The steady growth in the number of marketing douchebags I stumble across makes me wonder how anyone comes to the conclusion that these kinds of faux-business practices are a legitimate way to make a living.
Then I read a LinkedIn message that made it all clear.
Meet Joshua Boxer. He’s not your typical Ed Hardy-wearing millionaire. He’s the owner of Internet Wealth Pros, a moneymaking system that… whatever. If you’ve clicked that link, you’ve already seen his video that explains it all.
Joshua sent a message to the Social Media Marketing group on LinkedIn, entitled “The #1 Mistake Online Marketers Make and How to Fix It.” And his advice explicitly illustrates HOW and WHY people have come to their current understanding of the way the Internet works — namely, that you don’t actually have to work in order to be successful.
You just have to convince other people that you already are successful.
Got that? Under this mindset, actually being an expert is irrelevant; convincing other people that you’re an expert is what matters.
This is why I refer to the practice as pre-branding: traditionally, branding is what the public thinks of you (or your company), based on their evaluation of what you do or produce. But today, people are advised to pre-brand themselves because they haven’t actually done anything.
Again, the kind of Internet Marketing we’re discussing here isn’t the actual marketing of a product, service or other company — it’s the marketing of you, yourself. Suddenly, marketing yourself is a full-time job. (“What do you do for a living, Bob?” “I tell people about me.” “Ahh, I see…”)
This is where it gets interesting. Once again, you could have an awesome business or be a great leader, but if you don’t tell people you’re a great leader, they won’t see you as a great leader. Conversely, if people see you as a great leader, you must be one (regardless of whether or not you’ve ever actually led anyone).
Lesson: what you’ve done is no longer as important as what you tell people you’ve done.
Again: don’t try to brand yourself by actually having a business that people take seriously; brand yourself by going to places where people talk and start talking about yourself in glowing terms.
Your story is important. Your story need not be true, but your story does need to be compelling. And nothing is more compelling than telling people how much your life has changed for the better since [inciting business-related incident], because people don’t value results as much as they value the hero’s journey. (And if you cast yourself as the hero, you win.)
Tell your story. Tell it everywhere. Make sure that when people search for you, what they find is the story you want to tell them, not any record of what you have (or haven’t) actually done.
Remember: how you view yourself is how others are going to view you. So when you tell them you’re a hero, they have to listen.
It’s like the Protestant work ethic being carried out by the illusionist’s hands. Boxer is right that success takes time. But instead of spending time amassing knowledge and experience, pre-branding advocates spending time convincing people that you already have knowledge and experience.
Because that’s what pre-branding is all about: building your online empire. And since the Internet is seen by some as a magical land where people are rewarded for their claims rather than for their work, it’s only natural that you should be able to parlay those fictional claims into a fictional empire.
And maybe, if you pray hard enough, you’ll wake up one day and discover that you’ve become a real boy.
Or at least a real expert.
Tags: branding, bullshit, Business, common sense, ethics, expert, marketing douchebags, perception, Social Media, Sociology
I find the phenomenon of the ‘internet marketers’–aka douche bags per your site–funny in a way. It is so different from the real world. Classic fake it before you make it.(And yes, MLM and stuff exist in the real world, but I am not confronted with it continuously, nor can people pass themselves off as having a mansion and a fleet of Mercedes)
In the real world you either create a product or a service, or offer a level of expertise to an employer in exchange for a wage. If you work hard or smart enough, you may get wealthy. I have never gone on a job interview where the wage I sought was instant wealth and popularity. There is a commercial running on the radio right now that states there is no job called ‘getting paid.’ That much is true.
It is funny that people fall for these ‘marketing’ schemes, which is get rich quick stuff. The people that are successful online seem to be the same people, or types of people, that are successful in the brick and mortar world. As much as these gurus want you to believe differently, the way to success is sweat equity,real expertise, ingenuity, and to some extent luck.
Maybe since I freelance, and I have to hustle for my work, these folks get to me more than others. It is easy to liken this to the gold rush where all the prospectors were going to be rich, but the true successes were the folks selling the picks, shovels, and donkeys to the dreamers.
I guess I don’t mind being one of the suppliers. I would gladly build all of the tools, sites, and campaigns for these folks. That would be a good stream for me. Turn over must be high.
Hope that was coherent. Writing before my first cup of coffee is always a gamble.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Justin Kownacki, Jarret Streiner. Jarret Streiner said: It is called BSing: RT @JustinKownacki: Pre-Branding: How to Become an Expert When You Don't Know Anything http://bit.ly/1KnqmP [...]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by JustinKownacki: Pre-Branding: How to Become an Expert When You Don’t Know Anything http://bit.ly/1KnqmP...
