Great Marketing Feels Like A Prophecy Because It Is

There's a difference between marketers who follow trends and those who create them. The gap isn't talent or luck, it's philosophy. The masters I've studied, who built empires from ideas, all shared certain beliefs that guided their decisions. What are some of those beliefs? I can't believe you asked...

1. Start with Myths, Not Markets
Your first instinct will be to study the market, analyze competitors, and find gaps. Resist this urge. The greatest brands didn't fill existing needs, and instead, they created desires people didn't know they had. Don't build a product. Craft a story and myth that becomes reality. When you create myths, markets usually follow.

2. Claim Your Territory Completely
Once you've identified an interesting space, you have one choice: dominate it entirely. The marketing world has no room for half-assery. Customers remember the leader and forget everyone else. This means saying no to everything that doesn't serve your domination. It means betting everything on your vision.

3. Make Everything Serve the Product
Your organization will pull you in a thousand directions. Resist. Every meeting, every hire, every dollar spent must advance the product's mission. The moment you compromise this focus, you've started your decline.
The product isn't part of your business. It is your business, and everything else is just support infrastructure.

4. Trust Your Vision Over Voices
You'll face an endless stream of opinions, research, and advice. Most of it will be wrong. The crowd seeks comfort, not a breakthrough. Committees optimize for mediocrity, and your vision must be stronger than their voices.

5. Innovate Daily or Die Slowly
Comfort is the enemy of greatness. Each day, choose the path that scares you slightly. Refuse to repeat what worked yesterday. Your competitors will copy your past successes while you're creating your next breakthrough.
Innovation is a discipline and should be a part of your daily practice.

6. Think Like a Spotter and Act Like A Sniper
Customers exist in the present, but markets live in the future. Don't aim at where your audience is today. Aim at where they're going tomorrow.
Study the forces shaping their world. Anticipate their needs before they feel them. Without this dedication, you're just another marketer pushing products. With it, you become someone who makes movements.

7. Embrace Complete Obsession
Casual commitment creates casual results. You must embrace your mission so completely that work becomes indistinguishable from identity. When people ask about your life, you'll talk about your product. When they ask about your product, you'll talk about your life.

This level of dedication to the craft of marketing frightens most people. It should. It's what separates legends from footnotes.

“The magic is not in the analyzing or the understanding. The magic lives in the wonder of what we do not know.” ― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being