Working for Smiles We May Never See

I am convinced that marketing is fast becoming a science more than it is art. Marketing today, transcends creative ideas, fun photoshoots or glamorous events. Marketing is about extracting insights from customers and interpreting those into content that helps them find solutions easier. Marketing is about making it easier for people to find products and services they already want. Now, they may not want your exact product, in fact, they would not even know your product exists, but they want something — a sometimes unarticulated yearning at the sub-logical level and your job is to put the right product in front of them that has a decent shot at soothing this crave. Customers rarely wake up thinking about products, but they wake up with multiple darting currents of wants, firing in their brains: “I want to sleep better”, “I need to lose weight”, “I need a faster way to commute to work”, “I need to meet more singles in my area” and on, as a marketer these wants are your gifts — it is why we have a job and why we will keep having one. As a marketer your mantra should go beyond how well you can put words or graphics together or obsessing about sales numbers on the front end, I suggest that your mantra should be; people want things and my job is to put solutions in front of them. Marketing and the resultant sales is fundamentally a win-win-win for product teams, marketers and customers. Have you ever bought something that got you really excited; not just when you bought it but as you used it? That wireless podcast mic, the comfortable high heel shoes, the massage chair, anything? Customer excitement is the real ROI. Product effect on the customers life is why we do what we do. For example, you are the product marketer for a new mattress line, the customer now sleeps better, the back pain from 6 months ago is gone and they sometimes even wake up with a literal smile on their face, well you did good. As marketers we work for smiles we may never see, comments we may never hear and satisfaction we may never be able to quantify. But we know those micro interactions are happening and this give us a strong sense of purpose.

Cover image by: Obibini Kobby