What is this? What exactly does this mean and why should it compel me to enter that financial institution and deposit my money? Who came up with this garbage?

Marketing.

Ugh. No wonder my profession has a bad reputation. There is way more garbage going out than there are rays of brilliance. Often under duress, such as time constraints, ignorant clients and budget limitations, we are forced to spew out inane copy and even worse artwork that does nobody any favours. For a buck. All for a buck. There have been days when I've felt like I sold my soul when I left university and entered the world of marketing and advertising.

I've been thinking about what the point of marketing is anyway. Like insurance or law, it seems to be a necessary evil. We're hired as marketing professionals because of our expertise. I'm qualified because I ran national WOM and viral campaigns online and offline. I'm not only well-versed in the psychology of social networks, I am part of them - which makes me a good bridge between the service/product/thing and the end user. I'm in a prime position to help temper my boss or client on their eagerness to sell sell sell just enough to stop scaring away potential customers.

Being a marketer is a delicate balance between social psychology and economics. You want to sell so that your boss/client is happy, but you also want to maintain the integrity of the product/service/thing you are marketing so that it has longevity. Oh, and it turns out that a big part of our jobs is justifying that we have jobs at all. I haven't seen any other profession receive the amount of flack we do (okay, maybe modelling) for doing what we do.

This is where the real marketing work comes into play.

We've gotten smart to the fact that 75% of our jobs are spent justifying our existence, so in order to become more efficient, we built the justification right into the marketing itself. How's that? Us marketing types have pieced together a swell trail of paperwork and buzzwords to cover our butts. This includes things like creative briefs and marketing plans and mission and vision statements and branding exercises and campaign plans, etc.

I had a very inspirational supervisor years ago that said our job was comprised of Client Contact Reports, Creative Briefs and Media Plans. Everything else was bread. The meat of it was to show the client we were actually doing something for the money they were paying us. The actual work, creativity and execution were nothing without that. They couldn't see us do that stuff (unless they were sitting over us, watching every movement).

Marketing is the most ironic thing ever.

But marketing is something else other than just the justification of marketing. Marketing is also a peace of mind (which in itself, is kind of a justification of marketing. The circle is so vicious). The old saying '50% of advertising works - we just don't know which 50%' (andthe number is even lower when new media is thrown in), and what that means is that most marketing is a shot in the dark. You can put as much research into it as you would like, but you can't accurately predict end user behaviour. People are funny that way. They change. They desire irrational stuff. They think for themselves. Sometimes they don't. The world changes. They don't really want to be sold to. Whatever. Peace of mind? Ha.

That being said, some people guess right more than others. I call it instinct. Or really dumb luck. And those people usually have a 'time' for that luck. They have their finger on the pulse of it all - most likely they are part of the 'target market', so have a better understanding of the future direction of it. I would never try to market stuff to my 12 year-old. I totally don't get how his desire works. It baffles me. Pokemon still doesn't make sense to me.

But I digress (again). Luck aside, having a plan and a statement and a brand definition (Lovemarks or otherwise) means that we feel we have a little more control over the success or failure of our product/service/thing. AND when we achieve success, marketing gets rewarded. AND when we fail, marketing gets punted. It's very rarely that the world didn't need another cheap lager or that this lager tasted like swill or that the sales team on the ground were lazy asses and didn't get the lager into the licensees in the first place. Nope. Marketing blew it.

So, what is marketing?

1. Marketing is a justification for marketing
2. Marketing is a peace of mind for controlling the success or failure of your product/service/thing
3. Marketing is a scapegoat

So, why am I in marketing? Am I a little more than your average masochist? Do I just dig a challenge? Well, the truth is that I believe in marketing. Really. Seriously. And I'm not delluded or deranged (mostly). I believe in being the bridge between the consumer and the client/boss and I think it is necessary. I know there are many marketing types who give my position a bad name and align themselves wholeheartedly with the $$ engine. That isn't marketing, that is suicide. I really do think a good marketing professional is a consumer first, a salesperson second.

It's an extremely volatile place to be in. Which means that, yes, I am a masochist. And I love it. ;)

TAGS: marketing, advertising