What it means is different for every business but many of the factors that block reaching it are surprisingly the same.

The answer, as usual, is not some "magic bullet." Instead, the elements that had fueled earlier growth have run out or been forgotten. The business has hit a wall. Your Business has Bonked.

For a runner, "Bonking is when the body runs out of much needed sugar energy and is forced to turn to other, less efficient, sources of energy. Sugar is the only thing the body can use for energy, so when it runs out it has to convert protein (muscle) into sugar. This conversion process has serious side effects and when a marathoner reaches this point they are said to have bonked."

For a business, that sugar (or fuel) is:

1. Persistent Innovation
2. A structure that is designed/built to support the company you want to be and not the one you are now (critical distinction).
3. Clear, specific and measurable 1,3 and 5 year goals
4. Relentless execution (A plan without action is only a wish)

Combine them and you will have the sustained fuel your business needs to keep moving to ever higher levels and never Bonk. If you do not take the time and space to "refuel" then your business will not have the reserves to power through "stuck."

Remember, owning (and growing) a business is a marathon not a sprint.

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While up in Portland Maine not too long ago I had dinner at The Flatbread Company. In addition to truly amazing pizza, I noticed a great sign hanging over the bar:

Flatbread Company is growing. Are more restaurants bad? Not if we follow our purpose.

Groups in nature have a purpose...
100 apples in a tree
100 geese flying in formation
1000 fish in a school
10,000 bees in a colony

Our purpose is who we are. It gives us direction and makes the many of us one.

Click here to read their purpose and values.

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Customer touch points. It is a concept that is often mentioned but rarely focused on as an opportunity for persistent innovation and impact.

Trying to consider the big question of "How do I improve our customer service/experience" winds up being too big a problem to solve so it often just gets bandaged or abandoned. Trying to tackle big picture questions triggers fear and anxiety. When that happens, progress comes to a halt leaving you to go back and focus on the ironically comfortable routine of solving customer complaints and fighting off competition.

But how about breaking down the initiative into bite size pieces that allow you to make a consistent series of small steps forward?

I propose that you write down every single customer "touch point" that exists in your business process. From initial phone call to payment of your invoice (Yes, the boring ones that you rarely think about but wind up being the main ways your customer/clients connect with you). If you don't have 10 then add some more until you do. Send a birthday card, call monthly or quarterly to ask how business is doing. Maybe an extra email confirmation or a newsletter. Just keep putting yourself in your customers seat and consider what would make each piece a memorable experience FOR THEM. Think about great experiences you have had and translate them back into your business. Ask your clients what interaction with your company is the most frustrating.

Now, here is the important part where you make a plan of action and make progress. What additional idea can you add to each touch point that would move it closer to perfect? Just a small step (change the way you answer the phone or a thank you note when an invoice is paid). Implement 1 change/innovation to each touch point every month and you will completely transform your customers experience within a year.

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You may disagree but I don’t think you really get to understand your business till you know EXACTLY WHY you’re doing it. Knowing why is harder than it looks. Learning is expensive.

Making innovation work to grow your cash account comes from this education. Want to know why marketing and advertising creates buzz but doesn't = cash? Because it's not connected to what is real about your business. The REAL truth.

Not what gets attention... what keeps attention.

Why do I not look to simply sell boilerplate web sites or marketing ideas to Fortune 500 companies with large budgets? Just be a good salesmen and trial close them again and again until they buy? Yak yak yak. Blah blah blah.

Our work breathes the soul back into a business and its owner. Traditional agencies, PR firms, design firms, marketing firms and "consultants"  don’t do that even if you can afford them…  They just futz around a lot and try to fit your business into what they think works for others.  That does not celebrate what makes your particular business real and great.

What is far more interesting is persistently growing a business that helps you and those that work alongside you buy a home, raise good kids and share a full life with a loved one.  Business owners that "get" this core truth work hard to make that happen for other people (and themselves). They do "cool" and "new" stuff. They take smart risks. They are more powerful than the Larry Ellison's of this world.

My old logistics service business was good… very good in fact.  But I can’t say moving cargo around was exactly “making a dent in the universe” and it didn't make me excited for each day.  However, what I did do was provide a service for clients that generated revenue, that revenue paid those that also cared about the company and its clients and allowed them to learn, grow, test themselves, be challenged during the day and realize their personal dreams as they married, traveled, bought their first home and raised kind and inspired children.

That is a dent.

What is your business for?

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Do you remember when flying on a big airliner (and with a major airline) was exciting?

