In a sense marketing is an optimization process. One that’s responsible for bringing about the highest possible outcome out of a marketing mix.

It’s not our sole job to merely grab people’s attention. Look around. We’re living in the the attention economy, where it’s everyone’s job to grab people’s attention! We’re literally outsourcing comms to non-marketers, be it influencers, users or even employees. And boy, are they killing it… On another verdict, it’s never been easier for anyone to achieve what we may call “text-book results” using AI or some other tool. This leaves marketers on very thin ice.

While marketers are stressed in today’s world because of how easy it is to replicate their effect using accessible tools and channels —I believe it’s gonna get way better for those who could prove their worth as good marketers. Hence we have to ask: what makes a good marketer?

A good marketer doesn’t settle for “good” results. A marketer’s core job is to craft a coherent strategy that aims at achieving the highest possible results out of a specific marketing mix. Acceptable results out of a reasonable marketing mix are easy. But maximizing results out a marketing mix is the hallmark of a good marketer.

This leads me to my core argument. We need to incorporate more opportunity-cost talk in our marketing discussions. We need to get used to the fact that our main job is to identify the most profitable path for an organization and then lead it to go through it.

Once we understand this this, we begin to realize how rare it is to see it happening in real life. And this isn’t because it’s impossible or not practical. Far from it. But it’s because most people working in marketing are pseudo marketers.

A pseudo marketer is content with mediocre results. If we bring in more than we spend, call it a day. We did our job. And so effectiveness is never the concern of a pseudo marketer.

In a world where creative production is outsourced and decent results are easily achievable, pseudo marketers will suffer and good marketers will thrive.

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