The Hack and The Genius Marketer

What if you were offered 100,000 followers in your target market but had to tell a small lie?

What if a million interested buyers could see your social media post, but you had to seed its virality with bots?

What if the top influencer in your niche shouted you out, but you had to pay a fee for the privilege?

These offers seem to be poopood by beginner entrepreneurs and purists.

You risk being called a hack. Oh my!

I was one of those people.

But recently I’ve been contemplating: where is the line between the hack and the genius marketer?

Were AirBnB’s ObamaOs and Capn McCain cereals a hack to get publicity?

The iPhone 3G was not twice as fast and half the price contrary to what the ad claimed. Was that a hack?

I believe business is art, which makes it subjective. This means there might not be a universal line that separates the hack and the genius marketer.

All I know is sometimes I cringe at how easy it is for a genius marketer to gain traction so fast using a hack when the product is crap.

But then I wondered if I would still cringe if the products were great.

My cringe might be from perceiving the “hack” as being out of my comfort zone. I also know what I do might seem like a cringey hack to others, so am I doing anything wrong?

I’m still unsure where the line is between hack and genius marketing.

But after seeing so many hacks that led to real business, I am more open to embracing a hack before I poopoo it.

I am starting to learn more about hacks that make me cringe and extracting principles to use in ways that I like.

I’m curious to hear your take.

Where do you think the line is between hack and genius marketing?