January 26, 2025

Advertising opportunities are now infinite

-A wise investment banker, circa 2012


If there is a number called “more infinite,” that would be more appropriate for 2025.

And that is true whether TikTok is part of your long-term future or not. 🙂

When the clock was “tiking down” regarding the dissolution of TikTok, there was anxiety in the streets among the many who rely on TikTok as one of their principal media sources…not to mention those who use it as their ONLY media source.

You know where I am going next.

If you are one of those people…whether you are exclusively on the platform itself or a “TikTok Agency” …you might have planned badly. 🙁

But it’s not too late given the temporary stay of execution…and you can still pivot if Tiktok goes ByeBye permanently.

It still may be saved long term—to be determined—but regardless, this is a perfect time to consider some lessons I’ve learned over my 44 years in marketing…all related to multichannel marketing not being a choice but a “must” …diversifying your media…and never practicing one-stop shopping while diversifying.

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy famously said:

“The most dangerous number in business is one” because relying on just one thing, like a single customer, marketing channel, or product, creates a single point of failure and can be devastating if that one thing falters.

Which essentially means that over-dependence on a single element is risky business.

This sounds like a kind, gentle “reminder” …but when Dan talks about this from the stage, in writing or in an interview, he beats his audiences up…with good reason…and only in the nicest (and best) way possible. 🙂

If you have ever been kicked off Facebook when Facebook was your #1 source for leads, you know what Dan is talking about.

And I’ve heard similar tales of woe over the years from marketers who did not heed Dan’s credo.

Today it might be Tiktok users.

But the warning is media agnostic.

I had a client many years ago who had a $30 million dollar business, 100% on Amazon…and Amazon kicked him off for “copy violations” … with no recourse available.

Side note: While it’s hard to “own” any media platform, since all have someone on high making the rules, email is the closest thing…that’s why it’s the killer app…but even with email, where you have a choice of service providers, Kennedy’s rule of “not one” still applies…you must of have multiple providers as an insurance policy.

And this is why using social media to capture names/people/family and getting them off whatever platform quickly and on to your email list/online family should always be a top priority.

But I digress.

Back to losing it all in a single medium:

One minute you’ve got a thriving business…the next minute you don’t.

How can you make sure you are diversified with the “infinite advertising opportunities” that are available?

The trick sounds easier than the execution.

It’s not to be “everywhere” (the opposite of “one”) …but rather to seem like you are everywhere by choosing wisely and judisiously (among online and offline options and both live and recorded formats)…and working with only the best-of-the-best.

One of the best models I’ve ever seen is authored by my friend and mentor, Perry Marshall.

He calls it “Maze 2.0.” More on that in the P.S.

Here’s a hint on how it works, quoting advertising legend Bill Bernbach, a quote that leads off Chapter 7 of my book Overdeliver which covers “Multichannel Marketing”:

“Never adapt your technique [e.g. medium] to the idea [e.g. your product]; adapt your idea to the technique.”

I’ll add: You must do this selectively.

And keep an eye out next Wednesday for my Timeless Marketing Podcast episode with Perry…he’s a genius.

Being selective means doing battle with the forces of too many media opportunities available and to resist the need to buy everything—which can be a nightmare for us ADHD entrepreneur-marketers who never meet an idea we don’t like.

It’s the best of times and the worst of times.

Today is the best time (ever) to be a marketer…but it’s a dangerous time too.

With all that opportunity comes more risk…and more charlatans and imposters.

While we want to dive in and test every new thing we hear about, we also need to be very careful.

One thing has not changed, however, from the days when advertising opportunities were “far less than infinite” …when dinosaurs ruled the earth and all we had was direct mail, print, broadcast…and billboards…and maybe the back seat of taxicabs:

Never buy everything in one place.

Back in the 1980’s, with far fewer media choices, I still bought media and creative (and all marketing services) “a la carte” …and it’s even more important to buy that way today when your choices are infinite.

  1. More choice means more specialization and therefore more legitimate experts who have gone deep rather than wide
  2. Experts are better than charlatans and imposters
  3. No one can be an expert on everything

After spending my entire career knowing exactly where to find the experts I needed in every aspect of direct response marketing, the fact that the choices are now more vast and more specialized than ever, got me thinking even more about “the dangers of one stop shopping.”

I wouldn’t do it then…and I certainly wouldn’t do it now.

See the P.S. for further evidence of that.

I don’t want to make any agency folks feel bad but even in the prehistoric era of “finite advertising opportunities,” I never met an agency of any kind that I liked very much.

It wasn’t about the people…just the model.

Often, they had one thing they specialized in that I could trust them to do…but there was no way I was putting all my eggs in a basket called “full service direct marketing agency.”

I went to a specific source to rent lists for direct mail, another who knew more about space ads in newspapers than anyone else, another who just placed inserts in outgoing packages from catalogers (what we called “PIPS” or package insert programs) …and yet another to buy broadcast (radio and TV).

Even within “broadcast,” remnant radio was different from other kinds of radio buys and short form TV was different from long form infomercials.

Buying “broadcast” (i.e. radio and TV) could be four different vendors…or more.

And don’t get me started about “buying” copy and creative in one place or as “part of the full-service model.”

When it came to hiring the best copywriters, it was painfully obvious that any great copywriter who was working in an agency (when they could be making ten times their salary as a successful freelancer if they were an A-Lister) was not at the top of my list as a prospect to write for me.

Of course, if you could find Gary Bencivenga while he was still a pup at Ogilvy & Mather (ad agency) and get in on the ground floor before he became the greatest living copywriter, I could get behind that. 🙂

But now we’re talking about getting lucky, not buying copywriting services wisely.

