Why Marketing is Not What You Think!
Marketing’s Most Basic Synonym
Marketing is a unique industry. It employs and joins together a broad range of skills from a variety of fields. From written copy to visual art, to abstract concepts and sound bites, to the psychology of habit and digital algorithms. It could appear at first to be insurmountably complex. But really, it’s not.
At its most fundamental core, marketing is a field of communication that reaches a specific “market,” hence the name “marketing.” I found it interesting after writing this blog and doing a basic search for tertiary definitions that the AMA holds a similar view to mine:
“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.”
I have added the above quote to this blog post as an update since it is so fitting. But I want to highlight the key operative word in the AMA’s description, "communicating,” because this is the main point of this post. And when we’re communicating, authenticity trumps perfection. Always! If we aren’t authentic, we will not connect with our audience. And trust me, they know when we aren’t being genuine. Unless we truly believe in the product or the service we are offering, and feel good about making it known, it’s hard to be authentic.
The Relationship Between Authenticity and Value
I’ve been around phony salesmen selling televisions in Napels, but they were actually empty television boxes with rocks inside to give them weight. These men were pushy. So much so, you could smell the fraud from 50 yards away, shouting and trying to get you to buy hastily. Only to find when you get home that you were tricked.
When we have real value to offer our customers, there’s no pushiness and no rush. We want our customers to evaluate and make informed decisions. There’s no script, only helpful dialogue to identify the actual needs of the customer so we can provide the most effective solution possible. It simply comes out of us because we believe in what we offer and we care about others. We are unequivocally drawn to the authentic.
The opposite is also true. It’s hard to connect with our audience in a natural way if we don’t truly believe in what we’re doing. Even if we could muster the ability to promote ourselves disingenuously, it’s only a matter of time until the market discovers us for what we are; phonies selling empty boxes. Businesses are built and sustained by providing real value to the world.
This doesn’t mean that we should be shy or hesitate to tell others about who we are and what we can do for them. Phonies and false advertising have given marketing a bad reputation and sometimes we can feel as though any promotion at all is walking in their footsteps. Here's the difference: if we have something of real value and truly believe in it, we should freely and openly let others know about it because it can better their lives. We just needn’t push. Let the value do the selling, and make sure to over deliver on that value. Word will spread, and the reputation will take hold.
Good “Communication” in Marketing
The connection between the value that we provide and the authentic nature of our marketing message is essential. And because we have something that makes a real difference in the marketplace, our marketing, or our “market message,” should be given reasonable priority in our operations. It should be done carefully and thoughtfully, with integrity and a healthy sense of pride. And most certainly it shouldn’t be done with shortcuts, because how we represent ourselves to the public reflects how we see ourselves and the value that they are seeking. Our “value offer” won’t make a difference in the world if the world doesn’t know about it. Also - and perhaps more importantly - it will know about us and avoid us if we market cheaply. Being cheap in business cheapens the message and devalues our brand. The image below is an example of this.
Example of being cheap in business. Using unpaid iStock images with the watermark.
I’ll never forget the day I saw a company in California publish a post on their social media channels using an iStock image that they didn’t pay for. Because they didn’t pay the $4 fee, the image still had the iStock watermark across the photo, like the example above. This tells everyone who sees it that it was taken from iStock and the user wasn’t willing to spend a few dollars to invest in their own business venture.
It would have been better to not put up anything on those social media channels than to send the message that the business doesn’t care enough about itself to spend the pocket change on a professional image in an attempt to connect with their customers professionally.
Listen, if the owners themselves don’t believe their business is worth the $4 investment, why would anyone else think their company is worth the investment in their service or product?
Conclusion
The moral of the story is that marketing is communication, and communication is the lifeblood of any relationship. Lastly, and most importantly, business is about relationships; from the employees to the customers and everyone in between. So let’s make sure that we have something of real value to offer. Let’s believe heartily in that value, and communicate it well.