You may remember that I previously wrote a post titled “What the Eff is Marcom” a while back, which Andrew Swenson then kindly followed with a guest post describing his thoughts on Marcom. He and I have recently been discussing marketing, and he sent me a nice little email that I’m going to repost below without his permission (better to ask forgiveness right?) followed by some of my thoughts. I took the liberty of bolding sections that I thought deserved bolding.

Before all that fun happens though, I find it interesting that we, even as professionals, throw around these terms without being able to succinctly and accurately tell people what exactly marketing, public relations, branding, etc. is and instead usually respond with an evasive, “Well, it’s difficult to explain.” Sure we can pull out our old class notes, do a quick search on Wikipedia, phone a friend, but I think before you ever try to act like you know anything about the world that is promoting a brand, you must be able to describe what you do without referencing an index card or an agency’s slogan.

Andrew says…

“I’ve written and deleted this four or five times. I don’t want to over-complicate this, so I think rather than try to bury myself in marketing theory, I’d describe my personal ethos behind the marketing function. Maybe I’m naive here, but I think that each organization’s (and probably each marketer’s) understanding of their role and function is different.

I see marketing as expression of brand through effective communication. That expression, of course, finds itself iterated most often in the four Ps we all talk about.

But beyond guiding and shaping product, place, promotion, and price, I believe that the marketing function is primarily about people.

All of the brand research I do, all of the sales history analysis I do, all of the product guidance and innovation I do as part of the traditionally defined “marketing function” doesn’t mean anything if I can’t deliver something that adds value to a person’s life. So what’s my function? Find a product that will add value to someone’s life, price it so they can afford it, place it where they can find it easily, and promote it so they understand why it will add value to their lives (this may include social channels, whatever…).

So for me, the marketing function is primarily about communicating the benefits of a product and backing that up with a product that actually delivers on those marketing promises.

Of course in the end, the goal of the marketing function is primarily transactional. I’ve gotten slammed by PRs who feel that they have a higher calling to focus more on “relationships” than transactions. But they really go hand in hand. The goal of relationships between brands and customers should be for brands to prove they can make good on their promises (thus fueling transaction).

But I don’t think that the goal of transaction should ever, ever, ever outweigh the importance of adding value to people’s lives. If it does, then I’m just a big marketing douchebag running another marketing douchebag blog.

I guess that’s why I’m so interested in empowering consumers through connection. It shouldn’t be about which company can build the highest walls around their garden, it should be about consumer choice, which, I think, will keep all of us honest in the long run.”

—

On the tails of this email comes a discussion I had with some friends last night about the well-known distrust of marketing, public relations and advertising professionals. We are labeled(often rightly so) as liars, manipulators and douchebags. (I’ll save my personal branding discussion for a more ranty post). I think what separates the liars from the genuine advocates is motive. We all want to sell more, bottom line, but what are you trying to get consumers to buy, the way you do that and how is what matters. Side note: Lately I find myself gravitating away from communicating with words and more to communicating with design. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. But that is branding, and branding is another post for another day.

So, what do I think marketing is? The picture to the side is a classic representation of the four that I find pretty accurate. I also agree with Andrew’s eloquent definition, but I’ll modify that by saying, “Ultimately, I think marketing is simply an avenue to sell a product or service. Let the customer know about it, let them know why they should buy it and facilitate a positive experience in the process. If that doesn’t happen, then you have failed.” Say what you want about SM and the works, it’s usually about ROI. If your business isn’t making money, then it won’t make it. And if marketing isn’t contributing to the bottom line, then the department won’t last, no matter how pretty the pictures, words, relationships are. Call me old fashioned. And don’t throw your awareness BS at me, that too is eventually about the bottom line.