The birth of marketing is to clean up the technological revolution

Nowadays, marketing is in full swing in the market, but how did it come into being? This article analyzes the reasons for the birth of marketing from the perspective of technological revolution. Let's take a look.

There have been three technological revolutions in the modern world:

The first was the Industrial Revolution, when steam engines replaced handicrafts, labor moved from farmland to factories, and capitalism began to take shape;

The second was the electric revolution, when generators lit up the entire earth. The increase in productivity led to changes in production relations, and hegemony and imperialism were formed.

The third is the information revolution, in which the virtual world becomes a parallel space to the physical world. Mobile phones extend human organs and at the same time alienate people into information media and data carriers.

The three technological revolutions are all creating "redundancy":

Large industrial machines produce dumping, electricity improves machine efficiency, and the Internet connects the world. The essence of this is to improve production efficiency, which will inevitably lead to product oversupply, excess manpower, and excess information.

The two world wars were nothing more than a search for new markets to consume "redundancy", and also implied that colonialism and imperialism are the inevitable results of capitalist society.

1. “Redundancy” needs to be “consumed”

Although the world has restored a brief peace, the contradiction between productivity and production relations still exists, and local wars have been frequent. Musk's plan to migrate to Mars can represent the ultimate ideal of mankind: to discover new opportunities in the world outside the earth. However, it is difficult to reach a consensus.

What I want to say is that the fundamental reason for the birth of consumerism is that people consume redundant products . Because of the birth of "redundancy", consumerism exists.

Excess products, or the "redundant products" produced by the scientific and technological revolution, must be consumed by the public to achieve a balance between productivity and production relations. Otherwise, there will be either extreme poverty and suppressed desires, or intensified contradictions and new plunder.

In other words, "redundancy" must be "consumed", which is why the market economy came into being. Marketing is a product of the market economy, a product of consumerism, and a product of the technological revolution. In an era of shortages, there is no need for marketing. In ancient times, markets were mostly exchanges of handmade products, which was different from the later market economy in terms of operating rules.

The essence of marketing is to create long-term customers for products. Thinking further, why do we need to create long-term customers for products? In fact, it is because "redundant products" are created first, and we must find consumers for them, find consumption motivations, find the original desires of human beings, and let humans consume the redundancy. This is the most essential reason for the emergence of marketing.

2. Product first, demand second

In the past, textbooks said that marketing is to meet consumer demand and create value for customers. The implication is that customers must have needs first, and products are created to meet consumer needs.

Later I found something was wrong.

People don’t even know what products they need; they discover new species by accident and then use them.

In other words, the product comes first and the demand comes second.

Did Edison invent the electric light because humans needed it? No. Edison invented the electric light, and people discovered that it could be applied to everyday life, which led to a demand and desire for the product. The same logic applies to marketing.

For example, when a new product is developed, such as a hair dryer or a lighter, we have no idea what it is used for, but after a demonstration, we discover its usefulness, our desire to own it is activated, and then we buy it. Especially after the emergence of excess products, a series of marketing activities need to be established to activate consumer demand and desire, so as to sell the product to more people.

Originally, you used soap nuts to wash clothes. When washing powder appeared, marketing established a sales pitch to tell you that washing clothes with washing powder is more convenient and cleaner. You believed it and switched to washing powder, and washing powder became a consensus. Later, various laundry detergents and laundry balls were all products that came first, then activated your needs, and then entered your life.

3. Believe that there is

There is also an implicit condition here, which is the psychological nature of human beings: liking the new and disliking the old, and seeking profit and avoiding harm.

In the process of gradual evolution, only humans constantly desire new things and constantly replace old things with new things. This is the love of new things and the dislike of old things.

In addition, the biological instinct for survival also gives people the psychological gene to seek benefits and avoid harm. Therefore, calling for a better future can bring influence, and solving pain points can also win support.

Another characteristic of human beings is to believe in nothingness and stories, or it can be said that only human beings will give up the conditions for survival in pursuit of the concept of nothingness.

Maslow proposed a humanistic hierarchy of needs, namely the psychological hierarchy of physiological-safety-love and belonging-respect-self-actualization .

The low-level will give way to the high-level, dying for the country in war, sacrificing oneself to protect family in earthquakes, and so on. This is the most unique thing about human beings.

Marketing can only be truly carried out based on the unique principles of human psychology.

When you emphasize that a product can represent the advanced productivity of mankind, this product will become the pursuit of people, which is equivalent to the "spark" of primitive humans. The iPhone is such a "spark", and so is Tesla.

When you call for a product to represent some kind of highest ideal of mankind, this product will also gain a wave of consumers and fans, which is equivalent to the "myth" of primitive humans. Coca-Cola is such a myth, and Nike is also such a myth...

In short, belief is existence, belief is myth.

4. Marketing, Creativity and Pursuit

Marketing is also based on this psychological foundation. After the technological revolution, tens of thousands of products can meet almost all human needs.

There are already enough basic demand products, but they cannot lie in the warehouse and rot, so marketing is needed to give the products emotions and stories, so that new products can combine with the human psychological characteristics of liking novelty and getting bored with old things, enhance and improve the experience, and only then can there be continuous system updates, product updates, content updates, and brand updates .

Whoever represents the most advanced productivity will have the right to speak. Whoever represents the ultimate dream of mankind will have the right to set prices. Whoever carries the pursuit of more people will have fans all over the world.

Therefore, low-level marketing only talks about product selling points, which are eventually replaced by new products, leading to price wars, and no business without promotions;

Intermediate marketing talks about consumer demand, gets stuck in scene marketing, spends money on advertising and organizes events, and uses every possible means to attract customers;

Advanced marketing talks about universal ideals. It is better to create pursuits than to satisfy needs. It builds culture and sells goods at the same time, forming a strong religious-like stickiness.

If you understand marketing theory in this way, you will find that products come before demand, brands are higher than products, culture is greater than organization, and beliefs are better than values.

In a word, the birth of new products after the scientific and technological revolution is no longer to meet human survival and security needs, but to shape the ultimate human dream of "belonging and love, respect, and self-realization."

Author: muguahao

WeChat public account: "Qu Tailang (ID: qutailang1991)"