Engineers and Geeks in Marketing
Back in my “baloney sandwiches and ramen soup” days I was an engineer and I knew I wanted to succeed in sales.
Engineering all by itself was too boring and tedious. My paychecks as a salesman were really SKINNY. I felt like a total misfit. A 2-headed monster.
One time I had lunch with a head hunter. He was trying to help me get a better job which was hard since I was failing miserably in my current job. I wasn’t exactly giving him a whole lot to work with.
I said, “I need an engineering job where you get to do some marketing too.”
He says, “There is no such job. An engineer who dabbles in marketing is a freak.”
“There are, however, marketers who have engineering backgrounds.” So he steered me in that direction.
Later I did find the job with the right amount of both. And I learned that engineers who don’t know how to market always work for the engineers that DO know how to market.
Then a few years after that, the Internet took over. In the 21st century, engineers RULE the world. If you doubt that, just pay a visit to the largest company in Mountain View California.
Well I’m here to tell you that the marketing world has always had a substantial number of engineers who mastered the art of marketing.
The legendary Claude Hopkins was an engineer. As was John Caples. As is Joe Sugarman, the legend behind BluBlockers. As is copywriter Bob Bly.
There’s a free interview with Bob Bly and Ken McCarthy that will be released later this afternoon:
http://www.thesystemseminar.com/114.html
Never apologize for being a Geek.? :^>
Perry
P.S.: From now on, “Geek” should always be capitalized.
About the Author
Entrepreneur Magazine says: "Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world's most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in Adwords stupidity tax."
He is referenced across the Internet and by The Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune.
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Perry
I read a post on twitter (so it must be true) that Bill Gates said:
“Be nice to geeks; you’ll most likely end up working for one.”
I think that supports your post! Funny, never seen you as a geek first marketing dude second.
Peter
Hi Perry:
I clicked on the link t=fro Ken & Bob, but it took me to Ben Moskel talking about his great experience with Ken’s free seminar material. Did I miss something?
Bob,
I’m very sorry, the posting of this interview was delayed. I believe it will be up today. My apologies – be patient, it will be up soon.