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In our fast-paced world, the only constant thing is change. Does it have any effect on marketing principles?
Nowadays even the pace of change is increasing exponentially – but change never stops. It is relentless. It raises the inevitable question:
Has change affected the basic principles of marketing?
Our world is evolving at a scary pace. Barely two years ago, AI was something only available to big companies. Today, the average person can use it to entertain themselves, write stories or emails, and create tools for themselves.
Not to mention that much of it is available for free.
For marketers, the introduction of AI – and even (long before that) conditional logic in marketing systems, has created a world that our mentors would never have imagined in their wildest dreams.
Yet, here we are. We create SEO-optimized articles by typing a few words. We create videos with a few button clicks. We create AI generated images that look like they come from a fantasy movie by typing a few words.
And let’s not even get into bulk content creation using ChatGPT and Capcut…
On top of that, algorithms are changing – constantly. Google, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, TikTok…
Everybody is always working on making things better. The scary part is that, the more you already know, the better your next evolution will be. Right now, we know a lot (collectively). In fact, we have come to the point where we have so much data that we need AI to analyse and interpret it.
Needless to say…
Behavioral patterns are shifting as well. Barely two decades ago, some people still used dial-up connections. We used to be able to make a cup of coffee while a big page loaded.
Today, if your page is not fully loaded in two seconds or less, you risk losing visitors – and potential customers or clients.
The internet landscape is also shifting – continuously.
Aside from many print publications finding it harder and harder to survive (think newspapers…), online platforms come and go. Myspace had come and gone. Younger people started abandoning Facebook. Due to content restrictions, Tumblr lost a huge portion of its users. Twitter took huge knocks when Musk decided to go all out on free speech.
(many of his big advertisers canceled)
The same goes for advertising platforms. Over the years, we have seen several big ones fading away, and new stars rising in their place.
But before we can answer the original question, we have to consider:
What is the basic logic of marketing?
Note: Not advertising, but marketing.
This includes:
Getting exposure.
Getting people to know, like and trust you.
Building a brand.
Let’s go into more detail…
1. Getting exposure:
The delivery systems have changed, and the economics around it have changed. But the principle still remains the same – go where there are many people who would be interested in your offer, and go and place yourself in their way.
Two decades ago we still had bulk snail mail and plenty of print advertising providers.
Today, we have sequential email marketing systems with conditional logic, some even managed by AI. We have social networks and search engines that reach most of the world’s population. We have pay per click ads, pop ads, push ads, native ads, newsletter ads, solo ads, influencer ads, proximity ads, interstitial ads, native ads and display ads, to name the most common ones.
And let’s not forget retargeting ads, AI chatbots, messenger bots, and the (presently) ignored fact that we now have access to our own websites.
If you know where to look, you can buy advertising with a budget as low as 10 USD. Fair enough, you cannot get much for that money, but that is the minimum ad spend deposit.
Compare that to say, thirty years ago, when it was either print ads, radio/TV ads, or bulk snail mail. The barrier to entry used to be a lot higher.
However, despite all of the changes, the basic principle of getting exposure remains the same. Granted, the lower barrier to entry means there is a lot of competition – but on the flip side, we now have so many channels that were never available in the past.
Not to mention that we also have Youtube, which is – for most marketers – a goldmine of information on getting exposure.
So, what has changed?
Better: More opportunities for exposure, many new advertising channels and formats. The ability to RETAIN your exposure – by using mailing lists and newsletters, push notification lists,
Worse: More competition, and more “noise” you need to cut through.
2. Getting people to know, like and trust you:
This one is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it is a LOT easier to reach people than it used to be. You can build an audience on any (or every) social network, and/or build a mailing list of prospects – and send enough value content for people to realize that you know what you are doing, and you are someone they can trust.
On the other hand, it is just as easy for unhappy clients or customers to reach your potential clients or customers. Nowadays, if people are unsure about whether they can trust you or not, they do a Google search…
And they find reviews from Yelp and Google, as well as social media posts, forum posts and blog comments.
Three decades ago, it was harder to build a good reputation, but it was not as easily damaged. Today, it is easier to establish yourself as an expert on what you do, but if you mess up, people will know about it immediately.
3. Building a brand:
A few decades ago, building a brand was something that you did through direct contact and advertising. It either took a lot of money, or plenty of time – unless what you did was exceptional, and people started talking about you.
Today…
Anybody who understands how online marketing works, and who is willing to put in the reps, can build a brand. If you are on a tight budget, but have the time to do it, you can do it for free (aside from the cost of your domain and hosting for your website).
However, today, more than ever, people want to see they are dealing with a brand they can trust – whether it be a personal brand or a business brand.
In conclusion:
While some things (in marketing) have become harder than before, others have become easier. But despite all of the changes, all of the new things we have access to, and a drastically changed delivery system, the basic principles of marketing still stand:
People need to know about you.
They need to know they can trust you.
And then you need to serve them so well that they tell their peers/friends about you.
Yes, behavioral patterns have changed. Expectations have changed. Where people hang out, and how they communicate has changed. But essentially, marketing still relies on the same principles as always.
We just know more now about how to implement them.