Is there a place for art in marketing?
There is a belief that a marketer’s job is fun, artistic and creative. What the majority doesn’t say, is that artists engaged in marketing face a lot of restrictions dictated by the market and industry.
Help me, you’re a doctor/marketer
Recently I made my client laugh when I asked him to tell me everything and to hide nothing — as he would do at his doctor’s office. When a patient comes with an unobvious symptom (headache or fatigue), a good doctor won’t be able to state a diagnosis without making an examination. He has to study a case history and run some tests, because symptoms may be caused by various problems. For a quality job, a doctor needs complete information. Repairs in the patient’s home, that weren’t mentioned to the doctor, could be the reason for illness (a person could inhale vapors from varnish or paint).
If a doctor prescribes you treatment despite the fact that he sees you for the first time, he’s a bad doctor. If a marketer does the same thing, he’s a bad marketer. It’s a mistake to think that you can call your acquaintance doctor (or a marketer) any time, describe your symptoms in a few words and ask for a piece of advice that will immediately solve all problems.
I’m a creator, I see it this way
A typical problem for artistic people is that they try to create cultural values based on their own perspective. An author wants to take into account trends and tendencies, not to repeat anyone and do something really big and artistic. And in the non-working area, he may well do so.
But to achieve a quality result in advertising, boundaries are needed. The most advanced art in marketing are sales. It is an art to create a logo most suitable for the target audience that will bring good product sales. Even if beau monde considers your logo to be outmoded, uncreative and dull. This “dull” logo makes money, because for its target audience it’s great, modern and accurate. And the logo’s creator was able to consider the needs and preferences of the consumer.
“To give a client something he wants isn’t as important as giving him what he wants, but doesn’t know about it yet.”
Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg “How Google Works”
In marketing, art is always limited by the target audience. The aim is always to increase sales, directly or indirectly. It’s easy to create when there are no boundaries. It’s easy to fully express oneself. However, to create something great within the limits, to reach the defined goals — that’s a real win. In order to do so, one has to express oneself through the view of others, to feel their ‘pain points’ and needs, to understand their vision, and to pass it all through the prism of one’s high professionalism. This is the pinnacle of skill, and that’s the most fun part.
“Asymptote of excellence is a source of disappointment; why chase something you can never fully achieve? But it’s also a source of temptation; why not try? The whole taste lies in a pursuit itself, not in obtaining something. That’s why excellence attracts us — it always slips out of our hands.”
Daniel Pink “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”
Take a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. And now throw them in the trash. And take a calculator
Maybe that’s a little exaggerated, but the reality is the art in marketing does not start from a blank sheet of paper, but from Excel spreadsheets — graphs, summary data, generalizations, conclusions. In the end, it also finishes there — sales, conversion, and growth. Such a mathematical reality instead of a stereotype of a stoned alcoholic, who makes something so vivid and strange, that it is instantly marked as genious.
“An ability to generate ideas is a great way to make money. If you can convey the generated to those around you. And not just to convey, but to inflame them with your idea. Or, at least, make them believe in its prospects»
Dmytro Tomchuk “Fish bites here”
If talking of talent contests, where you have to impress with a non-standard solution of yours, it may work (writing this I have the latest ‘Eurovision’ promo in front of my eyes). But when it comes to sales, it’s primarily math. And only then a blank sheet for a sketch.
The rules, the TA sets
In our team, we’ve been debating over the application of the rules. On the one hand, we are professionals and we know what is correct. On the other hand, correct is what our TA understands.
If gender markings are correct, but our TA does not accept them, then we must work without them. If the golden gradients are a moveton, but our TA likes kitsch, then we have to make gradients. Or to use slang sometimes and to deviate from trends. We know how is correct, but our job is not to teach, but to sell.
“The moment you start telling something boring to your potential clients, you lose them.“
Josh Kaufman, “The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business”
It’s a thin line, because you shouldn’t slide into the abyss of illiteracy (in the broadest sense of the word), but the TA is often diverse. Therefore, a good specialist must balance and find a reasonable limit in each case.
Do you want to talk about it?
A separated artist cognizes himself through his works and projects himself through them. The creator in marketing must know the numbers. Numbers are the guides that set up the rhythm. To understand behavioral psychology, numbers alone are not enough. However, what if it is about social psychology, which has not yet been well studied, and the conclusions of different scientists may be radically different?
Sometimes I think that a good marketologist can provide psychotherapy in his free time. Because to sell something to somebody, you have to understand first, what influences one’s decisions at a certain moment. A “patient” doesn’t answer all the questions sincerely while lying on a couch. And even when he does (during research), he is lying — consciously or unconsciously.
“To be on client’s wavelengths is the first commandment of any sales, despite what you sell: from oil and diamonds to Harleys and golf clubs.”
Dmytro Tomchuk “Fish bites here”
People are impulsive creatures that often act illogically or irrationally. A marketer’s task is to understand who is the brand’s potential client, anticipate his emotional state at the time of contact with the brand and pull the right strings. Push him for a purchase that will make him happy.
“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a cupcake — that’s nearly the same. At least, our brain sometimes reacts like that is.”
Meik Wiking, “The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living”
Romance is dead
With this article, I did not intend to dispel the romance around the profession. I rather wanted to show its depth. It’s easy to create when you hear those who praise and don’t notice those who criticize. And to create within the framework (when the result of your creativity is measured by numbers in the table) is a real challenge!
To show one’s individual style and to simultaneously be on the same wavelengths with TA, the representatives of which can be both close in spirit and completely alien, is not a dish for everyone.
Nevertheless, every hard & high-quality work involves a certain reward. For example, to see the results of your work not only in books or galleries, but on supermarket shelves, on the pages of web resources, on billboards or store windows. To understand that you’ve contributed to the creation of something great, that the results of your creation are recognized and appreciated not after your death, but now, even if the author’s name is not marked. To understand that thanks to your efforts there are more happy people in the world; people who have felt and keep falling in love with one more brand.
“Marketing has nothing in common with attempts to persuade people to buy unnecessary and unwanted things. Marketing is about genuine enthusiasm for goods and services that people find useful. Or hilarious. Or beautiful. Marketing is the spread of love”
Jonah Bergerk “Contagious: Why Things Catch On”
