Three Marketing Questions That Never Change (But Always Do)

Every morning, over breakfast, I do the scroll of doom. In part keeping up with what’s going on in the world, but also to discover the latest developments in film and TV to find recommendations for our weekend binge watch (I feel it’s a public service). But I came across the following article on the changing constants in the universe. For a long time I’ve believed the foundations, or constants for ease of clarity, of marketing are solid and don’t change, how we implement them do. But this got me thinking as to whether my perception was correct.

Marketing’s constants

Let’s go back, way back to the early 90’s when I was an emotionally charged teenager in school stuck doing Business Studies. I learnt about the 3 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, and Place. Then at University I heard it was expanded to include Promotion, and again later in life having People, Process and Physical Evidence added. 3 had evolved into 7.

Revisiting the article, it discusses the atom, which is a good analogy for my previous paragraph. It was once thought the atom was the smallest particle in the universe only for scientists to discover it is in fact made up of protons and neutrons. Which themselves are made up of quarks (don’t worry, there’ll be no Star Trek references in this blog).

Despite these developments in both marketing and particle physics, the fundamental principles remained the same. In my simple mind.

What if the constants aren’t so solid?

Continuing with this article, it talks about physical constants, the universe’s fundamental quantities that should have the same value everywhere being, well not constant. Which got me thinking, is it the same for marketing, am I missing something?

The constants of my marketing world

To put it to the test, I’m now going to disclose my marketing constants to the world.

What is your product?
Who are your customers?
How can you reach them?

There you go. Boiled down to three simple questions.

Throughout my career, regardless of the company and industry I’ve been in, I believe the best way to maximise your marketing impact comes down to answering these three questions. My constants.

It’s important to stress that behind each one is a treasure trove of processes, theories, strategies, plans and God knows what else that I will dig out to tailor my approach depending upon the situation.

The complexities of marketing

George Dransfield says the constants change in value, but they are still there. And that’s how I see my marketing constants, it’s not the questions themselves that vary, but rather the way we approach them depending upon the context or time period.

For example, B2C implementation is different to B2B and both are different to B2B2C. We have dramatically changed the way we have gone about marketing over time. To put it into perspective, if we take my question “how do you reach them?”, means something completely different in today’s AI-rich, privacy first world compared to if we were marketers during the golden age of direct mail in the 1960’s (via post that is, not email).

The constants haven’t changed, only what we have built on top

And this might be the case. For George Dransfield, her constants are still there, it’s just that their properties aren’t as solid as she first thought. It’s the same with my constants. They don’t change, but the way we engage them and answer them does. And will continue to do so.

It then comes down to, what do you think? Am I right? Are my three constants spot on, remaining stable while the implementation evolves, to suit the ever-changing world around us? Or, do you have a different set of marketing constants you work from? I’m sure the Ferengi do (ok one Star Trek reference…).

Interested to know your thoughts.

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