“We drink the can, not the beverage,” says Seth Godin, the author of the book All Marketers Are Liars. The quote paints an apt picture of how a consumer’s mentality circulates around a product. After all, labels are the first thing that catches the eye rather than what’s inside. Marketing is the driving force of every industry, that creates a bridge between consumer needs and the industry that provides it to them. However, if you can’t make the customer believe in the product; the project is a definite train wreck.

There’s a lot of negativity that surrounds the word “marketing” to the general populous. It’s the idea that it tends to lure or blind people to buying something. But, if the ad’s good enough to make you buy the product, then it can be safely said that by principle the Marketing scheme has served its true purpose: to convince the customer to buy into the product.

Now we arrive to the most important question in the notion: What can you call “Good Marketing”? Most young people live under the assumption that marketing implies telling fibs and talking about a few benefits is all that requires one to sell a product to the fellow consumer. In my opinion, that really isn’t the case. Marketing means you have to tell a story, a story that makes you believe in the product to the point where your belief attracts a complete stranger to spend their dime. And it is only possible when you belong to the core belief you are trying to convince others to join as well.

We live in a world where people buy what they want, not what they necessarily need. Most of us have bought a designer piece of clothing, sportswear, device or even food from a certain brand, not because of the quality (which is something we keep telling ourselves), but because of the way it reflects our beliefs and view of the world. Apple is one of the top tech companies out there because the idea that they preached appealed to people. After all they ran an advertisement that just said, “If you don’t have an iPhone…well, you don’t have an iPhone”-now that’s good marketing.

Stories help us make sense of the world, so whatever we want to believe in, we end up doing so, because our brains start to support our beliefs, and not the other way around.

There is no easy way out to the nitty gritty processes that involve the story behind the product. It needs meticulous research, statistics and storytelling capability to make one good and convincing story of a product. Coca-Cola is a prime example of good storytelling. If you really think about it, even more than the beverage itself the company sells the catchphrase “Open Happiness” where their advertisements feature families coming together in joyous celebrations and bringing people together as a community. The company successfully paints the picture that family gathering means there will be a bottle of Coca-Cola ready to be enjoyed at the table and the reality isn’t far from such either.

Lastly, one needs to be vigilant in planning out the quest of one’s product. If you want to make a successful product, then you must make sure you not only believe in your own product but also strategize in a plan that wouldn’t make an average individual hesitate to buy the product.

The first time I went out to sell something I learned it the hard way that it’s not a cinch, it is important to communicate the things we believe to the people who believe the same, and one by one we become a fraternity. And as organization our job is to build a sense of trust in the fraternity by delivering product or service. Because when a group of people come together who have faith in each other, they always do remarkable things!

And that’s what great Brands are about, that’s what great marketers do!

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WRITER

MONSURUL AZIZ
Head of Enterprise Design, Toru Institute of Inclusive Innovation

Monsur has made it his mission to be a storyteller of the human experiences of engaging and inspiring. He strongly believes in the dormant potential of individuals to build solutions for the biggest challenges in society and create a better world. This can be unleashed with not just through inspiration, but collective cross-sectoral knowledge and skills sharing. As an innovator and entrepreneur, he uses Design Thinking processes to help create solutions and strategies. Through his work at Toru, he aspires to empower innovators and social entrepreneurs to scale their ideas into sustainable enterprises.