Marketing 3.0 - the book and a way of thinking - my key take away

In the last two years I have [had to] read many marketing books, text books and business advise books for my CIM post graduate marketing diploma and for my teaching. "Marketing 3.0" by Kotler was one of those I have read, and in fact I read it with a smile!

I smiled for a number of reasons, one because it was not written like a text book, it was easy to read, but also because it was a breath of fresh air compared with other business books on the market. Instead of bashing marketing professional in a patronizing way which many business books do, it gave marketers hope and a vision for their profession and for the future relationship between their company/brand and society.

My key takeway from the book is, that companies can't just market to consumers and customers any more - they need to serve human beings. Human beings with minds, hearts and spirits - who care about social, economic and environmental justice, and are searching more and more for experiences that touch their spiritual side. Companies need to touch consumers at a higher level than just product/service functional and emotional fulfillment. Marketing 3.0 requires a collaborative relationship between customers and the company, where trust is built over time through dialogue. Companies need to be honest, transparent, original and authentic. It requires a long term values driven approach from companies as opposed to a short term sales driven anxiety.


Numerous research reports/articles/books confirm the thinking expressed in Marketing 3.0:

• A Weber Shandwick "Company behind the Brand" survey concluding that "Leaders [and marketers] need to know how to do business in an environment where consumers are not just purchasing their products or services on their own merits, but are also shopping by company reputation [the parent behind the brand, what are their standards?]. The mounting convergence of brand and corporate reputation revealed in the study ushers in a new era for marketing." 
• Google's eBook on "The Zero Moment of Truth" concludes "The Zero Moment of Truth influences which brands make the shopping list, where shoppers choose to buy and with whom they share the results. It’s up to us [brands and marketers] to join the conversation at this new moment where decisions are being made, and to provide the information that shoppers naturally crave, in all the ways that they crave it."
• Harvard Business Review article "Rethinking Marketing" "In customer-cultivating companies they serve customers and customer segments and communication is a two way dialogue and individualized. More and more companies have access to rich data they need to make customer-cultivating strategies work. It requires transforming the marketing department into the customer department."
• Forrester's book the "Groundswell" "A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations"

I believe marketing is about cultivating customers and measurable marketing is about creating accountable marketing strategies that cultivate customers, that at the same time, make sense for the bottom line [plus double bottom line] and ultimately the long term success of a company. [Measurable marketing isn't simply online marketing, and counting leads, CTR's and numbers of FB fans!] Hence my belief in the thinking behind the book Marketing 3.0 - I would recommend it to all marketers and their MD's/CEO's, so they can get on the same page and embrace the Marketing 3.0 way of thinking, together.