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Best Marketing Quote Of All Time

by Joshua Uebergang
47 replies
I've always had problems with narrowing my market and still do (like the majority of business owners... except they don't realize the problem). My copywriting, articles, web design - everything - was misdirected like yours could be.

I was reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing when Jack Trout and Al Ries wrote something that hit me hard: "Your market is not your target market". Wish I had the book on me to verify this.

That quote solves some of the biggest marketing problems.

Your acne product might cure all acne, but market it to a pizza-faced teenager who can get a "kissable face-again" and your marketing costs go down because you know your market and everything can speak directly to this person leading to better conversions. Acne prone 40 year-olds will also buy the product because they want to be kissed again by their partner after believing their minor problem can be fixed if a acne-faced nerd can be cured.

Have an internet marketing product that makes money? Sure, because you're a female or old, doesn't mean you can't use it, but the message has no power. Frame it as the product for 19 Year Olds to Make Money Online and you'll probably generate similar results to the acne solution.

The Millionaire's Guide to Become a Billionaire. I'm no millionaire, but I'd buy that too. People can buy because they want to be like your target market or get insider secrets.

I remember hearing somewhere that David D's Double Your Dating eletter for guys has a subscriber base of 10% of women. Women buy his stuff all the time. But start marketing to the women, and sales from his actual target market drop right off. Your market is not your target market... but market to your market and you shoot your business in the foot.

What's your most favorite marketing quote of all time?
#marketing #time
  • Profile picture of the author rjweng
    "To know but not to do is not yet to know" - Zen Wisdom
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  • Profile picture of the author 72K.org
    One of my favorites :


    These days, a man who says a thing cannot be done is immediately interrupted by some idiot doing it.

    - Elbert Hubbard

    Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is.
    Vince Lombardi
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    • Profile picture of the author henkz
      Those who work in truth never get trapped. It take a serious approach to land at a glorious result.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    Originally Posted by Joshua Uebergang View Post

    "Your market is not your target market".
    Not sure I follow this quote. Your target market is your target market.

    I think a quote that would help most beginner marketers is one from the most famous drummer of all time, Buddy Rich.

    "You only get better by playing."

    So true. You are only ever going to make money in this game if you stop learning and start implementing.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheCopywriter
    Just about anything ever said by Gary Halbert...especially:

    "The only advantage I want," I reply...Is...A Starving Crowd!"
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

    Okay yes, it is not a marketing quote, but many marketers should understand the meaning behind it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua Uebergang
      Good stuff guys. Try to keep it marketing related.

      Not sure I follow this quote. Your target market is your target market.
      Right, but you altered the quote. Here it is again with the word "just": your MARKET isn't JUST your TARGET MARKET. A market is different to a target market. Products go into markets. A target market is a group of people who reside in a market.

      Feel free to philosophize over your quote
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  • Profile picture of the author Marketing Cheetah
    "Actually, I majored in marketing and I have a bachelor of science."

    My contribution to the most "complicated quotations thread of all time"
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    • Profile picture of the author SocialMediaOwls
      I tell "artists" and "musicians" that don't want to change their "brand" or "style" for marketing that:

      "If you don't make any money, you got no brand"
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by Joshua Uebergang View Post

    I was reading The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing when Jack Trout and Al Ries wrote something that hit me hard: "Your market is not your target market". Wish I had the book on me to verify this.
    The actual quote from the book is...

    "The target is not the market"

    What Jack Trout and Al Ries were trying to communicate
    was that the people who end-up buying from you are
    not only the people you target in your marketing.

    So, you may target the marketing of a social media product
    to people in the 18-35 age group, but people outside of that
    target - but also in the market - will buy from you as well.

    The idea is to focus and target your marketing on a specific
    narrow area, so you get a better response and accept that
    people outside of your target will also buy from you.

    Hence the phrase, "The target is not the market."

    One of my favorite marketing quotes is...

    "Sell what's already selling."

    The idea is to look at the marketplace first and to see
    what people are ALREADY buying. Then you simply offer
    them something similar that's better and/or with better
    marketing.

    This is a more reliable approach than creating something
    'new' and then trying to bring it to market.

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author indiatext
    I personally like the second comment, 'winning is not everything but will to win is', very much.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Tanner
      A few of my favorite "marketing" quotes...

