Everyone is talking about the Super Bowl, or perhaps the lack thereof from Sunday’s game. So I couldn’t help but take the chance to interject my quick two cents on the idea that the game was rigged. With the absence of a score and poor performance from Denver, I can’t help but entertain that idea, at least for a few moments – but I’ll chalk this one up to nerves and a bad snap that set the tone for a real snoozer of a game.
This concept got me thinking about marketing success. And wondering if success is possible if you always play by the rules – deliver what you promise, conduct your business with integrity, create the right partnerships to ensure success, etc, but don’t ‘rig the game’ in your favor.
‘Rigging the game’ overall has a negative connotation. Implying that you are deceptive and using trickery to get what you want. In marketing speak; one example would be presenting a brand and message that is in itself untrue – such as promising what you can’t deliver.
I say that organic marketing and business success doesn’t require trickery. And that social marketing levels the playing fields for all – the big and the small, the well funded and the unfunded. Communicating with real words, true thoughts, opinions and an understanding that this space is changing faster then we can type and share it has immense power.
When it comes to ‘playing the game,’ I think what Henry Ford said captures it best. The idea that “Unless you have courage, a courage that keeps you going, always going, no matter what happens, there is no certainty of success. It is really an endurance race.”
What this means to me is that perseverance and faith are the likeliest indicators of future success. As long as you can, stay in the game and keep playing. This isn’t rigging the game, it’s playing it. With the new face of marketing (and social marketing), there’s a public voice available to all marketers. Speak freely, frequently and with fervor. Businesses of all sizes have a chance to make a huge impact, see grand results and affect the ever changing business.