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Blinkist: Serving curious minds.

What’s in it for me? Learn about


marketing strategies that will work
with modern-day consumers.

Marketing seems easy today. You can enhance any


photo into an advertisement with a few clicks, using
a run-of-the-mill image processing program; you
can use social media to spread your sales message
around the world in a few seconds, with no printing
or postage involved; and there’s decades’ worth of
marketing research all translated into easy rules,
ready for you to implement.

But here’s the bad news: while your knowledge has


increased and those technologies have gotten better
and better, your prospective clients have changed,
too! Consumers are bombarded with shiny images
and catchy slogans. They have become wary of false
promises, and they’re no longer passive consumers
of media – they want to participate. If you don’t
engage them, they’ll simply stop listening!

Old-fashioned marketing is ill-equipped to deal


with today’s smart and socially conscious clients.

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Blinkist: Serving curious minds.

Reading through these blinks, you’ll learn about a


new kind of marketing, Marketing 3.0 – the only
kind that will work with your modern clients.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why an American grocery store chain educates


every cashier about gourmet food;
why creative folks are making the life of
marketers all the more challenging; and
how bad-tempered actors playing Goofy might
raise questions about Disney’s integrity.

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Advertising was transformed


when consumers began
participating in the design
process.

Remember the ‘80s? Back then, our relationship


with entertainment media was different than it is
today. It was something you passively consumed.
Especially with activities like watching TV, the only
“active” part usually involved snacking on some
peanuts or popcorn.

In those days, the distinction between the media


and the masses was clear-cut, which made
marketing a breeze. Marketers just had to explain
how great their product was, and people would
listen.

But things are different these days.

Widely accessible technologies have transformed


media sources into networks of exchange. People
don’t sit idly by and consume their news, ideas and
entertainment. Instead, they actively create them,
marking our time as the age of participation.

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Two main factors account for this shift: first,


technologies have emerged that allow us to connect
and interact with others quickly and easily; second,
these technologies have become much cheaper with
the growth of open source sites. As a result,
practically everybody can afford to participate.

Especially through social media, the internet has


transformed participation. But social media can
itself be broken down into two categories.  

The first is called expressive social media and


includes blogs, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and
other channels through which people share their
personal views. The second is collaborative social
media, which uses open sourcing, meaning it can be
developed and changed by almost anyone. A well-
known example is Wikipedia.

The rise of social media in general has also


transformed advertising. Consumers now tend to
trust the people in their social networks more than
advertisers.

As a result, classic advertising methods are losing


influence and more companies are focusing on
social media. In fact, collaborative social media has
opened up new ways to win over customers because

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it allows consumers to develop products using


shared platforms provided by companies.

For instance, through its open innovation program,


Connect + Develop, Procter & Gamble enlists its
customer base in the product design process.

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Creative people are shaping


society and companies should
attend to their needs.

New forms of advertising are marking the


emergence of a new economy, in which an
increasing number of people work in the creative
sector as filmmakers, writers, website designers and
so on.

While these creative workers still represent a


relatively small sector of society, they exert
considerable influence through their lifestyles and
opinions. In addition, these consumers have
sophisticated desires that demand a new approach
to business and marketing.

In this sense, creative people flip Abraham


Maslow’s hierarchy of needs on its head.

According to Maslow, humans’ needs can be divided


into levels. The most basic need is for survival, then
safety, then love and belonging. Next comes
boosting one’s self-esteem or ego, and last is self-
actualization. A need higher up on the pyramid can

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only be satisfied once the one below it has been.

For example, someone who is incredibly hungry


might steal or lie to obtain food, even if doing so
hurts their self-image. Their base need for survival
overpowers their need for self-esteem.

The thing is, the pyramid doesn’t hold up when


applied to creatives. For them, making the world
better while finding meaning, happiness and
spirituality are stronger drives than the lust for
material possessions.

This is significant because the opinions of creatives


guide the ideas and desires of others, especially
through their use of social media. So, as a
corporation, it pays to avoid making enemies of
creative people, such as by avoiding poor business
practices or products that can land you in trouble.

On the other hand, it’s always beneficial to offer


something that strikes a chord with the values and
spiritual inclinations of creatives. If you can, you
should carefully communicate it through marketing
campaigns and follow through with it in your
actions.

The changing nature of consumers means


marketing needs change too. But what are the

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founding principles of Marketing 3.0, the marketing


style of the future?

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Modern marketing embraces


everything that makes us human.

