066 Marketing Assassin Rick Bennett
Rick Bennett, Silicon Valley's advertising and marketing secret weapon, joins us for the last installation of this four-part series on Marketing. He specializes in guerrilla warfare marketing and has been the secret advertising weapon to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs for over 30 years. Two of his most spectacular successes are Oracle and Salesforce.com, working with both Larry Ellison and Marc Benioff, respectively. “I like to do Marketing that causes emergency board meetings and CEO firings at my competitors.” - Christopher’s favorite expression from Rick Bennett Sharing Best Practices Having worked together in Silicon Valley, Lochhead considers Rick as one of his “Masters.” Rick is one of the advertising senseis in the field who has been humbled by the experience but is highly regarded in the industry. To Christopher’s surprise, Rick also shared how he extracts one-liners from one of his bestselling books, Niche Down: How to Be Legendary by Being Different. Rick Bennett, dubbed as The OG (Original Gangster)—a modern-day technology Adman—has successfully implemented uniquely-crafted marketing campaigns. He stressed the importance of one-of-a-kind advertising. “Ellison's law states that you are not allowed to say anything that one of your competitors would say—whether in website, email, anywhere—so I insist on enforcing that to my clients too.” - Rick Bennett Guerilla Marketing: Making Generals Surrender Rick shared some important insights about guerilla marketing. One of the goals of guerilla warfare is to make the generals of the opposing army make mistakes. “My ads will attack your competition like a pack of speedy, crazed wolverines” - Rick Bennett He said, “Demoralize the generals of the opposing army, then they’ll make mistakes. You have your investors to say, ‘Hey we have a winner here’ and you have to make the employees feel that their boss is kicking ass.” In the end, marketers should aim for a campaign where you make opposing generals psychologically surrender, even before any battle has begun. To hear more about the interview with Guerilla Marketing Guru Rick Bennett, download and listen to the episode. BIO: Rick Bennett specializes in guerrilla warfare marketing. He’s been the secret advertising weapon to Silicon Valley entrepreneurs for over 30 years. Two of his most spectacular successes are Oracle and Salesforce.com. Links: RickBennet.com LinkedIn We hope you enjoyed Rick Bennett on this episode of Follow Your Different! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!