In the Western world, we are all unwittingly novice marketers. Regardless of our native language, the secondary language we are most frequently exposed to is undoubtedly the language of Promotion.
By the time a child reaches the age of five, they are likely able to recite more advertising jingles than nursery rhymes and recognize more corporate logos than alphabets. This is hardly surprising, given the difficulty in distinguishing where a product ends and a global marketing campaign begins.
Consider a typical day in your life. In our marketing-driven society, the most valuable asset is Consumer Attention, and the relentless fight for our awareness bombards us every waking moment.
Instead of enumerating all the locations and methods marketers use to capture our attention, it would be more impactful to list the places and situations devoid of any marketing message. Spoiler alert: there are none.
One might think escaping into nature would provide a respite from this onslaught. However, the average person outfitted for an outdoor adventure is likely adorned with more corporate logos than a Nascar driver. Even their footprints may bear the mark of a shoemaker's logo.
The aim here is not to criticize this arguably greed-driven and spiritually void scenario, but rather to learn from it and hone our own marketing skills. For example, don't be deceived by the term 'junk mail' - it's a treasure trove of marketing insights. Gather it, study it, and ask others to save theirs for you, particularly those pieces they find most appealing or off-putting.
Then, deconstruct it.
By deconstruction, I mean attempt to understand the rationale behind every choice. Why this envelope? Why this headline? Why this message to this recipient?
The beauty of marketing is its transparency. If a strategy is effective, it's out there, in your face. If it's not, you won't see it again.
Make it a habit to deconstruct all the marketing messages you encounter throughout the day. Each of these messages cost someone money - they weren't just taking a wild guess.
That's not to say it's all good. In fact, you can learn just as much from poor or clumsy marketing as from the successful campaigns, so don't be too quick to dismiss the duds.
If marketing is indeed the West's second language, then fluency is simply a matter of honing your listening skills. Like any language, there's a science behind the art. Master the underlying structure, and the compelling headlines and catchy taglines will naturally follow.