NOTE: Stay tuned for a post in the coming weeks about this once in a generation copywriter who has “come out of retirement” (sort of) to share more of his wisdom. He’s the talk of the town.

“A la carte buying” was, and still should be, a rule of thumb for everything you do in marketing, not just media and creative.

Database building, sophisticated modelling and list segmentation, purchasing, production, printing—every role requires experts.

That was true in the world of “finite” (and even commodity) buying and it’s never been truer today when new marketing opportunities and technology rule the day.

We truly live in a world of “infinite.”

And the more things expand, the more specialization there is…which leads to more expertise in specific roles.

Anyone who tells you they can handle all your marketing needs with one-stop shopping is someone you should run away from …quickly.

Run away even if they tone that down and say something that sounds more logical like they can buy all of your “online media”…because as we have all found out, Facebook is different than display advertising which is different than AdWords which is different than creating online funnels which is different than email marketing which is different than Amazon which is different than LinkedIn which is different than YouTube…you get the idea.

Oh…and don’t forget about TikTok where the clock is “tiking” on its possible demise.

There are experts who specialize in every one of those areas above (and an infinite number of others) …with a track record of success due to their intense focus on “one thing.”

Those of you who know me know that I am a very nice guy…and I respect every person’s talent and their ability to make a difference in their own business and with other businesses.

But to be frank, when it comes to “buying marketing intelligence,” trying to get it from one place means you will settle for mediocrity in one or more areas.

You need to call it out…nicely, of course.

And your actions must mirror that philosophy.

This is especially true because so many have gotten so smart in a single niche and there is so much more to know in each of those niches today.

I always prefer a “category of one” …with products, brands, positioning…and I prefer it tenfold when I spend money on marketing or creative.

The level of mediocrity you will encounter with one stop shopping could be multiplied quickly since you have not spent the time to focus and hire only “best in class”—and lazy hiring always leads to lazy results.

I believe this concept is the make or break in terms of how you sell and market in a world that is as noisy as ever…and a world that demands excellence as much as ever too.

Then and now…we begin with intelligent outsourcing…and then we buy a la carte from specialists.

The legendary Dick Benson, a man who mentored me in a world where advertising opportunities were still “finite” (i.e. he was a category of one in knowledge of direct mail marketing) drilled this into my head so I could share it with you today:

“Do what you do best and buy everything else around the corner…and never settle for second best.”

And given how I began this post today, here’s a corollary:

When buying around the corner, from specialists, don’t just buy on ONE corner.

The clock is always “tiking.” 🙂



Warmly,



Brian



P.S. Diversifying your media choices…being selective…and then only buying from specialists in the media you choose…is the prescription for sanity, peaceful sleep and kick ass marketing results.

As I said above, it’s easier said than done…and that’s why I am always on the lookout for the best minds in every area of direct response marketing so I can bring them to my Titans Xcelerator Mastermind to share their best practices.

Here is just a smattering of the speakers who have appeared on the “Titans Xcelerator stage” over the past 5+ years.

Perry Marshall/Dan Kennedy/Jay Abraham/Joe Polish/Ken McCarthy (marketing excellence); Ben Settle (email); Joel Erway/Jason Fladlian (webinars); Ryan Levesque (Quiz Funnels); Jeremy Weisz (podcasts); Craig Simpson/Justin Miller (direct mail); Joshua Lee/Jon Keel/Ted Prodromou (LinkedIn); Doberman Dan (print newsletters); Richard Rossi/Bari Baumgardner/Blue Melnick (live and virtual events); Jon Walker (online launches); Charles Byrd (JV marketing); Dylan Frost (Amazon selling and webinars); Nicholas Kusmich/Chris Rocheleau (Facebook); Howard Getson (AI); Robin Robins (empire building in a niche); Anna David/Ally Fallon (writing your book) Chad Collins (SMS marketing); Ryan Lee (online entrepreneurship); Lee Richter (mentoring, public relations); Robert Skrob (membership marketing and retention); Rich Schefren (“stealing winners” intelligently)…and this is only the tip of the iceberg.

We’ve also had all the top copywriters share their wisdom including Parris Lampropoulos, David Deutsch, Kim Krause Schwalm, Jon Benson, Carline Anglade-Cole, Ray Edwards, Justin Goff, Harlan Kilstein, David Garfinkel, Sue Rice…and if I listed them all I would still leave some out…so I apologize to all of the top guns I haven’t mentioned here.

Additionally I have engaged with (results) leaders in personal development and health to present…because you can’t be a great marketer or copywriter without the right mindset or a healthy body.

Plus…members of Titans Xcelerator regularly strut their stuff too…what we call “Titans Spotlights”…because the membership is full of experts who rival the top “names” in marketing and copywriting, many you have heard of, many you have not.

But they are always speaking from their specialty and their expertise…no imposters here…which is consistent with this post regarding “no room for one-stop shopping.”

I feel it is my job (mission) to bring the “what’s” of marketing (every area mentioned above and hundreds more) …from the “who’s” who practice them best…without having my members feel like they need to do everything.

Just enough to be dangerous. 🙂

And I will make an unprecedented offer today to anyone joining Titans Xcelerator because you read this P.S.:

I will send you up to three (3) presentations from the past 5+ years—your choice–from the ones mentioned above and dozens more—as an additional bonus to the bonuses and benefits already included which you can read about here.

Any one of them will pay for your membership for years to come…Titans Xcelerator is priced low to attract as many folks as possible…and I encourage you to take a look.

Perry Marshall’s rubric, on “Maze 2.0” is included…along with over 100 blockbuster presentations to choose from.

Click here and Xcelerate with us.

About the author 

Brian Kurtz

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