Niels Bhor, the famous physicist, defines an expert a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Over the course of the last 26 years I have also made all the mistakes that any marketer could make. I believe that I have finally figured out what works through trial and error. I have seen what successful companies do, and how they do it.
On a personal front, I was born in South East Asia and moved to England when I was two years old. I am an American but British at heart.. I was raised in Manchester, England, which is my real home, and I’m a big fan of Manchester United. If you love Manchester United, we can be great friends! Currently I live in San Francisco, California.
I have always loved people and I enjoy helping them. Although I did not get good grades in school, I definitely had the most friends.
I studied Chemistry at University as this was the only subject I could do at high school. I barely got into college. I really enjoyed Chemistry at college and decided to pursue postgraduate studies in Biochemistry. Then I decided I did not want to be to spend the rest of my time in a lab and so went on to do an MBA at one of Europe’s top business schools.
During my MBA I realized that marketing was my gift. It came very naturally to me; it just made sense. It was a combination of psychology and science, dealing with people and making decisions based on facts and evidence, and with my science training and love for people I had finally found my calling!
I did very well at business school and received a distinction for my final marketing project. I was sent over to Harvard Business School to do a special project on Entrepreneurship in my final term.
I left business school and joined a very large Fortune 500 company, and based on my performance had the opportunity to do marketing projects all over the world. During my nearly ten year stint I did all types of marketing projects including market analysis, developing marketing plans, strategic plans, launching multi-million dollar products, setting up agents and distributors, and training sales staff to name a few. Basically, I did any type of marketing project you can imagine.
My marketing projects took me around the world and I ended up doing marketing projects in 22 different countries. My work also provided me with the opportunity to work with consultants at McKinsey and Bain & Company. And I led the Bain team for a project we did in India. I also worked with marketing agencies on Madison Avenue on advertising campaigns.
I then had the opportunity to work in the Middle East, heading up the business development of a very large industrial conglomerate.
I also had a few years in the Agricultural industry in California and have sold boxes to farmers!
I later worked in the Life Sciences industry for nearly a decade. During this time I was also involved with a biotech start up, where I was the marketing director and the key person responsible for it’s sale for $70mn within 18 months of me joining. This is where I really learned the power and potential of marketing.
Soon after I had a stint at Abbott labs, where I was in brand management and won two awards in one year at Abbott for my marketing contribution.
I also did some work at with the folks at Stanford Mass Spectrometry and was awarded a fellowship to the Royal Society of Chemistry in England in 2012.
Over the last ten years I have been involved in writing marketing books, two of which have gone on to become best sellers. Writing the books required extensive research into numerous businesses, and it gave me first hand exposure to what makes them successful. It also gave me a much deeper understanding of how to develop marketing strategies.
Today I consult, train, and coach business owners and entrepreneurs who are exceptionally good at what they do, but have never been exposed to formal strategic marketing. I truly believe that marketing is the key to your growth and success. To be successful in business you need to master marketing.
On a more personal note, I have been married for 25 years and have two wonderful children. At heart I am a family man who really enjoys spending time with my family when I am not studying marketing.
I hope I get the opportunity to meet you in person and to serve you with my marketing knowledge and expertise.
I would like to invite you to join my online marketing school, blackbeltmarketing.academy. Here I teach you cutting edge marketing strategies to grow your business.
Your Friend & Trusted Marketing Advisor,
Ali Pervez