Become Impossible to Ignore: Market Eminence with David Newman

Overview

On this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, John Jantsch welcomes back David Newman—keynote speaker, bestselling author, and creator of The Selling Show podcast. David’s latest book, “Market Eminence: 22 Strategies to Build a Bold Personal Brand, Become a Business Celebrity, and Drive Unstoppable Growth,” dives into how experts, consultants, and CEOs can escape obscurity and become the obvious choice in their market. David explains why visibility, respect, and brand preference are now non‑negotiable, how to develop a contrarian point of view, and why radical generosity of your best ideas is the real growth engine.

About the Guest

David Newman is a keynote speaker and bestselling author of “Do It! Marketing,” “Do It! Speaking,” and now “Market Eminence.” With over 600 speaking engagements and 30 years in the field, he helps CEOs, consultants, and expert service providers elevate their brand, attract ideal clients, and become impossible to ignore in noisy, AI‑fueled markets.

Website: https://doitmarketing.com
Book resources: https://marketeminence.com
Podcast: The Selling Show (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-selling-show/id1415195971)

Actionable Insights

The “obscurity tax” is doing great work in isolation—if your market doesn’t see you, know you, and prefer you, you’re paying it every day.
Market eminence rests on three pillars:
1. Visibility – being seen
2. Respect – deep understanding of your buyers’ pains, goals, and aspirations
3. Brand preference – differentiation + positioning so it feels risky to hire anyone else
Personal branding often focuses on “look at me”; market eminence focuses on elevating your market, industry, and stakeholders.
Being contrarian and polarizing (in a values‑aligned way) is essential to attract right‑fit clients and repel bad fits.
The three content types that still cut through the noise:
- How to think (insight, not instructions)
- What to believe / what not to believe
- How to get ready for what’s coming next
Exercise: Identify what conventional wisdom in your industry is wrong, what harsh truths clients wish someone would say, and which strong points of view resonate with ideal clients but make insiders uncomfortable.
Use AI as a thought partner for brainstorming contrarian headlines and positioning, not as your final output.
Generosity is a growth strategy: give away client‑facing content you’ve been paid for; prospects pay for implementation and applied insight, not information.
Treat prospects like clients—share real value, not teasers—and you’ll get more (and better) clients.

Great Moments (with Timestamps)

01:37 – The Obscurity Tax – Why doing great work in the dark is the biggest cost most experts pay.
02:40 – The Three Pillars of Market Eminence – Visibility, respect, and brand preference explained.
03:12 – Market Eminence vs. Personal Branding – Why this isn’t about ego, but about impact.
05:48 – Do You Need a Polarizing Point of View? – How to call out what’s missing, broken, or outdated in your industry.
06:17 – Content that AI Can’t (Yet) Replace – How to think, what to believe, and how to get ready for what’s next.
08:13 – Attracting Right‑Fit Clients and Repelling the Wrong Ones – The “10‑foot gate” mental model and why polarization is a feature, not a bug.
11:19 – Internal vs. External Work of Market Eminence – Leadership decisions first, amplification tactics second.
11:48 – The Contrarian Slant Exercise – Three questions to craft a point of view that puts you in the top 5 % of your market.
14:45 – Using ChatGPT as a Brainstorming Partner – A prompt to generate “crazy idea” headlines that attract ideal clients.
19:09 – Radical Generosity and Giving Away Your Best Ideas – Why sharing paid content doesn’t hurt your business—it fuels it.

Key Quotes

“The obscurity tax is the cost of doing great work in isolation. No one can buy from you if they don’t know you exist.”

“Personal branding is about elevating yourself; market eminence is about elevating your market, your industry, and the people you serve.”

“You don’t need to be the only one fixing what’s broken—but you do need to be one of the few willing to call it out.”

“Prospects aren’t paying you for information—they’re paying you for applied insight and implementation.”

“The more you treat prospects like clients, the more prospects you’ll turn into clients.”

Transcript (excerpt)

John Jantsch (00:00)

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is David Newman. He's a keynote speaker, bestselling author, creator of The Selling Show podcast with over 600 speaking engagements and 30 years in the field. David works with CEOs, consultants, and expert service providers who are ready to elevate their brand and become impossible to ignore. He's been on this show to talk about Do It! Marketing, Do It! Speaking, maybe Do It! Selling too.

David Newman (00:31)

Thank you, John. Great to be back with you.

John Jantsch (00:49)

I found myself wanting to say “marketing eminence.” One of my last books, don’t ask me why, is called The Ultimate Marketing Engine. Everybody kept saying the…

David Newman (01:30)

Yes. The obscurity tax is doing great work in isolation, basically dancing in the dark. The question for most folks listening is: how do we get noticed? In this noisy, AI‑fueled marketplace, the answer is three building blocks that make up market eminence:

Visibility – you have to be seen; no one buys sight unseen.
Respect – earn it by understanding prospects’ pains, problems, goals, and aspirations so deeply they respect your insight.
Brand preference – combine differentiation and positioning so hiring anyone else feels risky, dangerous, and dumb.

When those three components are dialed in, you’re in the top 5 % of your market.

John Jantsch (03:03)

How does that differ from personal branding?

David Newman (03:12)

Personal branding is about putting a bunch of stuff onto you and your company so you look shiny and glitzy. Market eminence is about raising your market, industry, and stakeholders. It’s not just about prospects; it’s about anyone you want to influence—partners, investors, media, potential acquirers. If it’s all “me, me, me,” that’s old‑school personal branding and it doesn’t attract those stakeholders.

(The conversation continues with deeper dives into contrarian positioning, AI as a brainstorming partner, and radical generosity.)

End of article.

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