Everyone Is A Marketer

Have you ever purchased anything? Rhetorical question, I know. What was it that drove you to make that purchase? Why did you decide to spend your hard-earned money on that product or service?

At the root of each of those questions is my theory that everyone is a marketer, or at least could be, with a little thought. You see, all you need to do is simply reverse engineer the process through which you went to make any purchase you have ever made. Did you see a flashy ad on YouTube for those headphones you are rockin’ right now? Did a friend tell you about those awesome new running shoes that are light as a feather and feel great on the trails? Did you just instinctually pick up that jar of pickled jalapenos because the label looked cool and they were placed right at eye level at Whole Foods? Or were you raised in rural Georgia and everyone just owned a pick-up truck so when you went to purchase your mode of transportation you ended up with a 4-wheel drive beast?

Chances are no matter what or when you purchased something, whether it was yesterday’s lunch or your most recent family vacation, there were a series of events that lead you to make that decision.

That series of events IS marketing. You can easily reverse engineer that process and pull from it little nuggets of wisdom that more often than not, translate quite well into whatever campaign you and your company need to run in order to drive sales.

Not only does paying attention to the influential components of what leads you to make a purchase a great way to understand marketing and recognize when you are being marketed to they also provide insight into strategies that can help your company meet its goals.

One great example of learning from this process is a YouTube ad that keeps your attention long enough to actually watch it through to completion. If you watch YouTube as much as do, you have likely been served far too many ads, but from time to time those ads get and keep your attention long enough to actually watch the whole thing.

When a company is able to provide enough value or deliver a highly targeted ad based on your likes and interests it is much more likely to work. You watch the ad either because it was funny, captivating, informative, entertaining, or whatever, but then at the end of the ad, if you decide to take action in the form of a purchase, an email sign up, or any other form of “conversion” then you have just given yourself a key insight into what may work for you and your company.

If it got and kept your attention, drove you to action, and perhaps even a purchase, then you my friend now have a road map for selling your own product or service.

So I ask you to simply pay attention to what you respond to. What was it that got your attention, why did you end up making that purchase, or signing up for that thing? Simply spend a few minutes reverse engineering that process and bring that insight to your marketing team and get that promotion you deserve! 😉