What is marketing?

One of my professors at London Business School defined it as "The management of perception."

I don't think this is good enough anymore.

Too many marketers try to create a 'false perception'. They claim their product/service/brand is better than it really is. Basically, they rationalize being liars. And then they wonder why their product doesn't sell once they take a breather from advertising. Why they are wondering is a mystery to me. We all know that frustrated and underwhelmed buyers won't recommend a product/service/brand to their friends.

In their minds, marketers are supposed to lie, create illusion and create fake perceptions. Wrong.

All these poducts/services/brand should stop advertising. Invest all your money in R&D. Create a great product/service/brand. And you'll quickly learn that marketing is more than creating a perception. Marketing is creating a perception that aligns with the reality of your product/service/brand. And it's soch much easier, ethical, cost-effective and successful when you have a product/service/brand that customers want, cherish and recommend.

When will they get it?

Are we residing in an ivory tower? Are we so removed from reality that we don't really know how to implement our 2.0 vision? And execute it?

Most people that read my blog understand the importance of conversational marketing, the necessity to listen to the consumer and revise all existing marketing strategies.
But most brand executives don't read blogs. They think kids and nerds read blogs. They don't believe in Social Networking. They think teens and weirdos are on MySpace. They are in their 40's and when we talk to them about the importance of conversational marketing, they just answer "That's all nice and dandy but I need to sell products."

I can show them research, case studies, white papers - the whole enchilada. But what they say is: 'Get me on as many homepages as possible.' Back to the old distribution model.

Sure, we don't have to fight Online ROI fight anymore. But most brand managers are stuck in 2001-2002 and they are scared to move along. Corporations tend to reward mediocrity and that worked for many decades. But, as we all know, mediocrity will lead to bankruptcy or a brand on life support.

I realize there's a tidal wave of blogs, articles and columns about the changing marketing landscape. But where are the real-life implementations? Where are conversational web pages? Brands still think they know what consumers want and how they want it.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not doubting the change that's happening right now. And I don't doubt that only brands that adjust to the age of conversation will survive and prosper.

I'm just worried about some brands who are not even close to making a change. They will be left behind. And I will miss them.

We have come full circle

Markets used to be places to do business. Customers walked by stands or shops, listened to the sales people, negotiated and moved along. The market evolved, driven by the Industrial Revolution. The term 'Market' changed into a verb, customer became consumers and conversations became messages. Consumers and messages became replaceable.

As Doc Searls said: " There's no market for messages." And so marketing became a war: We focused on target audiences, ran campaigns, considered competitors enemies and developed strategies to beat them. The war lasted for decades and people got tired of it. 60 years of war will do that.

And so consumers decided to become customers again, they didn't want to rely upon corporations for information. Instead, they rely upon each other.
The TV Industrial Complex looks back longingly at the last decades. The masses have moved on. They've gone back to the market, have real conversations with real people and they want the marketers to listen.
Problem is, marketers are getting paid to talk. In these times, we should get paid to listen.

Easter Sunday

Yes, it's time the for the traditional Easter Egg Hunt, the Easter walk (must be the German in me) and an afternoon watching the Masters.
All of that is an important part of my life but there's another, more important story that will start to unfold tonight: The final season of "The Sopranos".

To honor the last season of HBO's "The Sopranos," comes this fan-created montage of the show's previous seven seasons.

Paul Gulyas and Joe Sabia from Los Angeles distilled 77 prior episodes into a manic and hilarious 7-minute video and uploaded it to YouTube. It's a spectacular example of citizen marketing from non-marketers who have a special sense of humor.

The New York Times gave the montage a very positive review and even Sopranos' creator David Chase gave his blessings.
A good opportunity to catch up on the Sopranos and enjoy the first of the last shows tonight.