What is marketing...really?

I'm often perplexed by how most people seem to define the word "marketing".  Ask what a marketer does, and usually advertising comes to mind.  Marketers are seen as characters in an old movie starring Tony Randall looking for the commercial gimmick that will sell the latest product.

Even those who call themselves marketers have a Madison Avenue vision in their minds, and even if they are talking about the latest Internet based, new media, social media, branding or viral market gimmick, they are likely still thinking about some form of advertising.

And therefore Marketing is advertising...or is it?

Did Google advertise in order to become the giant they are today?  If I remember correctly, Yahoo had amazing advertising campaigns, while Google had none.  Was it advertising that created the frenzy for iPods and iPhones?  They had some good advertising, but perhaps there was something about the products themselves? Was it advertising that made millions of Americans thrilled to spend more than $3.oo for a cup of coffee at Starbucks?  I can't remember a single commercial for Starbucks but I do remember seeing everyone carrying around those cups.  Was it a commercial that created waiting lists for the Toyota Prius?  Or perhaps a car company actually delivered the first meaningful innovation in forty years and everyone started to notice.

In countless cases, people are persuaded to value and ultimately to buy an idea, a product or a service because companies marketed.  Advertising helped get the word out, but without something special to back up their claims, little could happen...even when they put commercials on the Internet.

So if advertising alone doesn't make a difference, what does?

An interview with computer hacker Virgil Griffith printed in the New York Times last week ("Internet Man of Mystery" by Virginia Heffernan, 11.23.08) put it surprisingly well, "You step back and look at the entire interacting, breathing system and pick out the counterintuitive, unbalanced, seldom-explored parts and look for a way for these parts to interact such that they play off each other, synergistically amplifying their power to influence everything else..."  Reading this, I was able to recognize a true marketer in Mr. Griffith, even if he was talking about hacking computer systems.

Marketing is a way to look at a market, understand the system of buyers, sellers, suppliers and clients - what makes it all tick, what is really happening underneath the lies we all tell ourselves, the slogans, the official descriptions and the talking points.  When a marketer understands how the system actually works and why - then they can change it.

They may change it with a new product or service, a new way to approach the market, a new way to make something or a new use for something.  But when a company is marketing, they are essentially innovating a new relationship with the market or redefining what the market means and how it works.  

That's why I believe that marketing at its core is actually Innovation.

...and advertising?  It can be a lot of fun. It can capture someone's attention.  It gets the word out. It gives people permission to enjoy or be proud of  buying your product.  But without meaningful innovation (marketing), how much is it really worth?

Advertising and all other forms of communication are powerful and important tools, but they in themselves do not market a firm, any more than a hammer and nails build a house.  Skillful carpentry skills alone cannot make a brilliant building - it's the vision of what could be - of how to make something better, of how to manipulate the existing system, materials and tools to create a new and more exciting world - it's innovation.

iPod innovated how people can interact with their music, movies and even their telephones.  Zune innovated nothing but spent some real dollars on advertising.  Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama's presidential campaigns innovated how the US could be governed and what the US could be in the future while their competitors merely communicated.  Actually, those two presidential campaigns are interesting cases.  Both presidents were brilliantly successful communicators - but they were not communicators alone...the skillful communications and advertising was put to use by their innovative visions for where the country should go.

Their unsuccessful opponents weren't bad communicators.  Jimmy Carter and John McCain both had skillful and experienced communications teams, they both were proven communicators who could influence people with their powerful rhetoric and they spent millions of dollars on advertising.  But they didn't have innovation and vision driving their words.  They weren't seeking an improvement to the systems, rather they were trying to make what exists a little better.

If you aren't innovating, I wonder if you are really marketing.  

A Few New Rules for Persuasion

Sales, marketing, leadership...all require that we get someone to do something they don't want to do - to change what their doing - to transform some aspect of their work or their life. There are a plethora of books, management training and consultant practices designed to help you manage, or lead change - and yet most people and organizations aren't very good at it.

Soren Kierkegaard once wrote, "...in order to save men's souls, one must first seduce them." Perhaps we need to improve our ability to "seduce" or "persuade" others?

