Over time and with the complexity of human relationships, a person’s life is, for the most part, a continuous negotiation. Organized commercial companies, manufacturing or industrial firms, service providers, and other modern legal forms of organized economic activity shape a vast volume of transaction types on a daily basis.
The now-organized effort of a business to satisfy the needs and desires of its customers gave birth to Marketing. Using market research as a tool, it first seeks to understand the customer’s needs and desires and then to produce the products or services that satisfy them. Next, it must inform the customer about the features of the products or services produced. At this stage, the role of product advertising comes into play, while through distribution channels, products become available to the consumer public along with their sale price.
Trying to define Marketing, management guru Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” In other words, he meant that a company should understand the customer’s needs and desires so well that the product or service that suits them sells itself.
The skill of Marketing and the people behind it lies in creating a long-term relationship with customers, maintaining the high value of their products, while also gaining a competitive advantage over similar products.
In previous years, the purpose of marketing and advertising was clearly the increase of sales and profits. This purpose was pursued solely for profit, ignoring the human being, the personality as an entity that creates value, and treating them only as a consuming resource. Over time, however, and as a result of the continuous pressure for profit, societies began a major struggle to treat humans as a value-bearing element of society, as a link in a circularity that supports and sustains every society. Large companies realized—also under pressure from some NGOs and other organizations—that they cannot aim solely for profit but must also aim to deliver value to society. The reason is clear: resources are dramatically decreasing, leading to a drastic reduction in current production.
Thus, they began the so-called sustainable development and circular economy in order to correct the mistakes of the past. The dominant feature of this shift is the human being as a personality—not just as a resource that produces and consumes, but simultaneously lives with dignity and is happy.
Marketing moved in the same direction and evolved into Neo-Marketing.
New Marketing must be based on sustainable development. That is, any development must meet the current needs of today’s generations without endangering the prosperity of future generations or their ability to meet their own needs. The key to achieving this is the development of successful communication, primarily through empathy. That is, the development of emotional identification or understanding of others’ thoughts and behavior, leading to the building of mutual understanding and trust. Words like “I understand,” “I care,” and “I do not judge you” can easily “unlock” even the most demanding interlocutor.
The rapid and chaotic developments in the field of the global economy made it clear to people that beyond financial capital, there is also social, human, intellectual, and natural capital that create value and are assessed by the market. Traditional Marketing, therefore, which aimed at overconsumption that damaged the environment, is gradually being replaced by a model that respects sustainable development and seeks what is good for customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, and ultimately society. Marketing with such “high” goals ultimately contributes to the progress of the economy and society.
Therefore, New Marketing must contribute to the dissemination of the new principles of sustainable development and incorporate human values into its strategy. The need for health, safety, education, and social connection is now a necessary tool for businesses to gain the public’s credibility and trust.
