What is Marketing?
As our first post, it seems only natural to depict what Marketing means to us.
At a fundamental level, a textbook will tell you that Marketing is about communicating value to the consumer, allowing them to understand why your product serves a purpose in their life; but we believe there is more to it than that.
Today, marketing is seen as a sort of villain in society; manipulating an individual’s perception of what they need, in order to generate profit. Our goal is to move away from this cynical view, and show that marketing is not actually a means of creating a want, but instead works to satisfies actual individual needs.
What people often view Marketing as is really advertising: the spots you see on TV, or the giant billboards looming over cityscapes. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg – and what lies below is far more intriguing. Marketing is far more involved, ranging from understanding the unique elements of a brand, to making appropriate new product introductions; from creating communications objectives, to monitoring competitive positioning.
But at the very highest level, marketing is really about storytelling. It is about understanding the personality of a brand, and sharing that image with the public. Lets put it this way: a great brand drives sales, but sales don’t drive great brands. Sales promotions tend to happen in the short term, and provide more for a company’s bottom line than for the consumer’s perspective. But brand building happens in the long term, and involves shaping the image of a product in the consumer’s mind; success at this leads to consistent sales in the long term, and a unique market position.
After a week binge of Mad Men, it is easy to see how much the industry has evolved – storytelling is more prevalent and important than ever. With the innovations of the mobile sector, the way people consume data has rapidly changed, and with it, the way people communicate and measure marketing content.
For us, something that highlights this shift is a YouTube video launched by Chipotle in September.
Numbers don’t lie, and with 12 million views and counting at next to no media costs, it’s hard to argue the effectiveness of potent storytelling. What are your thoughts? Is this where Marketing is headed?
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