But we have entire disciplines and industries dedicated to persuasion. Marketing is supposed to work magic - to persuade the masses to buy something they don't want. But how is it that companies can spend millions of dollars on award-winning advertising, but not sell more products? US auto manufactures are spending more on advertising today than they did when they had a commanding market share. The best ads from the best advertising firms only seem to work some of the time, even though advertisers are well trained, are following all the rules of good advertising, and have produced some of the best design, drama, music and humour in our culture today. Insurance ads can make me cry pretty reliably, but I still won't buy their annuities.

Why do public speakers, when they follow all the rules given to them in public speaking courses, still bore their audiences? It's difficult to stay awake when a speaker actually follows the template that we all had to learn in our high school and college public speaking courses.

How can a salesman, trained in the art of closing a sale, still be ineffective? When I was a salesman, I remember a sales manager giving up on explaining how to close in any scientific way. Most of the time he attributed it to "magic" when someone pulled it off.

The best professionals all follow the rules that they were given for persuading others...but so few pull it off. Could it be that they are following the wrong rules?

I think so.

Allow me here to map out a few rules that I have discovered that are very useful for "seducing men's souls". This is by no means comprehensive...and I find myself discoving new "rules" all the time - whether from my clients or from observation.

These rules can help a clumsy speaker persuade more effectively than a slick, polished orator. These rules can help a company create a powerful brand identity and grow sales without spending millions of dollars on advertising. And most important, these rules can help a leader persuade people to follow, to change, to transform - even if the leader doesn’t look or sound like a charismatic leader.

Seven New Rules of Persuasion

1. Be what you are.
   Pretending you’re something that you are not is not only dishonest; it undermines your ability to persuade. A speaker with a poor vocabulary that tries to impress with “big words” will appear less intelligent. A speaker that says, “I’m not that bright, but here’s what I know,” creates credibility. A company that promotes itself with impossibly grand or superlative statements can seem disingenuous, while a direct, honest, and simple statement can become far more inspirational – if it’s real.
   
   But it’s difficult to communicate what you are if you don’t know what that is. Much of my time as a consultant is spent helping companies and individuals understand their strengths, weaknesses and differentiators. Understand - then be what you are.
   
   Persuade authentically.
2. Tell the truth
   One should be honest, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it is more persuasive. Few believe a person who only talks about how great they are; everyone believes someone who can communicate their own limitations.
   
   And the limitations can usually demonstrate an attractive strength. For example, “Our airline only serves peanuts, but the flight will be inexpensive.”
   
   Persuade honestly.
3. Differentiation Means Different
   It’s generally understood that differentiation helps clarify value; that customers need to know how you, your product or vision is different and perhaps better than the alternatives. In practice, however, most communicate how similar they are to others. This often happens when a company or person doesn’t understand what makes them different, or when say what they think their audience wants to hear. That’s why, just as in rule #1, it’s essential to understand who you are and what makes you different.
   
   Differences are persuasive because they stand out, because they draw attention, because when making a choice between similar options, only the differences are important.
   
   Persuade differently.
4. One Thing
   A speech, an advertisement, a sales pitch – should always be about One Thing, because that is all your potential listener can act on or remember at any one time. Multiple themes diffuse the communication and its effect.
   
   The temptation “to educate” or to communicate every detail of a subject must be avoided at all costs. Instead, select the most persuasive thesis, and then support that thesis with three of the most persuasive facts.
   
   Persuade single-mindedly.
5. “The good, if brief, twice good; the bad, if little, less bad.”
   The above rule was actually formulated by the seventeenth century Jesuit priest and philosopher, Baltasar Gracian. It speaks for itself.
   
   Persuade briefly.
6. Lather, Rinse, Repeat…as Needed
   This rule was lifted from the back of a shampoo bottle, but also applies to persuasion. The greater a change one asks people to make, the more often they will have to be exposed to and reflect upon the persuasive argument. But don’t just say the same thing over and over again. If someone hears an idea from multiple perspectives, in different contexts, and at different times, they are more likely to take that idea on as their own.
   
   Persuade repeatedly.
7. Give credit away
   The most persuasive idea is the one we come up with ourselves. If that is the case, the most effective persuader will work to make everyone believe it is their own idea. Holding on to credit for a great idea is not as important as getting people to do what you want them to do.
   
   Persuade humbly.