“If Trump becomes president of this country, the S&P will go to 1,000. People are brushing it off, but there is absolutely no way that this market — and this economy — does not get pounded.” -Wedbush, trader predicted

Marketing Mix

(Or: The More It Changes, the More It’s the Same)

When it comes to marketing and sales, I feel more like Warren Buffett than a crypto exchange founder livestreaming on three platforms at once.

I remember the dot-com Super Bowl of January 2000.

Nineteen online startups bought outrageously expensive Super Bowl ads. It felt like the future had arrived in a pixelated rush. The dinosaurs of the Fortune 100 were surely about to be replaced by hoodie-wearing disruptors.

Warren Buffett was publicly skeptical. He said he didn’t understand how many of these companies would ever make a profit. He focused on fundamentals.

He was mocked.

“Move over, old man.”

I didn’t move over. I jumped in.

I turned $5,000 into $250,000 day-trading tech stocks in my spare time. I thought I was a genius.

Then Black Tuesday arrived while I was on a four-hour flight.

By the time we landed, my “genius” had returned to less than the original investment.

Lesson learned?

Er… then came crypto.

Even Buffett admits he missed Amazon. Occasionally, a shooting star becomes a galaxy.

But here’s the key: in marketing, it’s okay to miss a shooting star.

If you catch the very first wave of a new platform, wonderful. You get disproportionate upside.

Once every major brand piles in, that advantage evaporates.

The platform changes.

The principle does not.

Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr said in 1849:

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That applies perfectly to marketing.

The Only Definition You Need

Marketing is:

Getting the right message, the right number of times, to the right people.

That’s it.

Everything else is vehicle.

Consultants will tell you it has “finally changed.”

It hasn’t.

The messaging vehicles change.
The psychology does not.

The Famous Mix (And Why It Confuses Everyone)

For decades, we were taught the Four Ps:

• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place

Then services added three more:

• People
• Process
• Physical evidence

Seven Ps.

Then came the Four Cs:

• Consumer needs
• Cost
• Communication
• Convenience

All very clever.

All very academic.

All very slide-deck friendly.

For me, all the Ps and Cs P-me-off.

Do you notice what’s missing?

A real, living, breathing customer.

Not a demographic.

Not a persona.

Not a funnel segment.

A human being.

The Principle That Never Changes

Customers:

• Want problems solved.
• Want risk reduced.
• Want status enhanced.
• Want convenience increased.
• Want to feel understood.

That was true in 1920.
It was true in 2000.
It is true in 2026.

TikTok, LinkedIn, email, billboards, podcasts, carrier pigeons — all are simply delivery systems.

The danger is confusing platform mastery with marketing mastery.

You can have 100,000 followers and no profit.

You can have modest reach and strong profit.

Marketing is not noise.

It is persuasion with clarity.

The Buffet Test for Marketing

When evaluating a marketing strategy, ask:

• Does this channel reach my customer repeatedly?
• Does my message clearly solve a meaningful problem?
• Can I measure return?
• Is this sustainable beyond the hype cycle?

If the answer is no, you are likely chasing fashion.

Buffett didn’t understand many dot-coms because he couldn’t see predictable earnings.

You should apply the same logic to marketing platforms.

If you cannot see predictable customer acquisition, be cautious.

The Anti-Fad Framework

Here is how to keep marketing relevant regardless of technology shifts:

1. Know your customer deeply.
   What keeps them awake at night? What do they complain about? What do they fear losing?
2. Craft a simple, clear message.
   If you need three paragraphs to explain your value, it’s not clear enough.
3. Choose channels based on behavior, not hype.
   Where does your customer already spend attention?
4. Repeat consistently.
   Most founders quit too early. Marketing works through repetition, not brilliance.
5. Measure response, not vanity metrics.
   Likes do not pay invoices.

The Chef Analogy (Without the MBA Sauce)

A marketing mix is simply a blend of tactics.

Like a chef blends ingredients.

But here’s the twist:

A great chef tastes constantly.

Adjusts constantly.

Watches the customer’s reaction constantly.

The recipe is not sacred.

The customer’s response is.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Platforms will rise and fall.
Algorithms will reward and punish.
Experts will declare revolutions.

