It was the last place you might expect to experience marketing in action but really, it should have been amongst the first.
When I think of the word “marketing” I think of companies such as Nike or Coca Cola. Companies with millions to spend on advertising. I think of acronyms like ABTL and AIDA. I think of (and this is probably where I’m completely alone) ads directed by John Woo and the high production values of London agencies.
I also think of Head First of course.
Every time I think in that way I know I’m making the same mistake many agencies make. The same mistake many marketing people make.
I’m thinking marketing is somehow a profession.
So back to the first place I ought to have expected to experience marketing in action.
Back to my local butchers.
At the weekend I had gone to buy a cow-full of meat for a barbecue. I needed just enough burgers to pay my way into the party and gain me access to whatever booze other people had brought along.
The butcher, however, had other ideas.
It began with a simple request: “let me just show you our special offer in the cake section”. After that I was hit with a fast patter of friendly sales talk, low key enough to not be pushy and yet slick enough to make me salivate with everything those cakes could offer me. He was friendly, he was chatty, he was inquisitive. He was more than counter staff, he was a marketeer.
Two minutes later I was walking out (after paying) with far more than I’d intended to.
And I felt great about it.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. These kind of shops, rare though they might me, are the heart and soul of what marketing is. True to the origins of the concept they remain rooted in the traditions of the ordinary market place. They are fuelled by the spirit of patter and bargains, of quick deals and friendly banter. They are expert in knowing the customer and adjusting their pitch to remain appropriate. In an age where marketing companies claim to herald a new age of social marketing, they practise it on a personal level the likes of which social websites spend millions of tech dollars trying to emulate.
If you ever want to write an ad or plan a marketing campaign, my advice is to butcher it.
