Marketing Advice from Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

As Chief of staff of the Prussian army and architect of Germany’s wars of reunification in the 1860’s, Helmuth was clearly an experienced and successful dude.

One of his most paraphrased quotes is

“No plan survives contact with the enemy”

He could have been talking about digital marketing!

It’s The Humans...

Digital marketing is not static, it’s not traditional push marketing like a billboard or an ad.  Great marketing gets human recipients to interact with and amplify the message.

As Helmuth knew, you can’t control how human beings are going to behave. 

The skill in digital marketing is less about the planning and more about how you respond to its execution.

You & Your Humans Are Different

There are so many ways to slice up the digital marketing pie - from video to articles, from photos to info-graphics, from daily tweets to monthly emails.  Just because something works for a competitor does not mean it’s going to work for you and your business.

It is the combination of your personal skills, your business’ attributes and how you react to and interact with your marketing outreach that will define success.

Plan to Move Quickly

Sure start with a plan, an initial outline of what you are going to do and how you’re going to do it, but plan to change everything as soon as you see how the market reacts.

Written while listening to: Breathe New Tone & Image by music2work2

Image Credit: Bismarck, Roon, Moltke - Wikipedia