Marketing is about the Heart – not the truth!

Marketing = To Make Friends

Marketing is all about making friends.   A professor I had taught a class – in the class we had 3 text books – all Star Wars.   He started the first day of class locking the door five minutes before the class was due to begin – failing everyone that did not show up on time… (he was the Dean of the dept. after all so who is going to stop him?)   The rationale behind this move -   Anticipate what your customer wants before they know what they want.

This was perhaps one of the best lessons I ever learned.    His first lecture – his only lecture lasted about five minutes.  In it he defined marketing as ” To Make Friends”.  Further in the entire 5 minutes before reading Star Wars monotone – he stated “The only way to make friends is to be a friend.”

In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Nortin Hadler released his results from examining the stats associated with various medical procedures and interventions over the last thirty years.

His research stated that half the angina patients waiting for surgery got nothing but a cut in the chest – and the other half were given bypass.   The result of the placebo group -  the same as those who had the actual bypass.    Bypass is quite expensive, pretty risky – and has been known to have 1/3 of its patients suffer from memory loss and up to 50 percent to suffer from depression.   Interestingly enough the “pretend surgery” had the same end result for the study group -   The same improvements to their overall health.

The point here is simple -   It is all about the way you feel – not about the truth of what is really happening.   Marketing is all about making friends.  Red Lobster has only one state on their menu – Maine – and yet has no restaurants in Maine.   Paris Hilton makes millions using her name alone to sell perfume and other stuff – and yet … People attribute the name with quality -   They buy the story.   If I can be like her – If I can have that relationship – If I can be her friend… -

Its all about the Heart – even if the cut has nothing to do with the heart.   The reason the Hostmedic Agency does reviews is simple.    Marketing is a lie – Marketing is an easy way to say “I am lying…” and get paid for it.   Clear simple reviews allow the consumer the ability to purchase a quality product without needing to be worried.

Next time your on Buy.com or Amazon – fill in the review – you might just be passing on the savings to another consumer.