A useful way to look at our existence as humans is


to view us as comprising four basic components: a
physical body, a rational mind that analyzes the
world, a metaphorical heart at the center of our
emotional needs and responses and, finally, the
soul, our spiritual center.

Each of these fundamental elements has its own


needs, and successful marketing means appealing
to these needs. However, traditional marketing only
actually targets two of the above components.

First, it appeals to the minds of customers with a


clear brand identity. This happens when marketers
find a way to insert their brand into the minds and
memories of their customers. In saturated markets,
achieving this requires companies to stand out,
while also remaining relevant to their customers’
rational needs and desires.

Second, traditional marketing works hard to evoke


emotions through the brand being marketed. To do
this, marketers develop an excellent brand image.

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In ideal cases, this image goes straight to


consumers’ emotional needs. Think of a pair of
shoes made by a prestigious brand; these can satisfy
a customer’s need for status or importance.

But Marketing 3.0 helps you go further by doing all


of the above, while also targeting a third aspect: the
soul.

How?

By establishing brand integrity, a state you can only


establish by building trust for your brand and
working in accordance with the values
communicated through your brand identity and
image. These three aspects together make up the 3i.

You can achieve the missing objective of integrity by


proving that your company is capable of keeping its
promises.

For example, Timberland is a company that applies


3i. Its brand identity is of a socially responsible
outdoor apparel manufacturer, and it stays true to it
with a program called “Path of Service,” which gives
paid time off for employees to volunteer in their
communities.

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A company can demonstrate its


commitment by defining a
mission, vision and values.

You know that lots of people are interested in


making the world a better place while satisfying
their spiritual desires, which means companies
must demonstrate nobler goals. But how can you
get started?

The first step for every business is its mission.


Management legend Peter F. Drucker once said that
businesses should plan based on their missions, not
their financial goals. When you speak about a
corporation’s mission, you give it a reason for
existing in the first place – a base purpose. For
instance, in the case of Timberland, their mission is
“to make it better.”

But after the mission comes the vision, which is all


about the future. In contrast to the mission, which
has its roots in a company’s beginnings, the vision
is like a beautiful home at the end of a long road. It
represents future goals and guides your strategic
direction like a compass.

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But however distinct a company’s vision is from its


mission, the former is still based upon the latter.
Thus, whatever a company states as its basic
business model will determine its ongoing strategy.
For instance, Timberland’s corporate vision is “to
be a twenty-first century example for socially
responsible corporations around the world.”

Once a company has a mission and a vision, its next


step is to define the values that will guide its
everyday activities. You can think of these as a
corporation’s institutional standards of behavior –
but what are values exactly?

Values are articulated priorities that guide the


behavior of employees and which benefit the
company as a whole. Timberland took a
straightforward approach to its values by defining
them as “Humanity, Humility, Integrity and
Excellence."

These three aspects are essential to every company,


and they can make a huge difference on the path to
gaining customers, employees and shareholders.

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Define a mission that transforms


people’s lives and tell it with a
gripping story.

Letting customers know that your company works


for great things is vital, and the tool to get you there
is a powerful mission that is well communicated.
Here’s how to make it happen:

First of all, your mission should involve presenting


something that transforms your customers’ lives. To
that end, it’s essential that companies work hard to
produce innovative ideas that can truly make a
difference.

For instance, Google set out to make all the


information in the world organized and accessible.
Their path to doing so was a continuous reinvention
of the concept of a search engine from 1998
onward. In the process, they earned themselves a
spot in the dictionary, becoming synonymous with
the act of searching for information on the internet.

Google radically transformed the way people find


information, and that’s what Marketing 3.0 is all

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about – improving the lives of consumers.

But having a mission isn’t enough; it’s also


important to build a compelling narrative around it.
For that, you need a brand story composed of three
elements: character, plot and metaphor.

First, a brand becomes a character when it


represents something good valued by society. An
example would be Disney, which represents family
ideals.

Then, to make that character relevant to the lives of


customers, it’s necessary to have a captivating plot.
One strategy is to use a challenge plot, a story in
which your brand battles a stronger opponent and
wins.

For example, The Body Shop tells the story of


farmers in developing countries who are engaged in
the struggle for fair trade.

But to really get your narrative talking, you’ll need


to employ some of the metaphors that always catch
people’s attention, like balance, connection and
control.

Take control, for example; people are drawn to it


because it helps reduce fear. A person might be

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scared of pandemics, a fear that pharmaceutical


companies can address by describing how the
human immune system can deal with a dangerous
situation on its own – just as long as you have been
vaccinated.

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Authentic values help you attract


stellar employees who will happily
deliver your values to customers.

