Redefining Marketing: Marketing is science buried inside Art.

Marketing has never been about Advertising.  This is not really a redefinition of Marketing, as much as it is a reminder of what Marketing has always been.  Advertising is a tiny, often outsourced, part of Marketing.  It is the least of what we do.


True Marketing starts with the People.  It is an understanding of the customer -> how they think, what they like, how they shop, their demographics, their psychographics, and as much data about the customer as can be compiled.

It continues with the Product.  What benefits are desired.  What benefits are conveyed.  What to make.  What features to add and CUT. What it is.  What it does. How we talk about it.  Why it was built.

And moves into Pricing. What value is delivered for various customer types.  Pricing Strategy. How to capture the most value per customer type.

And on to Place.  Where to sell.  Where to put product in easy reach of customers.

And finally Promotion (note: this is not advertising)... to include how to let people know about the product.  Packaging.  PR.  And yes, some small bit of Advertising if necessary.

Beyond this, you enter the realm of what I call Marketing Fantasy...

Marketing Fantasy is where some Marketers go... thinking they actually can control:
1. branding/brand awareness
2. style/design
3. predictions/future trends
and more.

These things are Fantasy, because Marketing might be able to measure these things, finding direct controls of these things is nearly impossible.

Why do I love Marketing?  Because...   Marketing is science buried inside Art.

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Skeptical About Fake Social Marketing

Fake Social Marketing = the kind of contrived, half-hearted attention you try to garner by having a Fanpage or Twitter follower... but it serves no purpose other then as a huge mega-phone.

You are just saying nothing to people who don't care.

Real Social Marketing = when you have people that *actually* care... and that you have an interactive conversation with those people, and actually listen and react to what is said.

I am skeptical of the value of "Fake Social Marketing".  I think it has 'some' value, actually... at least you are making some effort, even if it is not social.  Fake Social Marketing is more like a "Blog" than an actual social site.  I think most companies take this approach because "Real Social" is harder and more risky.  These kinds of companies might use tools (such as those available by my own company: http://karmaback.com ) to rapidly grow fans & followers, then spam them with messages but ignore any responses.  That was NEVER the intent of how to use Karmaback..... I am a much stronger believer in "real social".

Real Social Marketing is when companies use Karmaback to REWARD their existing fans/followers with a sweepstakes or discount/coupon... and a side-effect of the Reward is that you get a few more fans/followers... (it's not necessarily the primary goal).  Meanwhile, Karmaback's PostOnTime tool is used to help coordinate when messages get said/planned messages... but someone STILL should be interacting with the comments/responses after the post has been made.  Incidentally, the posts themselves should be useful/helpful/informative/or conversation starting... A great example would be asking your Fans/Followers if you should have a certain feature or not.

So, consider this when you are planning your Social Marketing campaign... Focus on the "real social".  Don't just blindly post... read and respond.  And don't bribe, but reward.