Justin,
I really enjoyed the post. I’ve experienced a measure of personal branding success from my blog and all of my YouTube vids. You provided some valuable tips in this post.
Looking for public speaking opportunities is another great way to raise visibility. I think that an individual should also focus on a niche, and not try to be all things social media, but look for a specific subject area.
Keep it up Justin.
ac
I like the description of the internet as a “breeding ground” for entrepreneurs.
Usually “breeding ground for” is followed by words like “bacteria” or “Roaches” at least that’s what it makes me think of.
Interesting post. I’m fascinated with the seemingly contradictory online marketers, who leverage such Frank-Kern-inspired marketing tactics as “the reluctant hero,” while they also preach “transparency is the key to marketing online.”
Back when I was a “suit” at an agency, we would never create a brand or product promise without sufficient RTBs, or “Reasons to Believe.”
While it makes sense that these RTBs need only be perceived as valid, no brand or product truly has any staying power without some level of genuine results. The smoke and mirrors of a reality that is merely perception will only get you so far.
Bravo Justin, I am sick and tired of those “experts”, can’t stand them any more. I just hope people will develop better bullshit detectors and have the guts to spit in their face: “shut the hell up”.
[...] This post was Twitted by pprothe [...]
[...] This post was Twitted by tomguarriello [...]
I love you.
You are my hero.
These people anger me to no end, so it’s always nice to see a sane mind chime in on the topic every now and then.
I can’t stop laughing. Sometimes “douchebags” IS an appropriate professional title in business comm. Thank you for your sharp, funny, real insights.
I’m left asking, if its possible for marketers who rampantly tout their development of expert web success strategies, new systems of best practice, and numerous authoritative white papers on Social Media be “in” the bullsh*t and not completely”of”it?
My least favorite thing about these “internet marketers” is how they get away with charging (and making!) such an exorbitant amount of money. I know of one in particular who charges over $300 an hour to waste other people’s time and make up big words to sound intelligent and confuse his clients.
All too often, these people have the ability to make their clients feel not only that they are the experts, but also that the client can’t possibly know anything about their field. It’s so frustrating!
When I look at any of the “online personalities” I admire—that is, specific designers and developers that I pay attention to online—they always have this in common: They became well-known because they developed a great product or produced great designs. They did things. I haven’t been able to find posts on any of their blogs where they talk about how great they are, just posts that promote what they did.
I just hope that more people follow that example.
Amen brother.
I dig the deconstruction. Much better than CSI or Bones.
[...] by “Internet Marketers,” he means these kinds of marketers. But let’s not split hairs — especially when there’s so much cash waiting to [...]
Great article! I’m a longtime marketing professional and am amazed by the various pitches that purport to make you rich. Glad to read you take on this things.
Great article! I’m a longtime marketing professional and am amazed by the various pitches that purport to make you rich. Glad to read your take on this things.
HAHA Justin, this article hit my funny bone just right! Thanks for at least subsiding/entertaining something I’ve been wanting to flame in the internet marketing world for a while now. Loved the last line.
I’ll be checking back for more, keep it up! ;D
Hey Justin,
Thank you for the awesome post and for all of the traffic. One thing you should never do, is speak of things you know nothing about. You don’t know me, nor do you have any idea what I do.
Either way, it doesn’t make a difference.
You took my post way out of context and twisted it to fit your liking. Great job Pal, but your way off.
People are like elevator buttons, they either take you up, down or leave you right where you are.
Which button are you?
Oh, one more thing. There were like 15 positive comments in Linked In on my post and ummm, you didn’t even have the guts to leave one? Instead you hide here on your comfortable little blog.
If you have something to say about someone at least be man enough to bring it out in the open.
Guess everyone knows where you stand, huh?
Later Coward.
Josh;
I’m glad to hear my post has driven so much traffic to your site. You’re welcome. Feel free to inspire (and monetize) them as you see fit.
I’ve already quit the Social Media Marketing group on LinkedIn, due to a stark lack of what I considered to be useful information, so I actually can’t leave a comment on your post. But thanks for taking the time to leave one (whoops – two) on mine. If you have any other publicly available posts that you’d like my opinion on, please let me know.
Cheers!
Justin:
Love, Charity and Esteem.
: )
[...] But waiting for validation from others can be time-consuming, so modern egotists have begun calling themselves experts about topics they’re vaguely familiar with, in the hopes that someone will be convinced [...]