Imagine your family is spending the weekend at


Disneyland. Your kids desperately seek out Goofy,
their favorite character, but are sorely disappointed
to find him, or rather the actor who plays him, to be
gruff and rude. What happened? Isn’t Disney
supposed to be the most fun and kid-friendly place
on Earth?

This is a great example of how corporate values only


appear to be authentic if they’re shared by
employees and reflected in the corporate culture. If
your company claims to hold a certain value, like
being family friendly, but doesn’t reflect it through
corporate practices, your employees and customers
are sure to notice.

For instance, a company that gives money to family


support projects would look pretty hypocritical if a
former employee told the press that she was fired
after becoming pregnant.

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So, to build a great corporate culture, you first need


to compare your corporate policies with your
company’s core values and address any
discrepancies. Then, you need to identify practices
that connect your values with concrete actions.

Why?

Because companies with strong values find it easier


to attract talented and motivated employees, and
hold a competitive advantage when searching for
talent. Furthermore, employees that work for a
company they identify with are much more
motivated and therefore more productive.

In fact, employees who live by the values of their


companies make fantastic brand ambassadors.
Whenever employees interact with customers, they
build the brand’s public image. Therefore, the more
they represent corporate values, the better.

For example, the American grocery store chain


Wegman’s says it knows food better than anyone. In
support of that image, every employee who
interacts with customers is required to be extremely
knowledgeable about food. To ensure this, the chain
offers extensive food-related education programs to
everyone that works there.

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There are economically sound


reasons to adopt a sustainable
vision and convince your
shareholders of it.

It can be tempting to go for short-term profits to


satisfy your shareholders, but you’re much better
off resisting the urge. After all, short-sighted
management is harmful.

Short-sighted management decisions damage your


company’s long-term prospects, along with its
stakeholders, who are the people your company
affects, like its employees, neighbors and the
general public.

This reality became abundantly clear during the last


major financial crisis and the collapse of banks like
Lehman Brothers. In fact, the entire economy
tanked because companies were opting for risky
tactics that brought short-term profits.

A better strategy is to build a sustainable vision for


your company and convince your shareholders that
it works. In the end, a company’s value is mostly

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determined by its future performance and that


performance is based on its corporate vision.
Therefore, your vision needs to address
sustainability.

For instance, as resources grow scarcer, they


become more expensive. So, the only companies
capable of thriving in the future will be those
capable of accessing a sustainable supply of
resources, such as by investing in a solar energy
station.

But once you’ve built a sustainable vision, it’s


essential to convince your shareholders of it; for
them, there are three advantages of sustainability
that will be the most persuasive. Above all,
shareholders care about income, and you’re best off
showing them the three ways that sustainable
production increases revenue:

First, it reduces costs by consuming smaller


quantities of expensive resources like gas, while
producing less waste. In turn, this eliminates the
need for high-cost waste removal.

Second, there’s a huge demand for ecologically-


responsible products. In fact, according to Forrester
Research, 73 percent of customers find
environmentally-conscious brands desirable.

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Naturally, higher demand – and more customers as


a result – means higher revenues and lower
advertising costs.

Third, sustainable practices improve a company’s


reputation and brand reputation can have a clear
financial impact.

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Final summary

The key message in this book:

Consumers have changed; they’re no longer passive


receivers of entertainment and information. The
modern consumer interacts, shares her opinions
and has sophisticated needs that every company
must take into account. The changing tides of
consumption warrant a new approach to marketing:
Marketing 3.0.

Actionable advice:

Instead of simply donating money, link your


product to a valiant social cause.

A great strategy to prove the ethical responsibility


of your company is to link a social cause directly to
your product, a concept called cause marketing.
While you may think that donating money to a good
charity is enough of a sign of goodwill, cause
marketing proves even more effective because it
demonstrates the energy you’ve committed to a
project. For instance, Whole Foods ran a campaign
in which they gave every customer a token to insert

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into a box labeled with the local charity of their


choice. All the tokens represented cash that would
then be donated to each of the organizations.

Suggested further reading: Permission Marketing


by Seth Godin

Permission Marketing confronts the conflicts and


challenges that modern marketers face in the digital
age and offers a viable alternative. It explains how
the advertising landscape is filling up and how this
makes traditional advertising ineffective. The
author suggests that smart marketers no longer
simply interrupt consumers but invite them to
volunteer their time and become active participants
in the marketing process.

Got feedback?

We’d sure love to hear what you think about our


content! Just drop an email to
remember@blinkist.com with the title of this book
as the subject line and share your thoughts!

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