Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit [Hardcover]

 

 

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Dr. Philip Kotler is one of the world's leading authorities on marketing.

In Marketing 3.0, he describes the evolution of marketing from 1.0 (product-based) to 2.0 (consumer-based) to 3.0, a holistic approach recognizing that people are more than mere consumers: they are multi-dimensional human beings with values, aspirations and hopes for the world, or at least for their own corner of the world.

Marketing 3.0 looks at how values-driven marketing is deployed, and how it impacts not only customers, but also employees, channel partners and company shareholders.

Whereas in the past a company's positioning, the singular idea it projects in the minds of consumers was sufficient to capture market share, with the avalanche of information available instantaneously on the Internet, and P2P communication among consumers, the bar has been raised considerably for marketing.

Consumers who are uninterested in you can easily avoid you and give their business to countless other companies; consumers who may be interested in you want more than just a simple idea: they want to know and be able to participate in the creation of a company's vision, mission, values and even the products themselves.

Kotler describes the three stages in the relationship between marketing and values: 1) Marketing vs. Values - values are seen as extra costs and constraints; 2) Balance of Marketing and Values - business as usual, but some corporate philanthropy takes place; and finally 3) Integration of Marketing and Values - the company lives its values in a transparent way throughout the organization and in its interactions with customers, channel partners and the world as a whole.

While the broad strokes of Marketing 3.0 are hard to disagree with, many of Kotler's specific observations are debatable, to say the least. For example: "Because social media is low-cost and bias-free, it will be the future for marketing communications." In fact there's no free ride, not even in social media, and as Altimeter Group has observed, the companies most successful in social media are devoting significant financial resources to it. And bias-free? Many observers would say that there is far more bias in social media than there ever was in traditional advertising.

Kotler concludes the book with "The 10 credos of Marketing 3.0":

1. Love Your Customers, Respect Your Competitors
2. Be Sensitive to Change, Be Ready to Transform
3. Guard Your Name, Be Clear About Who You Are
4. Customers Are Diverse, Go First To Those Who Can Benefit Most From You
5. Always Offer a Good Package at a Fair Price
6. Always Make Yourself Available, Spread the Good News
7. Get Your Customers, Keep and Grow Them
8. Whatever Your Business, It is a Service Business
9. Always Refine Your Business Process in Terms of Quality, Cost and Delivery
10. Gather Relevant Information, But Use Wisdom in Making Your Final Decision

That pretty much sums it up. In others words, nothing too controversial, but nothing groundbreaking either. All of Kotler's key points in Marketing 3.0 could easily fit into a journal or magazine article.

Marketers who are looking for cutting-edge thinking may want to take a pass on Marketing 3.0, and spend their money on more groundbreaking books that have been released recently, such as the ARF Listening Playbook by Steve Rappaport (2010) or Engage by Brian Solis (2010).

Marketing 3.0 is about a transition from 1.0 - product marketing - to 2.0 - information technology/knowledge-based economy - to a holistic approach, which includes the customer as a human. Now don't let that steer you away from the book - Kotler makes his case without a granola-bar and pair of Birkenstocks.

His main argument is that along with traditional aspects like price and quality, a consumer's purchase decision now encompasses the idea that business must contribute to society. He uses case studies involving major corporations to illustrate how sustainable business practices have helped positively affect both the world and their P&L, sometimes by expanding emerging markets as well as helping their brand reputation in matured markets.

The book is, for the most part, pragmatic in its ideas although it sometimes borders on the idyll. Kotler genuinely believes that true marketing is fair marketing even if some like Seth Godin would sometimes disagree.

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