What Can a Rapper Teach You about Marketing?

Rap and hip-hop are two of my favorite music choices. Recently, I've learned a great marketing concept from a rapper.

His name is Lil' Wayne. When Lil' Wayne first hit the market I hated the way he rapped, but lately it seems I like him more and more.

So, I decided to take a look at what is making me like this guy when I previously disliked his style. Well, what I found was pretty interesting.

It is hard to turn on a rap/hip-hop station and not hear a Lil' Wayne on a song. It seems this guy has collaborated with every single great rapper out there right now.

Every song that comes on the radio, it seems like he is rapping in a verse or two.

I think the reason I am now liking his style is I am correlating it with other rappers that I do like. So, he is guilty by association.

I like the rappers he is rapping with, so I started to like him.

There are many marketers out there that are doing just that. They're making themselves guilty by association. You see them with other people and you start to naturally like them.

I think a great example of this would probably be Jason Moffatt. He came onto the scene aligning himself with Ed Dale and Frank Kern. Two of the most influential marketers online today.

This is an actual great strategy. when I use the example of Jason Moffatt, I am not trying to downplay or discredit anything he has done. He's a great marketer and deserves the recognition he gets. But, I do think he did a great job in aligning himself with two great marketers to help catapult his career to where it is today.

Anyway, my point is I never looked at aligning myself this way until I started liking a rapper that I previously did not like.

What do you think?