The New Bards pt 3 Poetry Series

The money-making marketer
sat, stood, and sang
bringing buyers back
increasing income
and producing profit.

In the olden days there used to be a profession called the "bard." Bards were patronized, which means someone rich was paying their bills. In exchange, the bard would write songs for them and entertain them, but more importantly they would travel around and spread their stories. Rich people, typically kings or oligarchs, were willing to pay for bards to be lazy and sit around writing songs and saying poems all day long because it was beneficial for the king to have someone talk about him to their peasants and other kings around the world.

Today, a super-star's power is measured in how much "Buzz" they generate. Buzz is the term for how much people are talking about someone (or something). Marketers are in charge of generating this buzz, measuring it, controlling it, and using it for the benefit of the person they represent. Typically, marketers work for a corporation, organization, or company. However, there are plenty of sole proprietorships out there (individuals conducting business) who hire someone to do their marketing--there is also the more obvious politician, who hires several teams of "marketers" to create buzz for them.

As you can see, the "bard" isn't an obsolete occupation--it's an evolved occupation.

It is a common rhetorical practice to change the names of things to make them sound more edgy and applicable. One can easily see why they would change the name of "bard" to "marketer"--a marketer sounds much more like a financial occupation than a boring one. After making the name change, bards cut word-associations of their profession such as "boring bards" "bad bards" and "bland bards" and instead associated them with "Marketers at the market" "money-making marketers" or even, "Mass media marketer." Teachers just never learn do they? They've been called teacher for countless years!

If you want to sit around and write poetry all day, you might want to take a reality check and reconsider real professions. You can make a lot of money applying the skills of a poet to practical things, how many times have you turned on tv to the jingle "give me a break, give me a break..." or "doo doo doo doo doo doo dowaa, It doesn't matter what comes, fresh goes better in life..."

Now is a good time for me to argue something else:

A lot of people look to English majors with confusion: What is English, what is its practical purpose? "So you're gonna write books?--Oh, then you're going to be a teacher?" Others say that majoring in English is just an excuse to take a break from real life and write...poetry...all day. *sigh*
The GOP Presidential Nominee, Mitt Romney was an English Major. Now days, the worst dirt people can find on him is that he makes so much money and hasn't done anything wrong. How is that possible? Being rich and a good person, is that real?
Socrates argued this issue a long time ago and concluded that the best leaders are just and honest, and they are just and honest because they are reasonable.--Reasonable in the sense that they are capable of reasoning: picking a side of an argument, evaluating it, and changing sides of the argument when they realize their side isn't the most logical. --This is what English majors do. They learn how to argue, how to evaluate ideas, how to generate their own ideas and think for themselves, and they learn how to effectively communicate those ideas to other people.
Choosing to get a degree in English is like choosing to major in good leadership. Business degrees these days only teach you how to make money and how to overcome obstacles, but they won't teach you how to act ethically for any other reason than that the punishment for unethical behavior is worse than the benefits. They can only teach you a sub-par communication skills when compared to the skills an English major learns. They lack the foundation to teach you how to think creatively. And, granted, they're starting to teach leadership skills, but you'll notice that they're only a side-thought: Interpersonal skills? That's just a fancy way of saying don't step on anyone's toes, give everyone a chance, and don't be afraid to speak up. That's the first class they teach an english student and then they give them 10,000 hours of practice at it, and as all of the seasoned professionals in the business world say: Being able to act and communicate will get you further than being able to crunch numbers.

Anyone can crunch numbers. Technology is advancing to the point where you don't even really need to crunch numbers, a computer will do that for you. But creativity and communication are indispensable skills that cannot be replaced by a machine--true, they follow patterns just like mathematics follow patterns and rules and they all have variables, but communcation is the presentation of ideas, and ideas are always changing whereas math never changes.

You want to be a bard? Focus on the most important job functions first and then you'll be permitted to use your poetic skills on the side--and be paid for them.