REALITY is a word that's despised by "marketing gurus" and embraced by marketing professionals and marketing strategists.

"Marketing gurus" only know what they know, and don't know what they don't know. Yes...a little goofy, but you get the gist of what I'm saying. They are limited in their knowledge to the degree that they have unconsciously (because they can't fight who they are) surrounded themselves with 50 foot high concrete mental barriers so as to keep out anything that would force them to look at the ever-changing business and marketing landscape.

For example, something new and exciting on the business and marketing landscape that is, as I sit here and type, undergoing rapid change, is the development of what's known as the Collaborative Economy - and with it, Collaborative Marketing.

If you have ever heard of or used Crowdfunding, or used services like AirBNB, or Uber, then you know and/or are now part of the Collaborative Economy.

The Collaborative Economy has not only changed how a lot of folks finance their start-ups, travel, or get around town, but it is changing the mindset of the consumer. And when the mindset of the consumer shifts as a result of the changing landscape, then marketers either get off their asses and tweak the marketing message, or they will end up saying things like "What worked thirty years ago, still works today!"

If you own an Apple product, then you have now adopted a new definition of customer service. Adopting your new level of expectation wasn't intentional. It simply evolved from your experience. 

If you grew up on watered-down coffee, and then experienced a Starbucks, Peets or a cup of coffee from any venue that specializes in the nectar of the gods, then your expectation of what coffee SHOULD be has forever changed. 

To KNOW how to most effectively receive a message, requires that you understand the landscape. You must understand PERSPECTIVE, and you must understand the NOISE (barriers that stand between the marketer and the target audience). 

Chiropractic "marketing gurus" believe that the NOISE that stands as a barrier between chiropractic care and the majority of the population NOT utilizing chiropractic care, is the allopathic (medical) community. 

The chiropractic "marketing gurus" believe increased use of Service X is responsible for decreased use of Service Y. That has always been the case.

REAL marketers don't see things that way. What REAL marketers see is a disconnect between the messenger and the recipient, and they see environmental changes (what's going on in the world around us) as the actual break in communication.

The ever changing environment has "morphed" how we make reservations (meals, flights, hotel), how we track a flight, how we monitor the weather, how we communicate, and so on. These experiences manifest into changes in our mental processes such that we now look at the world through a different set of eyes than we did last year, last month, and in some cases, even last week!

The only constant in marketing, are the principles. Marketing principles are not based on beliefs. For example, many "marketing gurus" espouse the legitimacy of the "Law Of Attraction." Point of fact, there is NO "Law Of Attraction." It's not a law, and it's not a principle. It's just as real as a superstition.