• by J. Walker Smith , Op-Ed Contributor, 6 hours ago

From all my years in research and consulting, I think I’ve learned a thing or two about marketing worth sharing. Enduring fundamentals, mostly—yet often overlooked. So, over the course of this in year, I have shared a series of lessons learned. This column wraps up this series. I hope it has been helpful. Next year, I will be returning to a biweekly column about ongoing marketing issues, especially those tied to a key bit of information or data. See you in the New Year.

This year’s final thought: Marketing is the conscience of business.

Business leaders are one of the least trusted groups in America. This has long been true. There are many reasons why, but the constantly refreshed rogue’s gallery of miscreants and mischief ensure that mistrust is ever-present. In recent memory, the housing bust, PACs, social media, inflation, affordability, a living wage, management diversity, immigrant workers and AI have all contributed to mistrust in business. Consumers discontent has been building up against Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Food. People see greed.

This view of business is unfair. It is the rare businessperson who fits the stereotype of a venal, heartless crook. Even Scrooge, the worst of the worst, eventually came around. But business leaders don’t do themselves any favors. They stumble a lot. And I suspect they might stub their toes even more if not for marketing. Because marketing is the conscience of business.

The marketing perspective is consumer-first. Every few years, we marketers have to remind ourselves about consumer-centricity, which we do by jazzing it up with a pithy new label. But the animating idea of marketing has never changed. It is the notion that business is about solving people’s problems. Marketing is how that is done.

Research identifies problems and screens potential solutions. Innovation invents and perfects solutions. Advertising and promotion get the word out to consumers. Everything else in business revolves around these functions. By and large, these functions are the purview of marketing.

Solving problems starts and ends with people. It’s about what matters to people. It is not about what business leaders want to do. It is what business leaders need to do in order to solve the problems of people. It’s cliché but it’s true: It’s all about the customer.

This is why marketing is the conscience of business. Business stays on the up and up when it’s people-first—and that is marketing. The marketing golden rule for business is to do unto our customers what we would have done unto us as customers. It is not about taking advantage of people or exploiting people’s weaknesses. Business is about honestly meeting people’s needs. Anything that takes away from that runs contrary to the marketing mantra of consumer-centricity. When marketing gets the last word, consumers come first. That’s a service orientation not a focus on greed.

This is the same thing as trust. Trust is strongest when the parties involved feel reassured that whatever one party does to pursue its interests and agendas will not compromise, betray or erode the interests and agendas of everyone else. This is an inclusive orientation that works to the benefit of everyone.

More generally, inclusivity is the fundamental principle of brand growth. Brands grow by selling to everyone, and that takes a value proposition that is open to everyone. The biggest brands are the most inclusive by definition—they sell to the widest range of people. Again, it’s an orientation that works to the benefit of everyone.

Marketing is the steward of inclusivity, both for trust and for growth. Marketing is focused inherently on doing right by customers, and thus marketing speaks this truth within a company. Marketing is more than awareness and conversion. Marketing is a lens on how business works—solving problems. The best solutions are people-first, which the essence of sound values and ethics.

Marketing is a business practice built on a foundation of serving others, which it does by identifying and solving their problems. Certainly, there is a commercial side to business and marketing, but it is commercialization with a bigger purpose. It’s not merely financial. It’s hopes, dreams, ambitions, lifestyles, comfort and security. All the things that make up the good life. Marketing works in service of aspirations.

I have always viewed marketing as this kind of calling. Marketing is not a public service, yet it is a service, and it is no less so just because the other side of the coin is profits. Marketing is about others, not simply the company or the brand. Done well, marketing holds a company accountable and keeps it from straying from its foundational mission of solving problems. Sometimes, marketers use benchmarks and tracking to chart a company’s wayward path. I guess you could say that this is guilting a company back in line. No disagreement from me. Guilting is how conscience comes into play, and acting as the conscience of business is no small part of what marketing is for in a company.