Is Marketing Magic?

I was reading one of the latest blog posts of Guy Kawasaki, famous entrepreneur and VC of the Silicon Valley, where he explains how marketing and magic are alike.

Guy Kawasaki  explains that "For good or for bad, misdirection and illusion are probably principles of marketing too". I totally disagree with his point of view. Marketing is for sure not about misdirection nor illusion.

Marketing is not an illusion
Marketing might be about creating an image (positive if possible of course), but it is not about an illusion. As a marketer, you can't fool your client. If there is a gap between the image that you have created and the product you need to promote you have no chances of success. This is also why the job of marketer is difficult: you need to create an image that matches with your products. I don't know any cases where a marketing campaign have fooled the customers and meanwhile experienced success. Customers know marketing tricks, and they would not be fooled for long. The best a marketer can do is be fair in his way of communicating.

Marketing is not about entertainment
Marketing might seek for entertaining medium, but this is not what it is about. The entertainment is not the purpose but the medium, to communicate with the targeted audience. Magic is about entertainment. For the magician, the illusion is the product. A marketer will seek for entertainment in order to establish a contact with the audience.

The magic of marketing is not about the illusion skills, it is more about picturing customers' thoughts.

I still respect Guy as a great Internet industry professional, but sometimes I really struggle with his vision of marketing.

Anyways, for your entertainment, here is a marketing trick;)

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