What Is Marketing? A Philosophical Primer.
Marketing = Attention + Actions
The title is a question we've asked ourselves since the dawn of modern civilization. In the beginning, “marketing” described the interactions of merchants in the open air physical markets of the world. There, the tools at our disposal were our voices, our hands and our products. We simply screamed to passers-by about our products, hoping they wanted to spend with us. In the beginning, marketing was a simple concept.
Marketing is at its core, about attention and the ability to keep it long enough to get a customer to commit to an action.
Context In The Developing World
As the world developed, however, the word “market” broadened in definition. Fast forward a few hundred years and the world seems vastly different. We've developed currency, institutions, and governments that regulate and dictate our economy. We operate within an interconnected global digital market. Google and Facebook have created information and social hubs the likes of which we’ve never seen. Companies like Robinhood & Webull reflect the groundbreaking access to investments the likes of which we have never seen before in human history.
That sets the landscape for the macro-market we now inhabit. With tech like smart phones, televisions, and homes ringing off advertisements by the minute, we now have thousands of products to spend our digital cash on in real-time. And not only do we have access to the products being sold, paradoxically we also have direct access to the advertising platforms where these products are being sold.
It is certainly safe to say that the world has changed vastly since the beginning of civilization. Technology, media and channel marketing have changed more in the last 20 years than the previous 100 combined. But the basic premise of marketing has remained the same through and through: get & keep the attention of a prospective buyer in the marketplace.
Getting Technical: What Does The AMA Say?
The AMA (American Marketing Association) has defined our field in the past for us as:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
This is a technical definition and what's most interesting about it is the dynamic of delivery it articulates. Offerings by the seller of "value" as it put. The perennial buzzwords of marketing today. When we think of a product's offering in 2021, it's the description of the product itself. The detailing of a product's features and benefits. The promise of a tangible delivery (of something) by the seller in question .The very reason a purchase is being sold. The intent of a customer productized. Here, we find the first major function of marketing:
to create an identity in the eyes of the customer as a solution.
When we think of the various advertising and content formats we consume on a daily basis, every single piece published has this characteristic in mind. When we search for paint on google, hop to Facebook and see a Sherwin Williams ad, that is Facebook trying to provide a solution to my paint problem. When I hop onto Quora and ask for the best social media management software and someone says Crowdfire, that is a person offering a solution to a problem. If marketing is about grabbing attention, then actionable marketing is giving a prospect an actionable solution in your product.
Actionable Marketing = Actionable Solutions
The idea of selling a solution is only simple in theory. When we think about the different factors that go into marketing -- creative, digital design, copywriting, ad spend, campaign management, niche, retargeting, sequencing and the other amazing (yet complicated) tools that digital marketing has afforded us, more often than not, we're left with our heads spinning.
Digital media has taken over the minds and attention of the masses. The ads & content we see on a daily basis are created with various media formats. GIFs, memes, docu-series, informational, white-papers are all created for our benefit as customers. And all of these pieces of content have some sort of arbitrary “value” attached to them (note: all media is not created equal). That’s where it gets confusing for business owners.
With the understanding that attention and action are the variables of success, we are left with the channels and tools to figure out for ourselves. And if you’re not a media professional or marketing graduate, you likely have no experience handling digital strategy & media at a level needed to make your marketing actions profitable. Too many business owners are doing too much work without understanding or tracking the deliverables and return on investment. Too many small business owners are employing marketing strategies without offering solutions. Earned attention without a solution is a problem.
Gary Vaynerchuck is one marketing thought leader who has spoke at length about the importance of keeping attention in the marketplace. Almost 5 years ago, he made an assertion that rocked the foundation of my young marketing mind at the time. He was praising an Arby's campaign (he never got specific about the actual campaign) but the brand was self-deprecating a bit on social. Making fun of itself. And it caught people's attention. He then challenged marketers in a way they should constantly be:
We need to be talking about attention, not impressions.
It's advice that goes hand in hand with solving the confusion we have with marketing today. There's a saying in business that goes "If you can measure it, you can manage it." It's a favorite for many marketers and while there is definitely value in quantifying the results of your marketing campaigns, the real value in marketing is the interaction and stimulation you create through those actions. That is where you gain an understanding of the customer and the market itself. That information will enable you to better serve the cold audiences you reach through targeting. And ultimately it will enable you to be more impactful with your interactions, earning you more sales. But it all starts with a focus on attention and keeping your customers in focus at all times.
And that is how we handle each and every client here at PREP Digital.
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