The Marketing Function and How We Get You
Will Kirksey
When I think about marketing, and what or whom I associate it with, one person comes to mind, the former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Mike Tyson. I remember him well. What do you remember? Is it the knockout power? The ferocious animalistic way he stalked his opponents and instilled fear in them. Let’s not certainly forget all those devastating knockouts he gave those other fighters. Those attributes make him one of the all-time greats. I would agree with you that those factors once you are in the ring with him. But that’s easy to identify. There are two important factors to consider when you talk about marketing a Mike Tyson fight. The work of marketing him was long before he got that fight. The first factor is selling you his overall personality. I mean his tagline was the “Baddest Man on the Planet.” His handlers sold you on previous footage of him fighting, his menacing looks, his socially unacceptable behavior, his trouble with the law, etc. Trust me, it’s all documented if you want to know more. The second factor is that the people who were targeted to market either have never seen a Tyson fight or are curious to see who he was. It doesn’t matter that he is a champion when there are other things to focus on. There is no need to target these fans because they already know what to expect. You may not pay for a ticket if you know the fight may end early. But that’s marketing.
What is Marketing? There are so many corporate and technical definitions of Marketing that you will start to feel they are marketing you to believe what it is. In my opinion of choice words, Marketing is designed to entice your curiosity to feed your belief. Imagine going on a first date with a woman, and she is not that interested in you but wants to have a good time. She will put on her finest make-up and her tightest blouse and shortest skirt. The whole night she is flirting with you, and you notice her blouse looks like it’s going to bust open. But it doesn’t. You also notice her skirt starts rising and she keeps pulling it down and you start getting excited. So, now the meal Is over, and she says she is ready to go home. So, you grab the check and happily pay for it. You take her home and you get as far as the front door, and she kisses you on the cheek and says, “Good night.’ That is a well-orchestrated marketed date. You have been sold on a perception or an assumption that you wanted something bad enough that you would be willing to pay for it without knowing if you would like it or if it’s even available. This trick may not work on a guy who has gone through this type of plan if he didn’t know her label (tease).
Marketing caters to everything but your intelligence. So, all your impulse senses along with anything that heightens your desires make you a true target. One of marketing’s strongest attributes is to create a “label” for a certain person, product, place, or thing. You are a type, You are considered more like to be what we think based on research, impression, attitude, gender, race, income, etc. Once again, since music is my bag from a record company standpoint and working mostly in hip hop, we already had the jump on the potential type of consumer that would likely buy this type of music. We already would compare it with artists that are similar and see how they are selling. We have an idea of target markets (cities) where this type of sound would do well. For example, we would look at
New York
New Jersey
*New England Area (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine) This is a major market due to the proximities of colleges in the areas
Philadelphia
Once again, do your research to find out other cities that are usually considered when it comes to our target markets. There are at least 20 initial cities we look to launch first to get the buzz started. Within those markets, we launch advertisements (tv and radio ads, local publications, and make sure records are on prime-time playlists through audience demand via contests, appearances, etc. The marketing mission is visibility and familiarity. Interest is the child of those two factors. So the more, it’s in your face, the more that we have planted a seed that you think you may want, even if you don’t. Marketing is a subtle magic trick that’s sold to you way before you see the result. It starts with the announcement of the magic trick. Followed by, getting you involved by asking you to look and pay close attention or picking a card, or asking for a volunteer. The whole time you are being misdirected and guided to where the magician wants you to look. Since the trick has been done so many times before to like-minded folks, the likely hood of you being amazed is in his favor.
In Conclusion, Marketing is a very dependable tool for skeptics and people who are extremely and could be anything from toys to drugs, “don’t do or stay away from campaigns.” So when people say they don’t know, that may not always be entirely true because at some point something familiar will be exposed and folks will act accordingly to that vulnerability.