But the fundamentals remain:

Clear message.
Right audience.
Repeated exposure.
Measured results.

Ignore that — and you will relive my four-hour flight.

Stick to it — and you won’t need to chase every shiny new thing that blinks on your screen.

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No one mentions the customer.

Surely they get a vote?

According to research published in the Harvard Business Review, a five-year study involving more than 500 managers across multiple countries concluded that the traditional 4 Ps model undercuts B2B marketers in three ways:

• It overemphasizes product technology and quality — which are merely the cost of entry.
• It underemphasizes building a compelling value case.
• It distracts companies from leveraging trust as a differentiator.

Excuse me?

Five hundred managers?

More than 500,000 new businesses are started every year in the United States alone — and the U.S. represents about 4% of the global population.

We are meant to reshape our thinking based on the divided opinions of roughly 0.001%?

Academia loves frameworks.

Entrepreneurs love customers.

Marketing has been and always will be:

Getting the right message, the right number of times, to the right people.

That’s it.

Everything else is garnish.

Step 1: Know Who the “Right People” Are

You cannot shortcut this.

You cannot workshop it into existence.

You cannot brainstorm it in a weekend retreat.

You must enter the business to understand the business.

That takes time.

Don’t try to perfect your brand, messaging, or positioning before you’ve actually sold something to real human beings.

Give yourself a year before you assume you truly understand your market.

Otherwise, you will create a beautiful brand for the wrong audience.

(Yes, you will f*** it up.)

Step 2: Clarify the Message

What problem are you solving?

Not what features you have.

Not how clever your technology is.

Not how hard you worked.

What need are you fixing?

If you cannot answer that in one crisp sentence, you are not ready to market.

Technology is rarely the differentiator.

Understanding is.

Step 3: Choose the Right Transmission Vehicle

Where does your customer go for information?

That’s where you go.

Not where the hype is.

Not where P&G is spending millions.

Not where your nephew says “everyone is.”

Just because global brands advertise on X-Tok-Gram-Tube doesn’t mean you should.

Your customer might:

• Read trade journals.
• Attend niche conferences.
• Live inside LinkedIn.
• Still respond to direct mail.
• Or, yes, use something as unfashionable as a magazine.

Marketing channels are tools.

Customers decide which tools matter.

People Buy People

When I started in sales, my trainers repeated endlessly:

“People buy people first.”

They meant that no matter how good your product is, if customers don’t like or trust you, they won’t buy.

You must show up in a way they expect.

But here’s what’s deeper than that:

People make decisions in seconds.

They are not evaluating your corporate structure.

They are sensing your energy.

Companies have energy signatures.
Brands have energy signatures.
Leaders have energy signatures.
Messages have energy signatures.

Customers have them too.

When those energies align, something powerful happens.

Not a killer logo.

Not a clever tagline.

Trust.

From Customer to Guest

I prefer to think of customers as guests.

A guest is someone you welcome.

Someone you respect.

Someone whose time you value.

When the right message reaches the right guest repeatedly — without pressure, without manipulation — trust forms.

Trust converts.

Trust refers.

Referrals are the lifeblood of every successful startup.

Advertising may start the conversation.

Trust sustains it.

Marketing fads will come and go.

Platforms will rise and collapse.

Algorithms will change weekly.

But this remains constant:

Right message.
Right people.
Right repetition.

Create trust.

Everything else is noise.

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I think of trustworthiness as the outcome of getting the marketing mix right.

When we trust a company, we buy.

When we truly trust a company, we recommend.

That second part is where fortunes are made.

The Real Marketing Mix: Trust

Forget the Ps.

Forget the Cs.

The only mix that matters now is the Trust Mix.

And it starts here:

1. Satisfy a Real Need

What do you provide that brings a genuine smile of satisfaction to your guest’s face?

Not mild approval.

Not “that’ll do.”

Delight.

The old marketing mix focused on features:

• It’s shiny.
• It’s automated.
• It’s faster.
• It’s safer.

Translation:

“We don’t love you, but we love your money.”

Then came the “benefits” evolution:

• It saves time.
• It reduces stress.
• It’s more convenient.

Translation:

“We don’t love you, but we like you enough to try.”

That was progress.

But it still centers on transaction.