Only 10 years ago I was a very loyal United fan.  I told everyone how much I enjoyed flying them, my frequent flier points often bumped me to business class and I generally felt that I was part of a club when flying United vs anyone else. Most importantly, I would not fly with anyone else regardless of price (as long as United was flying there). By treating me as a valued guest they created a raving fan.

Oh how times have changed.  I now avoid flying United at all costs. My latest attempt to try to use up old miles bought me a first class seat to LA that had me enter the gate across a dirty red mat (Calling it a carpet would be insulting to all carpets), sitting in a seat that was falling apart, a choice of food that was not actually available on the plane and a portable DVD player that had me tangled up in wires across both sides of my seat. Not the experience First Class should be.

Growing up I used to always get dressed up when I would fly.  If people stopped to think about what it took to "jump" from New York to Los Angeles perhaps they would realize the remarkable treat it actually is.  What if the airlines did a better job reminding you of that story?

Now more than ever, we long for simpler times.  Don't get me wrong, the live TV and wi-fi at 38,000 feet is great, but the romance that delivered such a memorable experience has been lost along the way.  An airline that can capture that would set it itself apart.  Simple elegance in flight,etc...  There are no costs involved here.  This is about the culture of an organization.  At its most basic, it is about the love of flight.

The old guard airlines have to find a way to deliver that experience and romance again if they want the loyalty and word of mouth that will sustain them through these tough times.  A big and fun challenge for an Airline ready to think beyond checked bag fees.  The kind of purpose an entire company can rally around.

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Love this quote from Ari Emanuel answering a Q&A about how he could not be on social media sites:

I don't need your influence. I don't want your information, so you don't get mine. Not everything should be shared. If somebody wants to share their life, great. I don't have to. It's not required. So I'm not gonna fucking do it.

That, refreshingly, is an honest answer from an extraordinarily influential business leader. Sharing and social media is not the be all and end all for building and growing a succesful business.  Do what works for you and don't waste your time and energy if it makes no impact on your business. 

And if you want to enjoy more straight talk from Mr. Emanuel you will REALLY enjoy this video from the 2010 web 2.0 summit (You will easily see why Ari on Entourage is based on Ari Emanuel).

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From Tim Sanders "The Likeability Factor." In it, he paraphrases a line from Dale Carnegie's "How To Make Friends and Influence People"...

"You will win more friends in the next 2 months developing a sincere interest in 2 people than you will ever win in the next 2 years trying to get 2 people interested in you."

My version...

"You will win more new clients in the next 2 months developing a sincere interest in 2 prospects than you will ever win in the next 2 years trying to get 2 prospects interested in you."

Q: What if you approached (and targeted) each prospect because you were truly interested and fascinated by their business and/or the type of people they are?

How would that change your entire sales and marketing approach?

Are you fascinated by your clients and their business? If not, why not?

EXTRA CREDIT: Apply the same standard to your vendors/suppliers.

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Almost every business I have come across sells in a similar way. Call, meeting, live presentation, written proposal, negotiate and... pray.

It's a tedious and painful process

I am certainly guilty of trying to follow the same path. Boy does it suck. If it sucks for one to do, how much must it suck for the
person on the receiving end?

If your sales strategy focuses on grinding the prospect into submission...you can't complain when your clients act like a captured populace.

What if every interaction with a prospect was a good experience for both of you? What if you had fun creating and delivering them? What would that look, feel and sound like?

Now....

What would your first meeting be like?
How fascinating a read would your bid response be?
What would your proposal look like?
What kind of live presentation would you give?

I am not talking about what your PR or Marketing company tells you it should look, read or sound like. What would be fun for you to prepare and present?

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Business is supposed to be fun to run. It felt that way when you got started, right? But somewhere along the way, stress and complexity buried all the fun. Getting through the day became the focus in- stead of realizing your business’s true potential.

If you are nodding your head in recognition, this book is for you. You know everything in it already, but, as one of my favorite sayings goes, it has become “hard to read the label from inside the bottle.” ␣is book contains sparks to remind you of the power of simpler times, the power of getting the basics of business perfect. Whenever things feel like they are get- ting away from you, whenever your business does not feel fun to run, the Business Brickyard will help you reconnect with your goals and passion while remind- ing you that the basics will support you always.

I stumbled into the Business Brickyard when I was thirty-three years old—although I wish I had re- membered it much sooner. I had recently sold the freight and logistics company I’d been running for six years (and working in for more than twelve); a big milestone in the life of a young business owner. But I felt as wrung out as if I’d narrowly survived drown- ing and only at the last minute managed to suck in a lungful of air.

