Marketing

Look for a definition of marketing on Google, and you’re going to get thousands — perhaps millions — of results.

I’ll whittle it down and offer just two that, together, get to the heart of the matter and guide my work.

• Marketing is the process of delivering value to capture value. Information scarcity is no longer anyone’s problem — in fact, the opposite is true. So every tweet, every sales sheet, every mini-campaign and every national roll-out has to pack potential value for everyone who sees it. Because if you’re not delivering value to the customer from that first touch? Well, they’ve got both other options.
• Marketing is the manifestation of the brand. We don’t market because we’ve got quarterly numbers to hit or because that’s what the master plan says — well, we do, but our thinking should be bigger than that. No, we market because we’ve built a brand that people will respond to. Great brand? Marketing will let people know about it. Crappy brand? Good marketing will reveal its flaws faster.

If I sound clear-headed about these things, it’s because I’ve been doing integrated marketing campaigns for a while. From professional services to construction, industrial products and political candidates, my campaigns change minds, sell products and drive action.