Trick title. There are at least three kinds of “marketing” we ought to be teaching:
- Marketing from the point of view of the consumer. This is something every student should be taught, beginning at a young age. How do marketers manipulate customers? What desires do they amplify? What is surveillance capitalism and how does our quest for convenience get in the way of our happiness? What do we need to understand about debt, status and affiliation to become mindful in a market-ized world?
- Marketing as a job in an organization. Going to meetings, creating decks, understanding spreadsheets. Terms of art like lifetime value and market share. The difference between a brand and a logo. Non-profits and corporations spend billions on marketing, and working in that system requires insight and competence.
- Marketing as a craft. Strategic marketing. Telling stories that spread. Building an asset. Marketing as a service on behalf of your customers. Owning the responsibility that goes with the leverage that marketers have.
Most organized marketing instruction is about the first or second, with some online courses teaching hustle and hype, which I don’t count as marketing. My best work is about the third kind, the one where it all began.
More here.