What the f*ck is marketing?

Hey folks, I’ve been a bad boi lately with writing this newsletter… so here’s something I’ve been pondering about. Thanks all for letting me into your crowded inboxes.

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I generally hate the term marketing.

I think people’s general perception of what “marketing” is, is fundamentally wrong and overly simplified.

People think:

• Ads (whether digital, TV, or billboards).

• Making stuff up to get them to buy stuff they don’t need.

• SEO (which doesn’t help that it’s such a scam filled industry)

I was one of these people.

I started my career as a mechanical engineer and self-taught programmer. I HATED the idea of marketing—as many engineers do. Because they think of the above.

“A good product is what matters. Marketers just deceive people to buy bad products.”

What marketing actually is

Now that I’ve been in marketing for 6 years, I like to define marketing as “stuff you do to make a company grow.”

Sadly, the term growth or growth marketing was used for this, but growth marketing has slowly shifted to being conflated with “performance marketing” or being excessively focused on data-driven decisions or growth hacks. So again we must rethink the term “marketing” itself.

Examples of “stuff you do to make a company grow” could literally be:

#1. Putting a couch in a shoe store. It allows people to comfortably try shoes on so they’re more likely to buy them.

This is called “objection handling.” Figuring out what objections a lead may have and getting rid of it.

#2. Making a killer product.

Sure, it’s not marketing, but a really amazing product can get people to market it for you. They become evangelists for your product just by loving it.

#3. Adding quirky easter eggs into your product or funnel to delight users.

Like how Duolingo gets you to translate really weird sentences so it both delights you (making learning more fun) and so that you’re more likely to share it with others.

#4. Vertically integrating your business.