Philip Kotler is recognized as one of the world’s leading marketing experts, a guru who not only gave the world a valuable guide, but was able to read the socio-economic and cultural changes well in advance and propose always innovative ideas pertaining to this discipline. Kotler has recently tried to imagine how future marketing will (and should) be: we are talking about marketing 3.0.
What is marketing 3.0?
According to Philip Kotler, Marketing 3.0 is a marketing that focuses on the customer as a human being in its entirety, with material, emotional and spiritual needs, a marketing capable of satisfying humanism’s noblest instances. Those companies that will adopt marketing 3.0 will have an edge because they will be able to combine a quality product/service with a mission imbued with positive values.
Essentially, marketing 3.0 is a mix of cultural marketing, spiritual and collaborative.
Cultural marketing is linked to the phenomenon of globalization, which has recently evolved into “globalization”: people are ever more connected to the world, but retain or rediscover strong local bonds. Globalization still presents many downsides: there are still too many disparities between the various world economies, such as the sharp division between the North and South of the world (as well as between the West and East, with China in the role of “World Factory”). It follows that companies will need to possess deep rooted positive values, which will not conflict with those of their customers, combining quality products and services with ethics, and consideration for the environment and workers’ rights.
And speaking of ethics and values, spiritual marketing intends to place even greater emphasis upon corporate vision, which needs to give suitable consideration to customers and competitors alike, who both deserve to be treated with respect. Winning customer loyalty, therefore, means leveraging the deepest of values in a clear and consistent manner.
Collaborative marketing, finally, gives people, customers a leading role, elevating them from simply being consumers to prosumers, capable of talking directly with the company, creating content and counter-narratives, criticizing or praising a particular corporate choice (or policy) through social media. A company that practices marketing 3.0 involves its audience in product creation, listens to criticisms and complaints and takes them into account to improve its product or its “behaviour.”
Creating valid products and shopping experiences that are exciting for customers, meeting at the same time their most noble values: this is the meaning of marketing 3.0.
The 10 Commandments of Marketing 3.0
