Success usually is not dependent upon your coming up with the most brilliant marketing idea ever conceived. Trying to win the battle that way is literally like running “against the wind”.

The classic Bob Seger song, Against the Wind, includes these lyrics:

Well those drifter's days are past me now
I've got so much more to think about
Deadlines and commitments
What to leave in, what to leave out

This describes the dilemma of the modern marketer.

The real question is: what to leave in, what to leave out.

What belongs in your marketing message, and what doesn't?

The answer is simple, but not always easy. You must leave out the parts your prospects are not interested in.

To quote great novelist Elmore Leonard: “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.”

Of course, to do that, you have to know which parts people skip.