Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

“At last I know enough to become a mediocre office boy.” - George Bernard Shaw around the time of his 75th birthday (Mr. Shaw started out as an office boy.)

The word “expert” gets thrown around a lot. I’m sometimes referred to as a “marketing expert” which makes me flinch a bit. Here’s why:

1. Over-Used and Abused. There are far too many self-professed experts whose claim is based on: a. Their many years of experience; b. They read a book; c. They wrote a book; d. They had a one-hit wonder and are now extrapolating that wisdom to the masses, even it doesn’t apply; e. Any and/or all of the above.

I’m a big believer in experience and the wisdom that comes with time. But some folks have “30 years of experience” and it’s the same year over and over. They never moved past their initial training and lack the intellectual curiosity to learn new technologies and tactics.

There are some very wise people writing books, but there are thousands of business books published every year. They can’t all be Pulitzer pearls. Just because it’s in print doesn’t make it true or useful.

2. If you’re a “name,” you MUST know what you’re talking about! We need to look behind the curtain. Is there really a wizard behind the smoke and mirrors? I wouldn’t take leadership advice from Donald Trump or guidance from Tom Cruise on mental health treatment. And, there are way too many “foreign policy experts” who got that way through knowing somebody, rather than knowing something.

See Susan Getgood’s post, Wal-Mart and Another Lesson from Science Fiction , re Edelman for a real-world biz example. Edelman is one of the big players in PR with very smart, very high profile people. But, yes, smart people do stupid things. And, clients pay them big bucks to do those stupid things, which brings me to #3.

3. People hear “expert” and stop thinking. “Well, she’s the expert, so I’ll just keep my ’stupid’ idea to myself.” “They’re the experts and are charging me a lot of money, so they must know what they’re doing!” Some of the best marketing, products, and companies have been done by people who - um - didn’t know what they were doing. They were “just” killer smart, creative and kept moving. An expert might have stopped them in their tracks. As Seth Godin notes, “marketing is way too important to be left to professionals.”

4. People hear “expert” and turn off. Some of us have had it up to here with pontificating poobahs who grandly swoop through, leaving reams of consultant boilerplate and the smell of burned money behind them.

Me? I’m more interested in talking to “wise ones” - and the truly wise ones don’t go around trumpeting their great wisdom either. They share, discuss, debate and keep learning.

Who knows? By the time I’m 75, I may know enough to be a office “girl!”

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, wisdom