Have you heard about the free lunches being given out?

By Jeff

I came across this post by Pat Lapointe on the marketingnpv website.

About two thirds is satire over the amazing offers available on the internet: instant money, instant hair, instant rapport with women, and so on. Feel free to add the word “effortless” after every “instant.”

Lapointe then praises the new wonder software for keeping the corporate eggheads out of marketing‘s way, as any Dilbert fan will appreciate. These fans will also be familiar with the wild-eyed enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations often seen in from the marketing department. This hyperbolic tendency is exactly the thing that the author of the NPV piece warns us to guard against. I like what he says next:

Bad news. There is still no substitute for diligent, disciplined work when it comes to measuring the payback on marketing. Technology enables, but vision and persistence win every time. Show me a company with the will to work at it, and I’ll show you the company that will get clear insights into their ROI long before the software buyers ever realize they’ve been misled. (Bold added)

I definitely agree with this. There is no wonder drug. You won’t get shredded abs instantly just by ordering now. You may lose weight, but it will be in an exceptionally unhealthy manner, and you’ll gain it right back. Life simply doesn’t work that way. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and it is childish and unreasonable to expect it. You actually have to go to the gym. You actually have to change your diet. You actually have to develop some kind of a personality that attracts the people you want to attract.

The name of the game is “slow and steady wins the race,” or at least “calm methodical diligent action trumps wishful thinking.”