May 8, 2025
When it comes to Marketing, each of us looks at it with different intentions, from a different place, in a different context. This way we end up seeing a different animal. Then we wonder why we argue over semantics. Ha. Let me be bitter. What if we add to the list words such as irrationality, bias, nudge and the famous it depends and all becomes a nightmare for an inspiring marketer to understand what is in fact marketing. Where is a quiet place that doesn’t move all the time? - I hear them beg. What is the bigger picture? Is it what Gad Saad likes to say: Marketing Is Life and Life Is Marketing? Hopefully, is more practical than that.
At least some of these questions shouldn’t be in your head after you educate yourself in a business/marketing degree. Does that happen? Meh. Most of the books have outdated concepts and lack critical analysis (bold statement, I know). Who chooses the books? Hmmm, many professors are out of touch with reality, and that's fine until it isn't. I expect them to at least critic something, even if they’re wrong. It's not always the professors' fault – sometimes what academics understand by marketing isn't relevant to real life businesses. In reality, marketers are often only responsible for promotion, rather than the full marketing mix of product, place, price, and promotion.
I find it profoundly fascinating how interconnected we are, yet how little we discuss things we disagree on at a modest round table. Be careful, not to agree but disagree. The former happens all the time. It’s always amusing to see a person talking in his podcast or everywhere else, disagreeing with another person’s opinion. I mean, why don’t you invite them and discuss it? If one hour is not enough, make it 10. You want the views, ha? Yeah, I get it, incentives run the world but still, why?
In recent years, it's easier to find high-quality information about marketing, but unfortunately, the amount of bad information has also increased significantly. Maybe it is a filtering process one just has to go through. Yet does it ever end? It possibly ends when we’re sure we have separated noise from the clear voice - signal. That's where the work of marketing scholars like Byron Sharp, Jenni Romaniuk, and others becomes crucial. They provide structure and sense to marketing discussions, helping us make sense of the chaos. Mark Ritson is another valuable resource, bringing his practical experience and ability to connect different topics in the field. Priceless. I have a feeling I won’t ever end if I start listing everyone who has contributed to this field.
What should the marketing process look like? I think you should be clear about the business objective. Wow! Who would have guessed? By knowing the objective, we can work backwards to understand the consumer, create a robust strategy, and choose the mix of tactics we think will help achieve the objective. Most of the marketing industry is obsessed with the third step, but even though it's crucial, it won't work if you don't do the first two steps right. On the other hand, being tactical is beneficial as well. You shouldn’t be shy and avoid learning the tools used to do tactical work. It can be hard to connect these two worlds but this is how it works. One must know how the business operates but must be also an expert in the tactical field of marketing such as customer acquisition channels.
But then desperately, I have to admit it depends is the right answer in marketing because above all, industries are not the same. We must start by understanding the industry, the company, its capabilities, its finances, its business model and its objectives before starting to work on marketing and deciding how marketing can help the business. Unfortunately, marketing can't save a failing business.
People need People, Books need People
How Brands Grow - Byron Sharp
Incerto - Nassim Taleb
Strategy in Polemy - JP Castlin
Gut Feelings - Gerd Gigerenzer
Alchemy - Rory Sutherland
The Art of SEO - Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge, Jessica Stricchiola
Web Analytics 2.0 - Avinash Kaushik
The Consuming Instinct - Gad Saad
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy - Richard P. Rumelt
Eat Your Greens - Wiemer Snijders
The Halo Effect - Phil Rosenzweig
Marketing and the bottom line - Tim Ambler
Quotes:
"Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department" - HP co-founder, David Packard
"The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing" - Tom Fishburne
"Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room" - Jeff Bezos
"When Aeschines spoke, they said, 'How well he speaks.' But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, 'Let us march against Philip’ " - David Ogilvy
"A lot of advertising is geared to persuasion rather than building mental availability. Persuasion is about assuming you're in the room and you're arguing your point, whereas mental availability is about getting into the room. And so that's the big challenge: most organisations are failing to get into the room, but they're spending all their money on arguing as if they're already there" - Prof. Jenni Romaniuk, International Director, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute
"All models are wrong, but some are useful" - George E. P. Box
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" - John Wanamaker