Be Undeniably Good

Comedian Steve Martin on how to make it in any field:

Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them and nobody ever takes note of it ‘cuz it’s not the answer they wanted to hear — what they want to hear is here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script, here’s how you do this — but I always say, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody’s thinking, “How can I be really good?”, people are going to come to you. It’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.

(via Chase Jarvis, Secret to Success in Photography)

Sean Howard, Wayne knows what many Word of Mouth experts don’t (in comment):

I believe that there is a new trends back towards small, where small is not a size of company but rather a mindset. We have to remember that the world has been lost in this idea of “scale” to the point that the very markets were expected to never correct themselves.
In a world gone mad with supply chain management, commodification, and outsourced value can we be so surprised that those providing services of quality with their own hands are a) valued or b) in short supply?

Great marketing cannot make up for poor product. Marketing can no longer obscure a product’s shortcomings.

Diamond D of Tribe Called Quest explains:

You gotta get a label that’s willin’ and able
To market and promote, and you better hope
(For what?) That the product is dope

The question: can great product make up for poor marketing?