THE BEST MARKETERS ARE FARMERS, NOT HUNTERS: MARKETING IN A GLOBALISED WORLD AND HOW IT’S CHANGING
For many years, marketers identified themselves as advertisers, responsible for promoting the company – broadcasting a message and convincing people to buy their brand. While advertising is still an important part of marketing, the playing field has become much more complex.
From then to now
Marketing used to be a side effect. We had a factory, it was busy. We said to the marketing team, ‘here’s some money, go sell average stuff to average people’ – that’s not true anymore. Marketing is the core of what we do. Marketing is the story you tell, who you’re telling it to, why people are going to buy. It’s the center of the universe.
Before the digital age, people had more time to listen and fewer brands were vying for their attention. Trust was easier to build, and consumers didn’t have the same expectations that are now taken for granted.
As a result, advertising was synonymous with marketing. Buying ads was fun and easy, reaching people was straightforward and purchasing advertising space generally resulted in more sales.
Fragmentation came with the arrival of search engines and social media. Marketing thought leader, Seth Godin recently noted in his latest book, , that TV was a mass medium and the internet is a micro medium. Unlike TV, you can’t buy all the ads on Facebook and the idea of purchasing enough advertising space to be able
