Are you marketing to consumers or creating for consumers?
This was a question that arose during a wide-ranging and thought-provoking conversation between Ije Nwokorie, Chief Brand Officer at Dr Martens, and Debbie Tembo, Inclusion Partner at Creative Equals.
Speaking at the Creative Equals Rise conference, Nwokolie explained that marketing principles are primarily military. “Choose your audience, adopt your strategy, and execute your campaign,” he explained. In contrast, the language in which you create your product is completely different. As he shared, the product focus starts with “building something that makes you happy,” as opposed to the “us vs. them” attack strategy of traditional marketing.
“When you create a product, you for It’s a different approach to marketing,” he explained.
Pointing to generic brands, he shared that brands will be what you need to differentiate yourself. In contrast, when you're building something unique, why talk about anything else? “Apple knows that. Advertisements about why Apple is a great company You can't see it. It's all about talking about the product,” he added.
He continued, “If your marketing strategy is to talk about your product, you need to make sure that your product is great.” They shared that they are focused on “removing all the obstacles that get in the way of customers discovering our products.” “If you focus too much on trends, marketing can get in the way,” he warned.
