Here’s an extract on the topic of shortcuts from the book ‘Small is the New Big’ by marketing super-guru, Seth Godin.

I did an interview yesterday with a magazine that specializes in marketing. They’ve got hundreds of thousands of readers, mostly in the direct-mail business.  “How do you build an e-mail marketing list” the reporter asked…

She didn’t like the answer.

1. I told her that the first step was to offer something in your e-mail newsletter that people actually want to read
2. The second step was to promise people exactly what you intend to give them
3. The third step was to create content that was so remarkable that people want to share it

I explained that if you take your time and keep your promises, it’ll build if it deserves to build…

She wanted to know about shortcuts.

At least three times she asked me what the shortcuts are – How do you do it if you were in  a hurry. Most important, how to do it if your message wasn’t that interesting.

It appears that American marketers still have plenty of time to do it over [again], but not nearly enough time to do it right.  If there were shortcuts, people smarter than you and me would have found them already.  There aren’t. Sorry.

Perhaps what this story tells us is that unlike all those millions of bogus ‘instant wealth’ stories that flood the internet, in 99.99% of cases, real results only come with careful planning and hard work.

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