The mix I propose — and you won’t find this in an MBA curriculum — is trust.

Not features.
Not benefits.

Trust.

The old business energy was:

“What’s in it for me?”

Sales. Margin. Exit valuation.

Linear energy.

Take. Close. Repeat.

The new energy is:

“How do I contribute?”

When we focus on contribution, something changes.

Energy spirals.

When we genuinely care about solving a guest’s problem, the interaction lifts both parties.

When we ask for feedback — reviews, testimonials, stories — we create resonance.

They feel heard.
We feel validated.

Energy spins.

Trust forms.

And trust compounds.

From Customer to Guest

Customers transact.

Guests are welcomed.

Guests are respected.

Guests are remembered.

Customers compare price.

Guests compare experience.

Customers shop.

Guests return.

Today’s buyers have options beyond imagination.

They don’t care about your specifications.
They don’t care about your internal awards.
They barely care about your brand.

They care about:

• “Do I trust you?”
• “Will you fix this?”
• “Will it stay fixed?”

Customers are demanding.

They have every right to be.

They want it fixed.
They want it fixed now.
And once fixed, they expect it to stay fixed.

How Trust Shows Up Today

Trust is social.

Trust is visible.

Trust is shared.

It sounds like:

“An influencer I follow liked you.”

“That video felt authentic.”

“My friend recommended you.”

Trust transfers.

When someone trusted by your guest trusts you, the barrier lowers.

That’s modern word-of-mouth — amplified.

The Oversell Trap

To build trust, your product or service must do what it says.

That sounds obvious.

It isn’t.

The old model encouraged impressive claims.

Bigger.
Faster.
Best ever.
Revolutionary.

The problem?

Expectation inflation.

When the real experience doesn’t match the promise, trust fractures.

And now — unlike 30 years ago — disappointed customers can broadcast globally.

The smarter play today?

Under-promise.

Over-deliver.

Pleasant surprise fuels referrals.

Betrayed expectation fuels backlash.

Both travel at digital speed.

The Secret Sauce

Trust is the secret sauce.

Not because it sounds noble.

Because it converts.

When trust exists:

• Price becomes less sensitive.
• Competitors become less attractive.
• Referrals become natural.

And when referrals begin, marketing becomes easier.

Trust is the ultimate leverage.

The platforms will keep changing.

X-tok-gram will morph into something else.

Video lengths will shrink, expand, shrink again.

But this remains:

Satisfy a real need.
Contribute.
Deliver what you promise.
Create delight.

Do that repeatedly and your guests will carry your message for you.

That is marketing at its highest level.

And it never goes out of fashion.

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Do Customers Know What They Need?

Experts love to debate whether customers truly understand their own needs.

“Did anyone know they needed television when they were happy with radio?”

Steve Jobs famously said:

“People don’t know what they want until we show it to them.”

It’s a great quote.

It’s also only half true.

People absolutely knew they wanted television.

They wanted moving pictures.
They wanted richer stories.
They wanted more connection.

They just didn’t know how to get it.

Needs create inventions.
Inventions don’t create needs.

We wanted:

• To see faces across distance → the Internet.
• To carry music in our pockets → the iPod.
• To simplify complexity → the smartphone.

The need comes first.

The entrepreneur finds the mechanism.

Even icons get it wrong.

For every iMac, iPod, and iPad, there was:

• Apple Lisa — $10,000 and ahead of its time.
• The 16-pound “portable” Macintosh.
• A graveyard of products history politely forgets.

Apple didn’t get it right every time.

You won’t either.

I certainly don’t.

But if you obsess over genuine human need — not ego, not trend, not technology for technology’s sake — you will get it right often enough.

And when you do, customers become something more.

They become trusting guests.

2. Establish an Image That Engenders Trust

Create an image your guest is proud to associate with.

Not impressed by.

Proud of.

Logos and business cards are decoration.
Trust is identity.

To understand this, let’s step back in time.

Colonel Sanders: An Enduring Image

Harland Sanders was born in 1890 on a small Indiana farm.

By age 12, he had left school.
By adulthood, he had worked as:

• Farmhand
• Railroad fireman
• Insurance salesman
• Ferry operator
• Justice of the peace
• Service station operator

In 1929, he opened a gas station in Kentucky.

