Let me use an analogy to help you see why marketing is limited in how it can help you:
If I asked you to stop breathing for 5 minutes, what would happen?
You wouldn’t be alive to tell me the answer.
What if I told you to only breathe through your mouth for 5 minutes?
You’d still be here, even though mouth breathing is horrible for you.
- Breathing is a first-order principle.
- How you breathe is a second-order principle.
If you choose to only breathe through your nose, you will gain immense benefits.
But if you’re not breathing, those benefits do little for you.
The positioning of your company, the job/pain you solve for your customer, and your business model are first-order principles.
It's the breathing in the analogy above.
Marketing is a second-order principle.
Without a solid business model, specific job you do for your customer, and excellent positioning, your marketing brings back little ROI.
So am I saying marketing is not important? Not at all.
I’m simply illustrating how the chain of events works.
If you’re doing everything right with your marketing yet getting little ROI, it probably is a first-order principle issue.
But if you have a solid business plan targeting a select audience, marketing will only expedite and exponentially grow your results.
Don’t confuse flawed first-order principles with poor marketing.
Marketing can only do so much.
🧠 // JO