What the Hell Happend to Marketing?
Ask anyone today what marketing means and they will respond with some form of promotion.
But in reality marketing has changed so much over the years, nobody really knows exactly what it means anymore.
What is the purpose of marketing in world with a million platforms and tools?
What is the Purpose of Marketing?
Philip Kotler once said: “the art of marketing is the art of brand building. If you’re not a brand, you’re a commodity. Then price is everything and the low-cost producer is the only real winner.”
So what is it then?
The best explanation of what the art of marketing is, was published in 1960 by Theodore Levitt titled, Marketing Myopia, by the Harvard Business Press.
In his book, Levitt explained the fundamental difference between sales and marketing is that sale’s job is to sell the current product the way it is. While it’s marketing’s job to figure out how to sell what the consumer actually wants.
In an era of mass confusion, just focus on promoting exactly how you can help people.
Marketing Myopia
For example; Levitt explained that the railroad industry didn’t loose market share overtime due to the introduction of new innovative competitive products like the airplane or automobile.
Rather, they lost market share overtime because they thought of themselves as selling railroad services.
They failed to realize, that from the consumers perspective, they were really in the transportation business.
The reason companies fail overtime is because they become irrelevant to the changing expectations of savy consumers.
Consumers are actively seeking solutions to their problems. Create content that solves a problem.
The Reason Companies Fail
Marketing Myopia suggests that to avoid failure overtime, companies must act on their customers’ future needs and desires, not just bank on the longevity of selling their current products in the same way as their competitors.
In every case where growth is threatened, slowed or stopped, is not because the market is saturated. It’s because there has been a failure of management to adapt to new consumer expectations.
The truth is marketing is failing today because marketing has become more fixated on HOW to promote our products than helping our audience solve a problem they care about.
Answer these 3 questions to gain the attention of your audience by solving a problem.
It’s a Buyers Market Out There
At any given time, only 2% of people using the internet are active buyers ready to make a purchase. 98% of online users are searching for remedies to symptoms of problems before they even know what the problem is (let alone the solutions to buy). That’s where a content strategy comes in.
“The customer comes first.” How many times have you heard that? Now, when was the last time you actually applied this “rule” to your marketing?
STOP FOCUSING your marketing efforts on just selling your product or service. Instead focus them on becoming a media company covering the most important questions to the problems facing your customer. Do that by answering THESE 3 QUESTIONS for your audience:
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- What kind of information would be helpful to your target audience?
- What are symptoms to the problems they face (as they relate to your product or service)?
- What kind of content can you create that would be helpful to them?
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When you think and act more like an actual media company rather than an advertiser, you give your customers the content they need in order to make a good impression.
Put your customer at the heart of your strategy by focusing on creating an inbound audience by providing quality content that adds value to the situation they face.
Don’t interrupt the content your customer wants, be the content they want.
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