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Quoting Experts Does Not An Expert Make
You actually have to do the work.
Years ago, a slew of bloggers found it fashionable to write about brand building. They slapped up SEO-drenched articles, published them in “marketing” publications, included quotes from “experts,” and earned legions in coin and followers.
It didn’t matter that they couldn’t define the term “brand” correctly, nor had they actually built one beyond the borders of their YouTube thumbnails. But they preached faking it and scored consulting gigs with cheap fees because if they understood the work and expertise brand-building entailed, they’d realize faking it comes at a cost. Of someone else’s time, money, resources, and expertise.
It costs people who actually do the thing to have to explain why their fees are X when faux expert charged a tenth of their rate. It costs the company that didn’t get the results they needed and the skepticism they bring to subsequent relationships. It costs people who show up and do the work and have their work reduced and diminished.
And then you had executives blinded by wrinkle-free skin and TikTok exuberance. Of course, the kids were on to something because they were born with iPhones latched to their mouths.They must be experts because they have 50,000 followers and were hocking courses. They must be experts because…
