Thursday, November 11, 2010

A marketer inside me?

Statement 1: How many times have you ended up cajoling people to do what they, probably, did not intend to?
Statement 2: The 'people' here are your family and friends.

My question is simple. Am i 'marketing' here?

Marketing, despite being a phenomena of more of educating someone towards a mutual benefit, has become a comparatively dirty terminology. I use the term 'Dirty' deliberately. Lets face it. People are getting smart, and their smartness allows them to use their oratory skills very effectively. While these skills are used for professional transactions, they are said to have created a good deal. But as soon as someone starts to stamp such skills with everything but your professional transactions of life, that`s where it starts to get dirty.

Putting your point of view in front of friends - becomes marketing.
Telling them reasons to believe it - becomes marketing.
Even having the last word in a fight with a friend - becomes marketing. Damn it!

Living a role of a Marketer in professional life and carrying your personal self away from the taboo meaning of it, can be a difficult reality. You want people to take you seriously, after all!

So where should the line be drawn? Or more importantly perhaps, can a line be drawn ?

I personally think its more to do with the perception; perception of them, perception of us, everyone.
Cognition is a very interesting science. Cognition towards something may be partial, may be not. And these perceptions are often based on such partial - not so partial cognitions.

The above three lines are a perfect example of why, the marketers are perceived to be marketing among family and friends too. The clarity of thought, or your message, lacks. More so, because while talking to such people, you are always at ease- Which brings us to the next, even more scary, question, -

Should a marketer (by profession) be very straight forward to their loved ones? Do your people like it like that at least? Do they like to hear whats always true? Run on the chariot of your imagination, and you`d know what i`m talking about.

I do not intend to find answers to any of these questions. They are not even questions. They are just the prominent ironies of life, which i have just started to realize more intently now. I know there are zillions of such people who have the same questions hidden in their chest. Some of them try to show it, some of them don`t. 

So where should we draw the line? Or again, Is there any line?

1 comment:

  1. love the thought behind this.. I believe that a marketer is a marketer but every human carries "his brand" with him too. So if person A is someone who has a reputation of being "selfish" or self-centric, then no matter what his profession is, he would always be considered "selling" his idea to others.

    On the other hand, a marketer, who is "ethical" in his conduct professionally & personally, would always have a good market perception @home and @work.

    So I would say Yes, there is a line, and that line is our self-conduct at personal level and professional level..

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