Seth Godin's latest column rocks.
Why do we hate marketers so much?
We don't just hate them. We ignore them. We distrust them. In fact, when a marketer actually keeps his promise to us, we're so surprised we tell everyone we know.
I got a call yesterday from a company that wanted to "confirm my order". When I returned the call, I discovered that there was no confirming… it was just a come-on from a company I had never heard from to sell me something new.
Somewhere along the way, marketers stopped acting like real people. We substituted a new set of ethics, one built around "buyer beware" and the letter of the law. Marketers, in order to succeed in a competitive marketplace, decided to see what they could get away with instead of what they could deliver.
Tricks are foolish short-term thinking. Long-term marketing is about understanding customer needs and solving their problems.
