Marketing is about what?

Marketing is about what? Recently, at the exhibition REX heard the following phrase: “Marketing is about arrogance; if you do not know, I will tell you this”. Phrase thrown into the audience (of mostly students) leading some of the conference, the title of which clearly did not coincide with its contents.

This expression for some reason I remembered – perhaps because to some extent it really captures the essence of our marketing and its understanding by many members of the profession. And not only this. If you have a product, regardless of whether it was good or not, then sell it without marketing (=ads) is impossible today. And advertising, of course, to be offensive, aggressive to a certain extent, otherwise who will notice you?

I quite admit that in this “ideology” has grown many businesses. Ukraine, unfortunately, remains a country “Scam”, where examples of “blatant marketing” rife – is to look at the behavior of the members of our “Olympus”. Style – that non-stop election campaigns, another campaign to save the population from the flu – all have the same, regular, constant, obsessive and frankly in the majority of low-grade brainwashing. The most indicative in this respect is television advertising, the number and duration of which obviously has already beaten the world records.

So, marketing as a profession and as business philosophy particularly in the crisis – the concept of marketing degraded and distorted. This is a global phenomenon, but each country has its own “chips”.

Against this background, most single voices that we don’t have enough ideas. No, not about ideas and innovation in the medium itself marketers talk a lot and for a long time. Here only the ideas and innovation is not enough. Well, can we consider innovation a regular laid out with “their” books, the invitation to “their” guru, attracting “them” money, millions in “their” language, etc., etc. by the Way, if we are to believe our sources, then the level of innovation that we are somewhere around 52-th row and the further falling.

It is good that such questions eventually are. In the community of marketers. In the end, who else can bring marketing out of the crisis, not marketers?

But first you need to understand: marketing is about? A powerful weapon in crooked businessmen and politicians? Business philosophy in an attempt to create better and more value? The set of techniques and tools…? Talking about “customer orientation”, we see the consumer or is it just the object of our actions in order to achieve a different goal of their own enrichment?

For more than a dozen years trying to work it out in this Western community and the professionals – at the level of concepts, approaches and again the same ideas. Tools and technology – is the last.

We – try? What prevents us to move away from the scoop with its stereotypes? Or we respect yourself, because the arrogance and all such techniques work well in a society where people have no self-respect.

So, marketing is about?