Why Gary V’s Marketing Advice Just Might Leave You Broke

This is going to smash a little stemware, but it has to be said:

Following Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice in your marketing is a great way to wind up broke and frustrated.

I recently saw Gary V speak at the 2016 Traffic and Conversion Summit.

And it’s easy to see why the guy has such a cultish following. He’s great at polarizing the audience—either you love him, or hate him. When you repel a large segment of your listeners, the ones who don’t storm out in a huff REALLY bond with you.

After you strip out the f-bombs and slap-in-the-face insults, the point that jumped out to me was when he summarized his approach to marketing.

Gary said:

“I day trade attention.”

This comment came in the middle of a 90-minute keynote about how the world had changed forever, and if you aren’t on SnapChat your business is doomed. This comment exemplifies everything that’s drives me insane about the hype-y “marketing of marketing” business.

Here’s the thing:

A few people DO get fabulously wealthy in the stock market by day trading.

They hit a lucky streak and make a few trades when the timing is just right.

But show me a day-trading millionaire, and I’ll show you the pile of bodies off in the shadows—people who lost it all (even took their own lives) after following the “can’t lose” systems that day traders reverse engineer from their never-to-be-repeated hot streaks.

For 99.99% of investors, day trading is the fast track to financial ruin.

When it comes to my own money, I’m not a day trader. Instead I follow the time-tested advice of successful investors like Warren Buffet and Jack Bogle.

You can’t “beat the market,” at least not consistently. The only sure path to successful investing is the long road.

Make boring investments. And don’t sell, ever.

Pretty much the polar opposite of day trading.

It’s the same when it comes to marketing.

You only have a finite amount of time and energy to put into your marketing.

You can gamble that time away chasing the latest social media hotness…

Periscope. SnapChat. Meetkat. Whatever.

Or you can take the long route and pursue time-tested fundamentals that won’t vaporize in 10 seconds.

Getting to know your customers and your market.

Building a list of buyers.

Mastering proven copywriting and selling techniques that worked 100 years ago and will work 100 years from now—because they’re rooted in the timeless truths of human nature.

It’s the slow path, for sure.

And you don’t get the same adrenaline rush that you will from “day trading” your time for hearts on Periscope.

The question before you is:

Would you rather pour your time in promoting yourself on platforms that will likely vaporize overnight?

Or would you rather invest in mastering the basics that will still work 20 years from now?

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