5 All-Time Marketing Geniuses Who Could Make You Rich

There’s not a person on this planet who can claim the information necessary to build immense personal wealth is being withheld. Well, actually, you could claim that but wouldn’t be true. The life stories and often personally penned books by marketing geniuses are freely available for anyone to study. The real difference between success and failure is who is willing to put forth the effort necessary to figure out what they need to do, then act on it. Bonus Commissions knows real estate is a tough field, but here are six all-time great marketing geniuses you should pay attention to in your quest for success.

John R. Brinkley: This brilliant man built his own radio station in 1923 solely for the purpose of selling his impotence cure. This was the first instance of radio being used as a medium to broadcast advertisements. Wow, that turned out to be a good idea. Brinkley’s cure for impotent men? Surgically implantation of goat testicles.

Mary Kay Ash: Ms. Ash turned the idea of network marketing loose on her line of cosmetics and, in the process, tapped the underutilized workforce of stay-at-home moms. There were other companies who had tried the idea of network marketing previously (Amway was one) but Mary Kay Ash took it from the fringe and made it mainstream.

George Wilkes: Publisher of the first girlie magazine back in 1845, Wilkes was the first to feature scantily clad women – not nude – to sell unrelated products. At first, the pictures were scattered throughout the magazine to keep readers turning pages, hopefully, noticing advertisers products in the process. Later, marketers realized it worked even better to put the women actually into the advertisement. Voila, modern day beer ads!

Andre Citroen: As inventor of the electric billboard, Mr. Citroen actually had the idea to rent out the Eiffel Tower for the purpose of advertising his automobile company. 125,000 specially installed lights later, the name Citroen was spelled out on this famous French landmark, and stayed there for 11 years.

Conrad Gessner: People often associate the term viral marketing as a recent Internet phenomenon, but the concept dates all the way back to 1559, when Mr. Gessner inadvertently created “Tulipmania” back in Holland with his rhapsodic description of tulip bulbs, which set off a frenzied buying spree that lasted almost 100 years. Single tulip bulbs went for as much as $70,000 in today’s dollars.

If one good idea can change the world, it certainly should be able to change your business life.

The Bonus Commissions Team

Flickr / Hey Paul