Are all marketers dumb?

We hear a great deal these days about the latest "buzz" effort, viral ploy or over-the-top publicity stunt to get a brand noticed. Are marketers dumb? Do marketers stress the importance of style at the expense of substance? Maybe.

The marketers who resort to using tricks for a one-time sale are the dumb ones.

Consumers are very sophisticated today and good marketers not only realize and accept that fact but they embrace it.

Marketers know that they must demonstrate the value of a brand in front of very smart and very sophisticated consumers who will quickly buy an alternate brand if there is no compelling reason not to. And what if a consumer tries a brand and it does not live up to the marketing hype? Then kiss that customer goodbye--and count on them telling dozens if not hundreds or thousands of others about their bad experience with the brand.

Marketers need to be extremely knowledgeable about their product or service and know what value it represents to their target market. Beyond that they must know how to clearly and articulately communicate that value to consumers. Smart marketers set out to build a powerful brand, not make a one-time sale or simply boost short-term sales performance.

If there is no compelling value to offer consumers and one must resort to tricks or intrusive advertising gimmicks, then it should be a warning sign to the marketer that he or she must go back and modify the product in some way to ensure there is superior value to sell to consumers on an ongoing basis. The only way to do this is by having very good market intelligence by understanding what consumers really want.

Are all marketers dumb?

No. Just some of them.