      "If you are not failing at some things, you're not risking enough."

      "Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary
      change in direction to set you straight for your next success."

      "Opportunities multiply as they are seized; they die when neglected. Life is a long line of opportunities."

      "Some people see things as they are and ask why? I dream of things that never were and ask why not?"
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      • Profile picture of the author CurtisSWN
        "Just do it." Nike
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        • Profile picture of the author Mike McAleer
          Originally Posted by CurtisSWN View Post

          "Just do it." Nike
          I love it! You gotta take action to be successful at anything in life. I love Nike and their very simple quote.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    "Take care of your customers and the competition will take care of themselves."

    - the late Corey Rudl
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    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
      Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

      "Take care of your customers and the competition will take care of themselves."

      - the late Corey Rudl
      That reminds me of a quote that I first heard from Larry
      Winget...

      "Do more for the customer than your competition."

      It's a very powerful marketing credo to live by.

      Dedicated to mutual success,

      Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    "Nothing Happens Until The Copy Gets Written." (John Carlton)
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  • Profile picture of the author Joshua Uebergang
    Noice.

    Thanks for correcting me Shaun. Meaning was there at least.

    Great Carlton quote. He'd surely have more!

    "Everyone is in sales. Whatever area you work in, you do have clients and you do need to sell." - Jay Abraham
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    • Profile picture of the author Anonymous Affiliate
      These are not quotes, but the top-2 principles I've profited the most in my business are:

      1) To do > To know. It's all about taking action, testing, tweaking and repeating. Learning without practicing is useless.

      2) Pareto principle: focus your efforts in the key 20% of your business, and outsource the rest.
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      • Profile picture of the author Coqui Colunge
        A bit long but I like this one very much:

        "because the purpose of business is to create a customer, a business has two - and only two - basic functions: Marketing and Innovation. And because Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.

        Marketing is the distinguishing unique function of a business".

        Peter Drucker.
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        • Profile picture of the author Frank Murphy
          "Success is Less Talk, More Thought and All Action" I made this up myself..lol :p
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  • Profile picture of the author Dean Jackson
    "If you're willing to do for 1 year what others won't, you can spend a lifetime doing what others can't"
    I don't know who made this up, but I first heard this from my coach. I've lived by it for the last 2 years and it's worked for me so far.

    - Dean
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    • Profile picture of the author hypnoskills
      Originally Posted by Dean Jackson View Post

      I don't know who made this up, but I first heard this from my coach. I've lived by it for the last 2 years and it's worked for me so far.

      - Dean
      I don't know if she made it up, but it's Potpiegirl's (One Week Marketing) motto. She uses it constantly.

      Brian
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  • Profile picture of the author dgridley
    There's one born every minute. - P.T. Barnum



    Originally Posted by Joshua Uebergang View Post

    What's your most favorite marketing quote of all time?
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    davew3b tumblr blog | davew3b posterous blog | God Bless You (Facebook)
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  • Profile picture of the author dgridley
    We will be judged not by what we did, but what we were afraid to do.
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    davew3b tumblr blog | davew3b posterous blog | God Bless You (Facebook)
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    (In response to a customer wanting to pay invoice for a new car).

    "If you want to pay invoice, spend 5 million to buy your own dealership. Then you can buy as many as you like at invoice."
    ~Frank L Cowles Jr.

    In the vein of Dan Kennedy... target the affluent. Price is then of little consideration in their buying decision. People who pay more are less trouble, ask for less refunds and are generally happier with their purchase. The product becomes the focus instead of the price. Sell a good product with great support and price is not a factor. (Charging more for a crap product doesn't quite make it. )

    "Sell the product, not the price."
    ~Unknown
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    ABC - Always Be Closing.
    AIDA: Attention-Interest-Desire-Action
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    http://www.seobro.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Karan Goel
    "All of us perform better and more willingly when we know why we're doing what we have been told or asked to do."
    Zig Ziglar
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  • Profile picture of the author GoGetta
    My two favourite,

    Richard Branson - "The Brave Don't Live Forever, But The Cautious Don't Live At All!"

    And

    Ali - "I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."

    GoGetta
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    "You have to sell something to make any sales."

    I wish I could remember which Warrior said that in their video so I could attribute it to them. There are so many people who write, blog, and make videos, but NEVER get around to actually asking for the sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    "You have to sell something to make any sales."

