Before the modern horror that was COVID-19, there was another panic about vaccines and a rapidly spreading condition. Do you remember the measles outbreak from Disneyland?
It exposed the first glimpse of an interesting character in the pantheon of modern parents – the anti-vaxxer. Most of us knew they were out there, but probably not in such numbers to cause a minor epidemic. They all have one thing in common – they think that they know more than a doctor does about vaccinations and their side effects in children.
I hadn’t really thought about this until seeing Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue and PSA about vaccinations, but if you think about it, it appears objectively true. What we have here is a group of parents who have decided they know more than a doctor does about vaccinations.
Marketing is much the same. It seems just about everyone who has ever been in business thinks they know about marketing. I hear from business people all the time about what makes “good marketing,” or that a campaign will never work for some reason, or that I must do social media, because all good marketers do social media. There are endless variations on this theme.
Here’s what I rarely find – people with training and experience in marketing telling me any of these things. I’ve never understood this. Why is it that everyone assumes they know about marketing? They don’t assume to know about accounting, finance, operations, or sales (unless they’re one of those folks who think that sales is marketing). But for some reason, my chosen profession apparently requires no training or expertise for people to know it or understand it.
John’s the founder of Audacity Marketing. When he’s not racing motorcycles, he’s building marketing strategies for Audacity clients and anyone else who’ll listen.
John’s worn all the marketing hats, from consultant to agency owner to executive to university professor. He’s held leadership roles in industries from staffing to behavioral health to capital-C consulting. He’s branded or rebranded over 100 companies.
John buttresses 25+ years in marketing with an MBA from Georgia State University.
John lives with his girlfriend Suzanne, his dog Seamus, and his daughter Annie when she shows up from college.