When generations who grew up with the influence of the digital communication era look back, they see that the old days of marketing were built on very primitive methods. However, it has been the cumulative marketing philosophy that has carried the industry to its present glory.
Many factors, such as the change in the production model, expansion in communication opportunities, technological developments, intra-sector competition, socio-cultural changes, and shifts in customer expectations and habits caused the dynamics in the marketing sector to evolve over the years.
Let's discover together how marketing has progressed from its infancy to what it is today!
As hard as it is to believe, in the past, goods were not produced for profit. People living in small communities often produced their goods for their own needs and used the surplus to obtain the goods they needed through bartering.
Although profit was made from trade, this profit was made by people who were seen as privileged in society. Just before the industrial revolution, we witnessed considerable leaps in transportation and communication possibilities worldwide.
As a result, a merchant class emerged. These merchants sold their products in local markets in commercial cities. To market the products, they had to benefit from their personal persuasion abilities and established relationships. The earliest trails of marketing can be traced back to the dialogues of these people.
Production and distribution methods changed with the industrial revolution. Now there were companies that mass-produced purely for profit. Most of the time, these products were the first examples of the product categories they were in.
Therefore, it was the features and capabilities of the product that made it stand out in the inter-organizational competition. So companies focused on the production orientation philosophy that if they produced products with high enough quality and kept prices low, the product would advertise itself.
That's why they allocated their budgets and efforts to produce more and higher quality products at a lower cost.
Over time, product categories began to become clear, and many new organisations joined the competition. It was not enough to just use the features of the products to stand out anymore.
As a result, innovative teams in some organisations started to market their products not using their features but with aggressive promotional tactics through communication channels. Customers were told why they should buy the product with eye-catching advertisements.
In a short time, the main factor that ensured the sale of products became not the characteristics of the products but the tone of the brand. Over the sales orientation era, brands learned to identify their products with specific themes or figures.
During this period, there was a sharp change in marketing philosophy. In the sales-oriented era, organisations were thinking about which customers they could sell their products to after they created them. Before, customers had to choose the product that appealed to them among many randomly created products, and they were often not fully satisfied.
However, in this period, products started to be produced directly in line with the needs and habits of certain customer groups. Instead of selling a single, comprehensive core product, companies began to customise their products for specific segments of society.
It was during this period that marketing separated from advertising and sales and turned into a unique field with its own dynamics. The sales journey of products was no longer a straight line but a narrowing funnel, and it was vital to develop the right tactics for each funnel stage.
Marketing was gradually moving towards a vital position. So much so that marketing strategies became the thin line between the collapse and rise of companies. The social changes were now directly affecting and transforming the marketing field. Increasing social interaction and raising awareness on issues of global importance did not go unnoticed by marketing teams.
Many people prioritise the responsibility of creating a harmonious and sustainable world as much as their own needs and habits. Therefore, brands started producing their products with social value and developing marketing strategies in line with these values.
Communication possibilities determine the channels in which you will build your marketing strategy. Delivering a single campaign to multiple potential customers has been at the forefront since the advent of mass media. But digital methods promise much more than that.
Digital marketing methods ensure that customers are not only exposed to marketing content but that this exposure also takes place in the proper context and time. The possibilities of customer interaction are also much more significant than a standard billboard or newspaper.
Digital marketing offers marketers much greater flexibility and a wider spectrum of marketing channels. Marketers can now create unique brands that behave as organic entities capable of establishing trust-building and mutually-valued communications.
However, there is another element that has emerged with digital marketing, which has caused a change not only in marketing technology but also in communication styles all over the world.
We call this element customer data. The performance of digital marketing methods is measured with metrics based on this data. As a result, digital marketers make much more precise adjustments to their campaigns.
We mentioned that customer data is used in digital marketing. However, evaluating this data in a much more holistic way and covering the entire customer journey requires a different mindset. This mindset is called the growth mindset.
Digital marketing methods are used in growth marketing. But what makes growth marketing different is that it goes beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing. Growth marketers view industries and companies as unique subjects and develop data-driven, short- and long-term strategies for each company based on their specific needs.
Growth marketing funnels are much deeper than digital marketing funnels that focus solely on customer acquisition and retention.
The middle and bottom parts of the growth funnel include post-marketing elements like sales and a long-lasting relationship with customers. Growth marketers collect data-oriented results from these parts to support their marketing strategies, and they regularly update these strategies in line with these results so that they can appeal to the most accurate personas.
It is tough to foresee the end of the industry's adventure in an ever-changing, dynamic field such as marketing. The digital transformation and data-driven, holistic approach to marketing has not yet reached its full potential, and new game-changing, modern marketing technologies are emerging every day.
Therefore, anyone who wants to shape the future of marketing should not just focus on today's marketing concepts and conditions but follow the smooth flow from the past to the future.