interimsmanager Marketing is misunderstood

Marketing is misunderstood and far maligned. The industry is dogged by pejorative associations with concepts like 'spin', 'hype', 'gimmick' and 'ploy', and it's also normal for fellow board members to consult the marketing director
as 'the chief flower arranger'.

Therefore it's perhaps no real shock that after times get tough, marketing gets it from the neck from governments too. Marketing can be regarded as a realtor of consumerism, and it's, therefore, an apparent scapegoat for major societal problems for instance obesity, binge drinking, climate change and debt. It is less of a challenge for governments to publicly 'punish' marketers with legislation that restricts their license to perform, than it is for anyone governments to tackle some of the issues themselves. Marketing and democracy provide similar benefits, when i and my fellow author Katherine Jocz outline in Greater Good - How good marketing creates better democracy (Harvard Business School Press, February 2008). One example is, marketers give consumers information and choice, they seek to engage those to earn their loyalty, they struggle to get quality and innovation towards the masses. Marketing also provides 'social glue' via successful exchanges, and improves living standards and consumer wellbeing. Similarly, democracies depend on informed citizens participating in the political process and making choices among political alternatives.

In addition they promote the welfare off citizens, which results in improved prosperity. But marketing provides multiple advances over democracies at providing these benefits. For instance, while consumers available world 'vote' each day with the cash tills, citizens need to subsume their individual preference into a collective will, and take in the policies with the party that has been elected. Marketing is also quicker than democracy to identify and embrace new trends, while strong brands can forge the amount of long-term loyal relationships making use of their people that politics, featuring its mass market approach and deficiency of any real competition, is only able to think of.

Marketing is also being used to be a force for social good - witness ever rising use of Fairtrade goods along with the commitment to tackling java prices by brands including Marks & Spencer. Indeed, you could possibly believe that the practice we have as consumers on a daily basis in the commercial marketplace causes us to be better, smarter citizens - that could be why our politicians are often this sort of disappointment to us. The real difference in how politicians and brands 'advertise' themselves is further evidence marketing's more highly evolved status.

Brand advertisements knocking competition are frowned upon in the industry world - marketers recognize that a tit-for-tat war of words turns consumers off the category in its entirety - however are par for any course in politics. The penalties of your approach were obvious in the US Democratic race, where Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama took every probability to undermine each other's credibility. Their subsequent efforts to give a united front against Republican John McCain in the Presidential campaign were met with understandable cynicism.

The time is right governments, NGOs and also the public sat up and recognised the positive social and economic impacts marketing sports society all together. It contributes significantly to economic development, such as. In the usa alone 17 million people hold marketing, sales and customer-service jobs. Marketing will also support the pillars of democratic society. It funds our diverse media, like the internet, giving citizens usage of info on people in politics, policies and programmes. And marketing knowhow helps public policy makers change citizens' behaviours by, for example, encouraging seat-belt use, good nutrition and responsible drinking. So rather than treating them merely interimsmanager as taxpayers, donors and voters, politicians should treat citizens along with marketers treat their clientele. They might improve democratic process therefore.