DISQUS

Lynn Crymble · 1 year ago

I'm so happy you wrote this Douglas! I work in marketing but have been finding myself more and more at odds with the way it's being approached and the way I think it should be.
The reason I love social media is because it connects and re-connects us to our social needs.
Marketing (the 4 p's view) no longer works as it has in the past. People just aren't willing to be told and passive anymore, we were never meant to live this way - we are social animals!
Some might argue that digital formats are not personal and don't invite 'real-world' participation but I believe the opposite is true.
The more you learn, collaborate, participate in the digital world, the stronger your desire to do so with 'real people.
Thanks for this.

Douglas Karr · 1 year ago

Thanks Lynn! I really appreciate the feedback and thank you for the compliments. It's time that people started to really believe in their products and services - then it's easier to sell and you need not exaggerate.

Phil Myers · 1 year ago

Couldn't agree with you more Doug.

Somewhere along the way, marketing went from 'Big M' to 'Little M' in peoples minds. It equates really only to the promotional aspect with an emphasis on spin. We even still see this today in the political landscape where the job is to keep candidates 'on message'. All of which has seemed to have led to a generation of marketers that think inside-out and focus only on the level of their creativity to break through the clutter in communications. This has led to some huge frustrations with the business leaders we interviewed for our book on this front ... they view marketing as just a runaway cost center that doesn't contribute to the business very much and needs to be controlled.

You're hitting the problem straight on here. This definition of marketing was never what I learned the discipline ought to be. At it's essence, the job is more fundamental and important than most are making it ... it's a job of 'building real and deep connections to what buyers value most'. It starts with understanding their needs and preferences completely so that your company is actually working on building products people want to buy and then focuses on authentic ways of communicating why customers might be interested. Shouting 'buy my product' is useless (noone is listening anymore anyway) ... using social media and other forms of publishing content to establish connections is far more effective.

I'm fascinated by the number of communities that are developing freely around these kinds of things ... at times and places that we would have never thought of before in a marketing context. Thanks for your thoughts and your work here.

Douglas Karr · 1 year ago

It really does feel like we're moving backwards in time, doesn't it? Finally there are repercussions to people spreading their spin!

Thanks for the input!