#SELLOUT: A New Way Of Marketing

Business Dictionary describes marketing as follows: “The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.” It explains marketing as taking the product and selling it to the customer. Though selling is not explicitly stated, it is obvious that selling can be considered part of the marketing function. As a marketer, this doesn’t come as a shock. Anyone in the marketing world is brought up to believe the holy grail of their industry is to sell products (at large amounts) as a direct result of their efforts and campaigns. Yet as a consumer, this terrifies and repulses me. It makes me feel like a number. It’s as if I’m merely another statistic for CMO’s to report to the boss. As if I’m stood with an apple on my head waiting patiently for the most accurate marketer to hit it. Surely this is wrong? The truth is, times are changing, as they always have done and they always will. And when times change, our mindsets have to change as well. Unfortunately, it seems the majority of marketers haven’t got there yet. I see so many of my tribe spout the latest buzzwords about customer engagement, or customer insights. Everyone claims that it should always be about the customer as a person, not a segment or a target market. We’re all unique and our marketing efforts should match that. So why has nothing changed? If you grill these marketers further, they will eventually concede that they still try the age old techniques, it’s just that they now dress it up as being more personal. They still create a sales funnel and try to cram as many people down it as they can. They still aim to convert. These people simply don’t get it. They don’t realise that customers are people, and we should treat them as we’d expect to be treated ourselves. This “Golden Rule” has endured since the dawn of man. It’s nothing new. But the marketing industry is too scared or lazy or stupid to embrace it. Rather than converting their leads, these marketers need to start converting themselves. Hopefully this book will lead the way.