He cooked for customers in the back.

Word spread.

Demand grew.

By his sixties — when most people consider retirement — he was driving across America in a white suit, white shirt, black string tie, cane in hand, selling a chicken recipe door to door.

That image stuck.

It wasn’t a branding agency creation.

It was him.

Authentic.
Memorable.
Consistent.

By 1963, more than 600 outlets carried his recipe.

In 1964, he sold the company for $2 million and became its roving ambassador.

One investor later said:

“He’s the greatest PR image I have ever known.”

The Colonel wasn’t selling fried chicken.

He was selling familiarity.
Warmth.
Trust.

And yes… apparently… finger-licking goodness.

The image endures because it aligns with experience.

That’s the key.

An image that outlives trends must be rooted in reality.

3. Communicate Like a Host, Not a Broadcaster

Communication tools always change.

They always will.

Wrigley advertised in newspapers.
Newspapers became ad catalogs.
Radio disrupted print.
TV disrupted radio.
The Internet disrupted everything.

Under the old mix, companies pushed information outward.

Under the evolved mix, brands “pulled” customers through value-driven content.

Both are still company-centered.

Today, what works best feels more like a dinner-table conversation.

Your guest has entered your home.

You don’t shout at them.

You listen.

You ask questions.

You invite feedback.

Asking for feedback is one of the smartest marketing strategies in existence.

Because when you ask for someone’s opinion, you elevate them.

Disney doesn’t call them customers.

They are guests.

Employees?

Cast members.

That linguistic shift was genius.

It changes behavior.

Your aim is simple:

Create guests who trust you so much they can’t wait to tell others.

Which means:

• Make reviews easy.
• Make referrals easy.
• Make payments easy.
• Make returns easy.
• Make feedback easy.

Convenience is respect.

Word of Mouth: Then and Now

It used to be said:

• A satisfied customer told 5–10 people.
• A dissatisfied customer told 20+.

Today?

One person can tell thousands.
Or millions.

The amplification is exponential.

But here’s the quiet truth:

Less than 1% of people actively post reviews.

Which means the experience has to move them emotionally.

Delight creates sharing.
Indifference creates silence.
Disappointment creates damage.

Build the Guest Base First

In some ways, we’ve returned to earlier times.

KFC.
Walmart.
Nike.

They built loyal regional bases long before global brand campaigns.

The foundation was experience.

Not aesthetics.

I encourage entrepreneurs:

Put cash into delighting guests before you spend it on dazzling branding.

You only get one real chance to get branding right.

You cannot shortcut understanding your guest.

That takes time.

For at least the first year of every company I’ve built, branding was basic.

Simple.
Functional.
Unpretentious.

Because I knew I didn’t yet understand my guest deeply enough.

The Expensive Myth of “Seven Touches”

Experts argue a guest must see your brand 7, 20, even 50 times before acting.

Perhaps.

But that is expensive.

And for many startups, unrealistic.

Better strategy?

Host well.

Let guests refer.

Word of mouth built Colonel Sanders’ empire.

Today, word of mouth travels at digital speed.

If you have a quality product, your business can survive.

If you create trusting guests, your business will soar.

Marketing tools will change.

Platforms will rise and fall.

But this remains:

Satisfy real needs.
Build authentic trust.
Host guests, not customers.
Make sharing easy.

Do that, and the energy spirals upward.

And that never goes out of fashion.

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Homework Time:

Before You Market Your Future, You Must First Imagine It

Every successful venture begins the same way.

Not with spreadsheets.
Not with marketing funnels.
Not with investors.

It begins with imagination.

The ability to see something that does not yet exist — and believe it can.

Yet many people have been conditioned out of this ability. Years of education, corporate structure, and “being realistic” slowly replace imagination with caution.

But imagination is not lost.

It can be remembered.

If you feel even the slightest hesitation when asked to imagine your future success, I strongly encourage you to take the Imagination HQ course. It is designed specifically for people who believe they “can’t dream” — and helps them rediscover one of the most powerful tools the human mind possesses.

Because once you can clearly imagine the life and business you want…

Marketing it becomes far easier.

Take a few moments to explore the short course here:

👉 www.imaginationhq.org

You may be surprised at what your mind is still capable of creating.

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