On my way to work listening to Minus the Bear I got a little reflective on what business marketing failed to teach me. After going to college for two years to study business marketing, I finished knowing how to properly write a 60 page business plan and divide tasks up between group members. While these are both important things to learn I quickly realized that this is only 25% of marketing.

I was never the type of person that studied marketing to eventually write business plans and come up with advertising ploys for large corporations. I’ve dreamed of being an entrepreneur since I was 12. I remember from a young age hearing my father say “Your only as rich as who you work for” so I always wanted to work for myself.

Soon after I moved home from school I had finished a company business plan and had a couple conversations with CYBF (The Canadian Youth Business Foundation) on funding. In my spare time I started reading a few business books by recognized authors that include Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Malcom Gladwell and Hugh Macleod.
I ended up reading more in the first two months after college than I read my entire two years that I was in school. On top of that, I actually learned more.

The entire process made me re-think some of the tedious steps business marketing had taught me. One of the standout problems is that school seems to be about 3 years behind the internet. You are learning from text books that were created 1 to 3 years ago that are filled with information that is practically obsolete. To have a teacher that is some 30 years older teach marketing while he/she is unaware of the ability of Twitter is embarrassing. #Justsaying

Twitter as a tool: I’m still baffled when people tell me they don’t understand it. How can a marketing tool that not only allows you create connections but listen to your target markets inner thoughts not be acknowledged? Twitter is quickly becoming a respected way to know your market. You can engage people, see what sites they like to visit, hear what they’re talking about and find out where they’re from. Did I mention it’s free? If that’s not a great tool for credible market research, I don’t know what is.

75% Networking: If you can create powerful connections with other people and companies then you are a marketer. The key to spreading any message and making it stick has never changed. In its most simple form, marketing is a “word of mouth” campaign. Every human being has friends because they share common interests. If you can get prominent companies, influential people or even average people to tell their friends than you are successful. It’s the same reason a band or artist is successful. The first concert or show is made up of mostly close friends and family. The goal is to impress them enough to spread the word to all their friends. The following show is attended by your friends plus their friends and so on. Gary Vaynerchuk of “Crush It” stays up as late into the morning as he has to.  He makes sure he answers every single question or message from his emails and social media. You should too!

Breaking Tradition: Where the eyeballs go, success follows. So many start-ups rely on a big break. Finishing your amazing business plan no longer means that your company will receive the funding required. While having a proper plan can set great goals or propel you in the direction towards funding, it is not a guarantee. The business plan like the resume is slowly dying. More and more investors want to see product sold, site hit counts, blogs and are drawn towards finding a business rather than being pitched to in a meeting. A good example of this is writers getting publishing deals through blogs. Musicians use YouTube to get views as another example.

The point I’m trying to make is just do it! Start working hard rather than following the traditional steps you think that you are supposed to do. Embrace all the opportunities that have never been this accessible before. Some of the greatest and richest people in the world today are dropouts. You don’t need to be a step follower to be successful. If you have an innovative idea and you are passionate about it, chase it to the grave.

-G