    I wish I could remember which Warrior said that in their video so I could attribute it to them. There are so many people who write, blog, and make videos, but NEVER get around to actually asking for the sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
    life is not a box of chocolates...its more like a jar of jalapenos

    what you do today could bite you in the ass tomorrow
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  • Profile picture of the author forex123a
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Shaun, did I ever tell you that you're one bright guy?

      I don't have a favorite quote, but I do have something that I live by.

      Do your own thing...otherwise you're just another face in the crowd.
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      • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
        "I sometimes say that success just happens.

        That's not true. You have to make it happen.

        When I make up my mind to do something, I make sure it happens.

        You can't wait for the phone to ring. You have to ring them."

        -- Lord (Lew) Grade
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        'If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.' Vincent Van Gogh.
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  • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
    Not a quote but in the book "Unthinking: The Surprising Forces Behind What We Buy" by Harry Beckwith he is talking about how Toyota started the Scion car company to appeal to hiphop, young and hip teens and ended up selling more to grocery getting moms that it actually pissed off the hip teens to the point they would not buy them anymore. Cadillac sort of had the same issue. Never really do know your market but it helps to pick a target and see what happens. Then u can test and refine.

    One of the issues I always have in helping companies (even billion dollar a year companies) is they have NO IDEA AT ALL who their target customer is. Can you image selling a billion dollars worth of service or goods and not knowing who your customer REALLY is?

    When I ask them who their target is, its EVERYONE! OMG I cant stand that! When I had one of my service businesses (brick and mortar) I had my target so refined that some people do not believe there is that much of niche for that customer out there. But that target made me the fastest money while other companies continued to lose money "going after everyone".
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    I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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  • Profile picture of the author Meonthe
    "Try not to become a man of success but a man of value"
    ~ Albert Einstein
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    In what may be the most twisted juxtaposition ever, I like these two:

    "Cowards die many times before their deaths;
    The valiant never taste of death but once."

    "That thing is not dead which can eternal lie,
    And with strange aeons even death may die."

    And yes, I did just put Shakespeare and Lovecraft right next to one another. English majors may murmur in shock amongst themselves.

    What I like about these is the mindset message - if you are cowardly and afraid and tentative, you will fail (die) over and over and over again. But if you are valiant, brave, unbreakable... it is not failure. Each setback or error or challenge is simply a bump in the road, a bump which is in your way only temporarily.

    When it feels like that bump is too high to get over (and too low to get under, and you're stuck in the middle, and the pain is thunder... William Shakespeare + H.P. Lovecraft + Michael Jackson = SUCK IT), you look to the second quote.

    Even if you cannot move forward now, simply retaining the capacity to move forward is enough.

    Because strange things happen. You'll be at the gas station one week, and someone will randomly give you the exact $2,000 IM course you wanted but couldn't afford. You'll be on the forum another week, and someone will randomly ask you to JV on a product. You'll accept a Skype contact request, and the contact immediately offers you $5,000 to write some sales copy.

    Even if you don't know how to recover from this setback, you need to stay aware of your alternatives and how they change. Your ability to "eternal lie" - to wait as long as it takes for alternatives to appear - prevents you from failing.
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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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    • Profile picture of the author Oxbloom
      Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

      Because strange things happen. You'll be at the gas station one week, and someone will randomly give you the exact $2,000 IM course you wanted but couldn't afford. You'll be on the forum another week, and someone will randomly ask you to JV on a product. You'll accept a Skype contact request, and the contact immediately offers you $5,000 to write some sales copy.
      You have way cooler randomness in your life than I have in mine. When I go to the gas station, I have hobos sidle up to me instead of men bearing IM courses.

      Maybe my day will come.

      Oxbloom fhtagn.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    Great Carlton quote. He'd surely have more!
    Here's another one of his quotes I like:

    "The world will not invite you to the feast. You must burst in, demand a seat, and take it." (John Carlton)

    Very good advice for those looking to position themselves in a market.

    Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanLeonard
    "Duh! Winning!"
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  • Profile picture of the author Fred1
    "Ignore the dogs, and sell the foxes." - Gary Halbert


    "When you want something in life, you have to focus." - Rosalyn McMillan
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  • Profile picture of the author Tamar Peters
    Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. - Thomas Edison
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