They are really good at convincing their companies that if they stop marketing, everything will collapse.
I hate that I’m going to defend marketing here, but if they do stop marketing then things will collapse. Do I like marketing, personally? No. That’s why I got out of marketing and am becoming an elementary school teacher to help others rather than spit propaganda but I digress…
Marketing isn’t always about generating a sale. Many times its reach and brand recall. We’re a global economy now, so reach is massively important for survival. Stopping marketing limits who is exposed to your brand and the repetition makes your company synonymous with a product.
Why do we call tissues Kleenex? Why do we call cotton swabs a Qtip? Why do we call small sticky notepads Post-Its? Why do we call searching “Googling”? Why do we gravitate toward those brands even when cheaper and more generic options exist that are perfectly on par?
Making those brands the prime thing you think of when you use a specific thing so that no one thinks of using something else even when they have money. You want people to mention your product or think about it even if they aren’t buying it.
You’re drowning out the potential of your competition. That’s marketing, and if you stop then your competitor takes over or a small business won’t grow.
Why do we gravitate toward those brands even when cheaper and more generic options exist that are perfectly on par?
To be fair, there are plenty of people who specifically avoid those brands because they are more expensive and they know they can save money with cheaper alternatives, or because they can’t afford the name brand.
With that said, there are some times where the name brand does actually provide a superior product.
Yeah, everyone knows Coca-Cola. Nobody immediately goes out to buy some when they see the ad with Santa Clause and whatever, but the brand recognition is conditioned into pretty much everyone so you notice it in the store when you’re thinking of grabbing a cool beverage from the fridge.
It’s not even that good, but it’s the default.
You’re drowning out the potential of your competition. That’s marketing, and if you stop then your competitor takes over or a small business won’t grow.
Tbh, I don’t think it’s that powerful. I’ve been happily googling on DuckDuckGo for years, same as I have been using Post-its from all sorts of companies and in fact never from Post-it. I don’t think this brand is even available in my country.
I’ve been using “Tixo” for “sticky tape” even though the Tixo brand went out of business around the time I was born.
In fact, if a brand name becomes genericised, it loses its power. It stops being a brand and becomes a generic term for anything in that space.
Brand recognition also goes the other way. You know, like when you see a McDonalds and you instinctively go “Ugh, these asshats who keep wasting my time with always the same ad over and over again when I try to watch a youtube video.”
Intrusive ads don’t further positive brand recognition but instead cause brand fatigue.
Yeah, back when I still watched cable TV, Canadian Tire had a recurring character in their ads where some neighbours were talking about a problem and the Canadian Tire guy would pop in with how Canadian Tire had a product that could help with that very problem.
Sounded like a normal kind of ad, but the guy came off as so smug and corporate, he was pretty much in the uncanny valley with his behaviour. Trying to play the ad off as a natural conversation just came off as so fake and I hated the ads to the point where I boycotted the windshield wipers despite them looking like exactly what I wanted.
They weren’t, I’d later learn after enough time had passed after they fired the guy (because turns out I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stand him) and I decided they had learned their lesson. But the ads did more to drive me to other stores than help Canadian Tire’s business, even though they were already one of the default options (for those who don’t know them, they are a big box store that is like Home Depot plus car parts, outdoor sporting/camping/hunting, but minus a bunch of the hardware and any contractor focus).
ssladam@lemmy.world 1 day ago
As an engineer who hated marketing, started my own business, which subsequently failed due to my lack of understanding for the importance and proper execution of the marketing mission… I now have a deep respect, and appreciation of a well-run marketing function.
architect@thelemmy.club 1 day ago
I have a great business name and word of mouth carries me.
I feel like if you need marketing it’s because you have too many competitors all doing the same thing ie: no one needs your business.
Zacryon@feddit.org 1 day ago
If a business can not sustain itself without marketing, then the product is possibly not worth having.