Classical marketing is like classical music: it can be beautiful but nobody‘s listening to it…
Classical marketing, based on demand analysis and customer understanding, has been driving the industry for years but ….most recent market hits come from market creation and radically new ways to imagine supply chains. Look at AirBnB, Über and, before that, Apple, Google, Facebook and the like. We know that. it’s no surprise to us.
What is more tricky is how we should play with new rules of the games to adapt to this ever changing business environment. Today, we should not only understand customers, we should play the marketing game with them. Consumers and business customers changed dramatically.They don’t want to be « just only satisfied », they want to be excited ! Well, let’s excite them !
We don’t need marketing managers anymore ! We need Game Changers who permanently generate ideas, who exercise critical thinking and like to be constantly challenged by others’ viewpoints, especially customers’ viewpoints. They should care for societal concerns more than anyone in their businesses. Of course, they should be digital masters but be creative enough to stand out of the online crowd. In brief, they should move, try, do…differently
So, my dear readers, if you still believe in the 4p’s model dating from the 1950’s, you better consider the world today is different from the 50’s !
If you want to check the state of your marketing function today is to look at the 5 sides of a pentagon. Five equal sides surrounding the marketing show. Coz marketing is like show business ! It should be perfect, coherent and stunning ! It can’t be mediocre. It should be WOW !
- Are you digital enough ? Don’t consider digital as a by product, just a needed activity. Be digital in strategy, be digital in mar com, be digital in distribution, be digital in service, be digital in customer relationship. Being digital does’t mean to be non-human ! Amazon has been rated number 1 in the National Retail Federation Customers’ Choice Awards…nominated through an unaided, write-in question by consumers.
- Are you social ? There are several meanings to this word. The one I mean is the equivalent of “societal”. Does your marketing bring a societal benefit ? Does it make people life better ? I’m not talking about just doing some charity to feel “good citizen”. I mean: do your products, services or ideas bring a social value ? Do you have the ambition to go beyond customers expectations and think about more than money ? The good thing is: societal marketing also brings more money. Today, it’s a competitive advantage that customers value !
- Are you sustainable ? Marketing has helped destroyed a number of earth resources. We must be aware of that. Now we should repair. The marketing community should now be a driving force, in each company and in the society, to generate a safe, clean and healthy environment. Being green is an evidence but sustainability is more. It means caring for the long term. Preserving consumers health. Promoting sustainable behaviors. Again, being pro-active in that field will bring you a definite advantage over competition.
- Are you creative ? Really creative ? Creativity is not just about finding a good ad agency. it’s about being different at every step of the marketing process. Strategy, segmentation, business modeling , product development, pricing, distribution,…everything in marketing cane creative. But unfortunately, most businesses desperately offer “me too” solutions. Being creative is like sport or music: you should know the techniques and exercise every day !
- Are you “experiential“? People remind what they do, not what they hear and see. Each of us is getting around 5,000 marketing messages each day ! How many do you keep in mind ? Experiential marketing is a new discipline that should now be considered as strategic. Experiential Marketing is about building emotional connections with customers leading them to a desire to repeat the experience they went through and to become « brand advocates » It’s a way to create emotional value and it’s now a must in our emotional world !
It’s time to check your marketing function and see if you’re 100% at the top in these 5 fields. If not, call me !
Jean-Pierre Baeyens 