Marketing is all about selling and persuading people to buy things they dont really

need?
The historical reputation of marketers is often negative, where marketers are considered to be
involved in deceit, trickery, and mass consumerism. Many books published in the late 90s have
also criticized marketing as this negative tool of persuasion, such as All Marketers are Liars (Godin,
2005), using marketing techniques to strategically tell consumers the stories they want to hear
and thus influencing the purchasing behaviour of consumers, and society as a whole. In this essay,
we look at different stages in the history of marketing, in particular, the times before and after
social media has existed, and critically discuss the validity of this statement.
On one side, this statement is partially true, marketing does involve an element of persuasion,
especially in historical times, between 1920 and 1980s, known as the sales and marketing period
of marketing, when social media has not yet existed and sales is king. Consumers decision to buy
a product lies greatly on the side of the marketer, as Seth mentions, All marketers tell stories, and
if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass instead of a
$1 glass. Without social media, there is little information that consumers can rely on in order to
make an evaluative judgement on a product before its purchase. Due to the absence of online
reviews on a product, the absence of spread of product knowledge, and the absence of mass
media, marketing was more of an art of instantaneous persuasion with little to no consequence
after the product is sold.
However, times have changed, and marketing has evolved. Marketing is now more seen as a
holistic management process and not just about the selling of a product itself. Its most recent
definition the management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer
requirements (CIM, 2001) has no mention of any deception, persuasion, or mismatching what
customer needs and what is sold. Now, it is more about offering what customers value (AMA,
2007); and, in a broader sense, recognising the wider merit of such offers to the society.
Furthermore, the idea that marketing is also about the exchange, and about developing
relationships have reconstructed the conceptual foundations of marketing. There was a shift from
the need to engage in transactions, to developing long-term customer relationships (Christopher
et al, 2002). Marketing has thus focused on achieving customer loyalty by selling them what they
value, and, on other hand, marketing with the intent of deception has led to business failure,
especially in the long-term due to an absence of loyal customers.
Social media has contributed greatly to this shift in the conceptual foundation of marketing. It has
levelled the playing field between marketers and consumers. Consumers now enjoy the benefits of
sharing their opinions with each other through social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.
Consumers are also able to use the entire internet for information on what they need, and how to
get it. This increase in consumer knowledge has led to complex consumer decision making process
involving firstly, 3 steps need recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives
before even considering about making a purchase. And, after the purchase decision, consumers
would also evaluate their purchase, and his/her opinion not only influences his or her future buying
behaviour but also that of people in his/her social network. This idea resonates with the theory of
planned behaviour, where our internal perspective is determined not only by our own thoughts and
personality structures, but also by the input of others. The companys brand is at risk if the publics
perception of your company is negative due to prior beliefs and events that your company is
involved with deceptive marketing. Once your brand is screened in the process of selective
exposure, any marketing technique used is hard to get the customer back. Hence, marketing has
to be more careful in how they deal with customers, a wrongful intent could lead to consequences
magnitudes greater through the channels of social media. Thus, we can say that it is not that the
concept of marketing has changed itself, but has adapted to the change in consumer power, and
the change in society.
However, does the element of persuasion still exist? Yes, in the most recent example, companies
have used Twitter ads to not only influence people who click on their ads but also the people that
these ads are circulated to. Similarly, TV commercials played during large events such as the
Super Bowl have greatly influenced, and to some extent, persuaded the public to buy a certain
product. However, people now, in general, are much harder to persuade, especially if it is
something that they dont need, since they go through several, if not, hundreds of different

advertisements daily, and have the time and sources to evaluate the product thoroughly before
considering its purchase.
In conclusion, in modern times, marketing is no longer about selling and persuading people to buy
things they dont need. The rise of social media, and the increasing complexity of the consumer
decision making process has, arguably, changed the conceptual foundation of marketing to more
about customer satisfaction and about establishing long-term relationships with customers.