What is it We Talk about When We Talk About Marketing?

Recently I posed this question to my friends in the marketing field and the answers I got, while certainly not incorrect, all showed a decided slant towards a single theme: entice people to buy something. While this is clearly a marketing function - let's face it, none of us would have jobs if there wasn't gold at the end of the rainbow - with new technologies at our disposal we can now enjoy a level of creativity & customer interaction far beyond what legacy marketing could deliver. Thereby creating higher value brands and higher value transactions.

The goal of legacy marketing was to enable unidirectional communication from company to prospect.  If you had enough money you could to do it pervasively and saturate the market - print, radio, outdoor, TV, etc. That model is obliterated as the demographic of our consumers skews younger, the media they consume in great quantity is digital, and the values that motivate purchase have changed dramatically. In short, they have a very high Media-IQ and are very sophisticated consumers. Marketeers who ignore these trends do so at their peril.

Today, the holy trinity of marketeers has to be: Transparency, Authenticity, & Community.  In order to successfully engage a potential prospect, the marketeer MUST provide a clear window into the company & the products they deliver. How they're made, how they're distributed, how other customers enjoy them - or not. They must provide significant amounts of information - not just self produced puff pieces, but as much 3rd party content as possible. There are so many outlets for consumers to get disinterested 3rd party reviews - Yelp, Angie's List, etc., that trying to white wash a bad reputation is worse than having the reputation to begin with. The more content you can provide - and easy access to that content - is the way to begin a beautiful relationship.

Authenticity relates specifically to the promise of the brand you're trying to create and the reality within which your company operates. Are your communication vehicles aligned with your image in a way that is both meaningful and consistent? For example - as an old-line manufacturing firm should you invest in viral advertising? You can, but it's probably not the best use of your marketing dollars. If you claim social responsibility/green as a corporate value does it make sense to have billboard trucks running around cities spewing CO2 along with your message? Not a good idea.  If you are trying to brand your company as a progressive and compassionate company, comments by your CEO in the WSJ that run contrary to that image - not a good idea. The alignment of action with image with media has never been more important. Digital means forever and the cost for misleading your customers can be devastating.

Finally, let's talk about community. If there is anything the digital revolution has accomplished is the creation of virtual communities. Communities form around everything and any thing! By helping to build a shared sense of mission and purpose centered around your company  - enabled by your Transparency & Authenticity - you will truly be able to build a meaningful brand. Remember - you cannot create your brand - your customers do. A vibrant community can be built with company sponsored events, contests, outreach, blogs, social media, etc., Any medium or activity which enables consumers to speak about you amongst themselves without censorship (within reason of course). With today's technology you want your customers to touch you back and in the process, re-enforce your Transparency & Authenticity loop. That creates your brand. If your company is willing to take the risk, your marketing will be creative, purpose-built, and highly effective.

So what do we talk about when we talk about marketing? We talk about how to create Transparency, Authenticity, and Community among our core constituencies so as to create a sense of personal ownership of our company and our products among our target consumers. The money will follow....