A couple of years ago, I wrote a Marketing Manifesto for Nonprofits, including ten “truths”. In re-reading it, I realized something that startled me: I could have written the same piece thirty years ago and would hardly have to change a word.
Why is that? Because the fundamentals of marketing have not changed—ever. What has changed are the tactics to achieve the results we all strive for. Notably, of course, the world of digital is at the forefront in the way we deliver and measure our messaging.
Take Point #7—Have a Multi-Platform Strategy. Today, that might mean using social media, search and television. Thirty years ago it meant TV, radio, print and, say, direct mail. But the most effective campaigns—then and now—use multiple platforms for delivery of the messages. How about Point #6—People buy on emotion and justify on logic. Has that changed? No, it is built into the human condition. Consumers have to be excited on some level (utility, beauty, lifestyle fit—even price) before they’ll consider your product, and advertising is one way to create that emotion.
So, while digital, writ large, has had an incalculable impact on the way we market products and services, it’s only a tactic. Another immutable aspect of marketing—indeed, of business in general—is that companies/agencies who have the best people win. Always. Whether it was a Creative Director armed with an X-Acto knife and an easel or a digital manager with a keyboard, the most talented players on a talented, coherent team will always win. Especially if they follow the ten tenets outlined in the Marketing Manifesto.
Click here to read the original Marketing Manifesto.
For more content from Rob Whittle, check out his Mad Men Series:
Man Men Battle the Elements
A Mad Man Meets the President
Tales From a Mad Man
