Book Breakdown: Marketing Rebellion
According to Author Mark Schaefer, "The Most Human Company Wins"
I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, advertising as we know it is over. I’m definitely not the only one who has been calling for major shifts in the way brands communicate with customers. Author and veteran marketer, Mark Schaefer, agrees.
In his recent book Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins, Schaefer provides an eye-opening look at the evolution of marketing and explains why old school marketing doesn’t quite work the same way anymore. The “rebellion” Schaefer describes is being undertaken by the world’s consumers, who are tired of ads that interrupt, annoy, and exhaust them.
With tools like social media, customer reviews, and search engines at their disposal, consumers are more powerful than ever before. Also, they don’t trust traditional advertisements. According to Schaefer, “nearly 80 percent of consumers don’t trust corporate advertising in any form, and the percentage is even higher for younger consumers.”
So, as a marketing and advertising professional, how do you respond to this? Schaefer lays out a valuable blueprint in Marketing Rebellion that will help your brand succeed. Below, we’ve outlined some of the most important takeaways, frameworks, and quotes from the book.
Key Takeaways
The practice of marketing is the intersection of all things human.
“Two-thirds of your marketing is not your marketing.”
“Your customers are your marketers now.”
“The most human company wins.”
Actionable Frameworks
The Three Rebellions
The End of Lies - consumers can see through “snake oil salesmen” and inauthenticity. Brands can’t afford to oversell and underdeliver.
The End of Secrets - brands can’t sweep anything under the rug anymore. Any bad behavior or faulty products will come to light.
The End of Control - your customers are doing most of your marketing now. Two-thirds of your marketing is not your marketing.
Five Constant Human Truths
Human beings always need to:
Feel Loved
Belong
Protect Self-Interests
Find Meaning
Be Respected
A Manifesto for Human-Centered Marketing
Stop doing what your customers hate. Get out there and discover what customers love. Do that (at least).
Technology should be invisible to your customer and only be used to help your company be more compassionate, receptive, fascinating, and useful.
You can’t ‘own’ customers, a buyer’s journey, or a sales funnel. Claim a market space and help people belong in it.
Never intercept, never interrupt. Earn the invitation.
Be relevant, consistent, and superior. Build trust into everything you do.
Be fans of your fans. Make them the heroes of your story.
Transcend the public’s inherent mistrust of your company through relentless honesty.
Don’t be ‘in’ the customer community. Be ‘of’ the customer community.
Marketing is never about your ‘why.’ It’s about your customer’s ‘why.’
The most human company wins.
Top Quotes
“There’s a hunger in our world for real intimacy and experience. Brands need to be more human and authentic. Brands should be more like humans. Approachable. Likable. Vulnerable.”
“Consumers are dismissing products if there is no emotional attachment to the brand.”
“Studies consistently show that content about a brand created by a consumer – in their authentic voice – receives between 600 percent and 700 percent more engagement than content about the same product posted by the company.”
“As we move slowly but inexorably toward an ad-free world, this is the new advertising: Stories that serve, inspire, and entertain. Meaningful events that demonstrate true caring, compassion, and community involvement. Emotional connection that shows how much we understand. This is marketing that helps us belong.”
“Most corporate storytelling is still an ad because it is not native to a person’s normal content experience.”
“Successful marketing in the future will have to be presented in a way that is unquestionably authentic, local, personalized, and even handcrafted.”
“The only way to become a meaningful brand and rise above all this noise in the world is to know and understand the consumers’ deepest self-interests and then anchor the marketing strategy in this knowledge.”
“Today, 9 out of 10 Americans would take a lower-paying job if it meant they could do meaningful work that contributes to society. Meaning is the new money. Meaning is the new marketing.”
“Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”
“People don’t trust companies. People trust people. That trust must be integrated into how we connect with customers going forward.”
“A values-based marketing strategy will only work if the values are aligned not just with the consumers but also with the actions of the company itself.”
“CMOs can no longer just be shepherds of the marketing dashboard. They must be infusing our customer needs into every part of the organization and facilitating responses around this one purpose, our customer. That purpose, that drive, must be made clear to everyone in the company. That is the CMO we need today.”
Book Details
Author: Mark W. Schaefer
Publisher: Schaefer Marketing Solutions, Copyright 2019
About the Author
Mark W. Schaefer is a globally-recognized speaker, educator, business consultant, and author who blogs at {grow} one of the top marketing blogs of the world.Mark has worked in global sales, PR, and marketing positions for more than 30 years and now provides consulting services as Executive Director of U.S.-based Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He specializes in marketing training and clients include both start-ups and global brands such as Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Adidas, and the U.S. Air Force.
Mark has advanced degrees in marketing and organizational development and is a faculty member of the graduate studies program at Rutgers University. A career highlight was studying under Peter Drucker while studying for his MBA.
Praise for the Book
"Marketing Rebellion revolutionizes and disrupts the current paradigm of understanding and practicing marketing, " Dr. Ai Addyson-Zhang, professor, Stockton University
Thanks for the great review!