My two favorite courses while getting my studio art degree at Cal Poly Humboldt were intro to anthropology and intermediate painting (particularly a segment on abstract painting). I remember an exercise in the studio where after painting for a while, we stopped, turned our canvases upside down, stood back, assessed, perhaps returned them to their “upright” position, perhaps not, and continued. We repeated this at 90-degree turns periodically throughout the evolution of our process. This exercise made me realize all the possibilities before me that I hadn’t considered. It’s a brilliant tool in understanding composition, and its conceptual application is endless.
In my anthropology course, my work was plagiarized. It was my first dive into online courses, as well as a taste of the risk associated with publishing one’s ideas on the internet. Despite that sore experience, ignited in me was a curiosity in the complexity of people and human behavior.
Did I know then that the interest sparked in both classes would foreshadow my job today? Not quite. Yet here I am in the world of marketing. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense. But I don’t know that I understood then, what marketing is.
Part of why I think this is true, (in addition to a dilution of meaning due to the swell of “influencer marketing”) is my simply having had an incomplete general awareness of what marketing is. Because of this ambiguity, and weak definitions floating around, there are businesses who are missing opportunities.
So, what is marketing? Most people initially think of marketing in its verb form; “the act of satisfying and retaining customers,” “activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service,” and, “the activity or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.”
These are all good definitions, but I think they miss something essential. The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as, “the activity, institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value.”
This definition is great because it includes what the previous excludes. In all four definitions, the words “act” or “activities” or “activity” are used immediately, but in the fourth, “institutions “and “processes” are also incorporated. Yes, marketing is active. It’s a creative gig that fuels business. And I probably wouldn’t be in marketing at all were it not for my background in art. But informed processes, an applied science of both human behavior and ethics, as well as research and analysis are what distinguish great marketing and make a path for impactful creativity.
That is why I love what I do. Marketing is holistic, implementing art and science. The balance of these components is illuminating. Marketing is not just trend-following creative advertising, but rather, smart, measurable, and strategic. It requires adaptability and anticipation, and when applied to business endeavors, marketing can do more than increase sales; it can open doors and shape the future.
Especially now, with an ever-changing technological landscape, there is a wealth of free tools to synthesize data and inform your marketing decisions. With the click of a button, you can produce a real-time report to monitor market positioning, campaign performance, and more. So, take the time to discover what you don’t already know. Look at your business from a different perspective, learn about your audience, explore your opportunities, and continue evolving.
Jessica Carenco is the marketing manager for Mad River Brewery, a graphic designer, and mom. She likes to spend the season soaking up sunshine and attending local events. You can reach her at jessica@madriverbrewing.com.
