“The best marketing doesn’t look like marketing” – Tom Fishburne

Surely you have bought some product or service, which probably has not met your expectations or simply was not what you initially believed, and you have said the phrase “that product is just marketing”, or as they would say in my country, “that’s pure marketing”, referring to Marketing as being able to sell anything, even if it is of poor quality or poor performance. Those of us who study, practice or are passionate about marketing get the chills from these phrases.

As the title of this article, “The Best Marketing Doesn’t Look Like Marketing”, by Tom Fishburne, founder of Marketoonist and author of the book “Your Ad Ignored Here: Cartoons from 15 Years of Marketing, Business and Doodling in Meetings”, refers, since the last century Marketing has been attributed with the ability to sell almost anything, and assigning it a value that is not always positive.

However, I believe that Marketing is that subtle magic that connects consumers with the products they need and that will provide them with a positive experience, which beyond satisfying a need as it was conceptualized in the past, will generate a bond with the consumer to the extent of generating “spokespersons” rather than consumers.

It is also likely that at some point, some product or service has satisfied them to such a degree that they have recommended it to their family and friends, commonly called “word-of-mouth marketing”, and this is just a consequence of having delivered the right message to the target audience, meeting or exceeding their expectations.

In the last century, Marketing did not have the tools, information and means that we have today. Advertising was developed with messages that were disseminated through mass media that sought, in some way, to reach the target audience. The above, in addition to being costly, was not very effective if we consider the investment versus the return. It generated brand recall, it positioned the brand in the minds of consumers, however, it was not, as it is today, “surgically” targeted to the target audience. In addition, the impact of advertising campaigns could only be estimated by surveys representing a portion of the total universe that received the message, or by trends reflecting the impact of such campaigns.

Today, there are a variety of tools and means by which a message can be targeted in detail to a specific audience that may be interested in the products, and above all, inform them and provide value so that the consumer experience meets or exceeds their expectations.

Additionally, and no less important, this information also helps us to measure how successful advertising campaigns are, as it provides us with precise and measurable information on the Customer Journey Map, from the first point of contact, the consideration stage, to the conversion stage or the moment when the consumer decides to make the purchase, his experience in use, and in products or services that require it, the after-sales service.

As Marketing professionals, and personally after having dedicated more than 15 years to the commercial area, it is very important to direct our efforts to give Marketing another focus, and to be perceived in a positive way, connecting brands and products with consumers on a deeper and more satisfactory level.