Let’s be honest: good marketers are professional storytellers. The best of us know how to craft a narrative, position a product, spin a message, and make people feel something real — even when we’re selling the abstract, the complex, or the downright boring. We’re trained to find the angle, the emotional hook, the spark in the noise.
In short? We are, unapologetically, bullshit artists.
But here’s the catch: the artist knows the game better than anyone. And you cannot bullshit the bullshitter.
I see this all the time in the work I do. Partners, vendors, sometimes even colleagues come to the table thinking they can wrap a tired idea in shiny language and I won’t notice. Maybe it worked somewhere else. Maybe it worked on someone who didn’t do this for a living. But in a room full of professional persuaders, you better come with substance — because we will see through the gloss in a heartbeat.
Respect the Audience (Especially When They Do What You Do)
There’s a fundamental lesson here that’s bigger than marketing: know your audience. Not in the theoretical, brand-deck sense. Really know them.
When you’re dealing with professional communicators, fast movers, or strategic thinkers, you cannot rely on surface-level charm. We’ve rehearsed that charm a thousand times ourselves. We’ve coached people through it. We’ve caught it sliding off the rails in a client meeting and saved it at the last second. We know every trick in the book because we wrote the book.
What we’re looking for is: do you respect our intelligence? Are you bringing real value to the table? Can you cut through the fluff and offer a meaningful contribution?
If the answer is no, don’t bother dressing it up. We’ll spot it. And worse, we’ll respect you less for thinking we wouldn’t.
Honesty is Faster (and Smarter)
Here’s a secret: most marketers don’t hate honesty. We actually crave it — because it’s efficient.
Just tell me:
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What problem are you solving?
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What are you actually asking for?
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What is the real constraint we need to work around?
Cut through the tap-dancing. When you do, we can get to solutions faster, with fewer revisions and less second-guessing. We can make smart decisions instead of wasting time decrypting coded language or questioning your credibility.
If You’re Good at Spin, Be Better at Substance
Spin gets attention. Substance keeps it.
I’ll never say storytelling doesn’t matter — it does. But make sure the story holds up under scrutiny. When you’re working with people trained in the craft, we’ll appreciate a sharp, well-told narrative if it’s backed by real insights, real data, and real solutions.
A weak story wrapped in shiny paper? We see it for what it is: a nice try, but ultimately a miss.
Final Word: The Best Relationships Are Built on Candor
The best professional relationships I’ve had — internally and externally — are the ones where we skip the nonsense and get real with each other. Where candor is a shared value. Where both sides can say, “Here’s what I really think,” and trust that it’s not going to break the relationship — it’s going to build it.
So the next time you’re working with a marketer, remember: you’re talking to a professional in the art of influence. And that means you have two choices:
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Try to play the game and risk getting called out.
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Or, play it straight, and watch how fast we can move mountains together.
Trust me: the second option is where the real magic happens.