The skeptical version of me read Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! more than a decade ago. I wasn’t sure his was a business book I would like to read. “He’s a wine guy after all!” That’s what I (and a million others) though. And boy, I’m just super-grateful to the good senses that prompted me to buy the book. It was one gem of a book. Just the right kind I needed at that time.
One of my favorite chapter was titled “The Greatest Marketing Strategy Ever.” It had one word in it:
Care.
That’s it! Come to think of it, that hit the nail right in the head. It’s what the best brands have been practicing for centuries. Particularly in the small & medium business world. And that’s precisely what Gary’s marketing strategy has been all about. He really does care about the people he engages and works with.
Things, however, were quite different in 2009. We’ve come a long way and someone needs to update the chapter to make more sense of the times we’re in. So, I decided to expand on the chapter based on my observations and experiences a practitioner and observer. Here’s the revised and updated edition of the greatest marketing strategy ever (aka The Greater Marketing Strategy Ever 2.0):
- Care
- Know your people (you can’t serve everyone)
- Be generous with your time — engage with them, create value, and then do it all over again
- Keep giving until you either stop breathing or caring
- If it’s the latter, simply rinse and repeat
We don’t delve into the nuances as it’s hard to find a concept that’s free of them. The idea is to get a gist of what marketing in the modern day (2020 and beyond) is all about. And I honestly feel it couldn’t get simpler than this.