Marketing With Meaning

There’s a new evolution in marketing that’s about improving customers’ lives. It’s called meaningful marketing or marketing with meaning. Either way, the concept has been around for a while and we’ve been tracking its development. Unlike a fad, the mark of a trend is staying power. And we believe that economic and social forces are colliding to fuel the staying power of meaningful marketing. As this subject is much too large for one post, we’ll tackle it over time.

What distinguishes meaningful marketing from other forms of marketing?
“If direct marketing was about approaching strangers individually, and permission marketing was about turning strangers into friends and friends into customers, marketing with meaning is about improving customers’ lives through the marketing itself.” – Bob Gilbreath, The Next Evolution of Marketing

Why does it make business sense?
Meaningful Marketing not only improves customer’s lives, but according to research from Doug Hall, a longtime proponent of the practice, it also impacts the bottom line. Companies that practice meaningful marketing are twice as likely to deliver sustained success and four times less likely to require significant price discounting.

How do we market with meaning?
We stop interrupting people to tell them how great our products are and we start doing something to prove our greatness. At it’s core meaningful marketing is about creating value. And when we ‘Do’ versus ‘Declare’, we create more of it:

What’s fueling the need for more value?
Since the recession, value has been a consumer hot-button. Most everyone, even consumers in the luxury category, are looking for more value for their money.

Even though the global economy is pulling out of the recession, analysts predict it could be years before consumers recover; recessions triggered by financial crises tend to be followed by a recovery period as long as the recession itself. And if the jobs numbers don’t bounce back, as some analysts fear, recovery could linger. Value could be a strategic imperative with staying power.

If you’re interested in learning more about meaningful marketing, simply stay tuned. Up next, we’ll cover brands that are improving peoples’ lives in a meaningful way.

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I so love the sentiment of this article and really do hope that 'Marketing with Meaning' does take over. I hate, hate, HATE (!) sales / promotion type marketing but really love this notion that a brand or business should actually care about their customers, rather than just watching the bottom line.

I find that those who are most passionate about their product or service are usually the worst at bottom line thing - finding that balance is very difficult, but I really believe that 'Caring and Sharing' really is the best way to build your brand reputation and ultimately grow your business.

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