What had started as a passion became a private hell. The years that led up to selling the company were a whirlwind of massive turnaround work and a daily knock-down drag-out fight for survival. I had bank pressure, staff problems, and poor-paying clients. Being caught in the middle of a never-ending “us too” spiral of matching services with competitors who had significantly more money than us sent us on that slippery slope of doing more for less. We had to scrape to pay the bills while trying to find the space (and time) to re-invent the company so it could live up to its promise of being “fun to run.”

I dreaded going to work each day. The weekends offered little comfort as they were just a time out when I couldn’t be in the battle. It was lonely, scary, all-consuming, frustrating and not what most people equate with business ownership—what, as I later found out, many, many others experience. When it was over, I realized how many years had passed by me. I owned part of a truly great company—a company filled with amazing people that served some terrific clients. But I didn’t enjoy the ride or have time to enjoy what made my company great.

Too many business owners are going through what I went through. Running a business has become too lonely a path. The more complex a business grows, the more a lack of having a rock-solid foundation will compound problems and divert attention to the wrong things. Scores of business owners wake up at (the proverbial) 2:00 AM agonizing over why they lost an account to the low- cost corporate behemoth, why their latest marketing blast isn’t making the phones ring of the hook, or they just have that nagging feeling that a lot more needs to get done. (For me, it was always the drive home that had me thinking of all the things that were not happening fast enough.) Everyone wants to figure out the “secret sauce” that will instantly propel his or her business to that elusive “next level.” What they really need to do is go back to their Business Brickyard.

--
The above is the introduction to my book: Your Business Brickyard - Getting back to basics to make your business more fun to run. I wrote it over 2 years ago and happen to sit down and read it again the other day. It is more relevant to the business owners I know and work with than ever. If you would like a free PDF of the entire book you just need to join my mailing list. No strings and just the occasional email note when I have something I think is worthy of sharing (The mailing list sign-up is at the bottom of every page of my web site). 

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Put all those business books down, throw all the textbooks away
and just do the 1 thing that will never let you down.

After many years of listening to businesses, experiencing the service they provide and working with them to get things done I have come up with the one thing that will put your business in the top 3% of whatever industry you are in.   Here it is (Drumroll, etc...):

Do what you said you would do. Do it when you said you would do it.

There it is. Seems so simple and yet, how many interactions/experiences have you had where you can count on it?  How many follow ups do you send to people?  How many are you responding to? How many letters, emails and calls are you making/receiving with apologies for deadlines and promises missed?

When I stick to this rule clients come to me. You may want more magic but there it is.

Businesses, lost in a fog of promises not kept, long to find a company to work with that makes this simple rule real.  When I forget it? I lose credibility, create stress for myself and my clients and fall back into the blur of the crowd.

Your competition is not talking about it and your clients and prospects cannot wait to hear it.  So what are the steps you need to put in place so it becomes the rule your business NEVER breaks?  When?

Put it on your business cards, on the first slide of your presentation and at the top of every mission statement.

Welcome to the top 3% of your industry.

**Extra credit:

Do more than what you said you would do.  Still do it when you said you would.

Welcome to the top 1% of your industry.

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It's what the customer wants that counts, Follow your gut first, Markets are conversations, Customers don't know what they really want, It's about telling stories, Be your own client, Etc, etc...

If I grabbed 10 books off of my shelf I could find researched theses on each of the concepts listed above and many more.

I find myself wondering if the "new era" of marketing is quickly becoming the cluttered noise that it is hoping to rise above. The latest "Fad" based on a few case studies where a different approach proved successful.

It reminds me of similar cycles in food and fashion:

Carbs are good, carbs are bad, protein only, protein only is bad, etc..

Ties are wide, ties are narrow, no ties, ties are back, etc...

Is marketing evolving or is it merely moving in a fad like cycle in the same way diets and fashions move in and out of style?

Fad Marketing = Fad Diets = Fashion Trends

Advertising is not as dead as some would think, word of mouth is not the singular answer and blogs are not the only way to go forward.

For all the new ideas being presented in order to find the front edge of the envelope, it is worth noting that the timeless wisdom of the likes of Peter Drucker, Napoleon Hill and Nelson Rockefeller remain highly effective. Follow the teachings of any of these authors today and you will still find success.

As companies accelerate to embrace all these "New Marketing" ideas, the classics become more surprising, more novel and more effective.

At some point, everything old is new again. Simple beats complicated. Comfort beats confusion.

"Retro Marketing" is just around the corner.

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