The marketing blues

I’ve got a bad case of marketing blues. The problem stems not so much from my day-to-day work, but from reading marketing news and trade press. Symptoms include:

> disillusionment with social media marketing and the relentless drive for buying what should have been word-of-mouth channels

> lack of relevant products and services worth caring about, alongside an excess of ‘smart’ advertising and pats in the back between industry moles

> overdose of white, male marketing executives in the cover of magazines talking about the entrails of selling luxury soap and flavoured crisps

Refusing to market products you don’t believe in

There is one marketing ‘guru’ who I actually sympathise with though. It happens to be one of the most known ones, Seth Godin. I think I like him because he’s much more of a writer and philosopher than a corporate practitioner.

A couple of weeks ago I came across one of these vanilla papers talking about the ‘future of marketing’, put together by The Economist Intelligence Unit, where Seth’s views featured alongside another five blokes’. Once again, his words were the exception in a sea of the expected jargon.

He dared to say that marketers should refuse to market products they don’t believe in. Putting aside the fact that he can probably say this because he makes a living off his books and from speaking at conferences, wouldn’t it be a marvellous thing indeed?

Marketers should be making and marketing things worth talking about, he continues, by being authentic and true to themselves. They shouldn’t be thinking about how they should ‘own’ this or that channel. If we simply act like the person we want to be, the word will get out. Same applies to brands.

So, here’s my antidote to the marketing blues – a big cheer to working only for brands we believe in, and hoping that it will always pay the bills.