The 10 Commandments of marketing

Putting people back in the marketing mix

The confluence of mobile, social, real-time and the entire array of disruptive technologies around them have forever changed how people discover, communicate, and connect.

Behaviours, expectations, preferences, values, are evolving as a result of technology's impact on society and how we in turn do things differently as individuals, then communities and inevitably as collective markets. While people change, the rules of marketing strategy and how it's measured continue to be rooted in legacy, outdated market perspectives.

The ways in which customers learn, make decisions and are influenced are only advancing, not regressing. Marketing has never had such an incredible opportunity to reinvent itself. But with every gift of new technology, data, channels and the ability to see, engage and learn from people differently, marketers instead rely on what they know.

Without aligning around a bigger mission or vision with what we are trying to do – something that is going to matter to people – we are just marketing and selling the way we always have. We are not moving in any new direction. I call this mediumism, placing inordinate value on technology or trends without appreciating culture, context, intent and aspirations.

We continue to think operationally, which prevents us from feeling empathetically, which stops us from acting experientially

We're either part of the noise or we're the beacon of light. It's time to get back to basics to introduce what should have been the first P of the marketing mix in the first place...People.

The 10 Commandments of marketing

1. Thou shall not chase shiny objects. There will always be the next big thing, but you don’t have to chase after them. Instead, chase after your customers—be where your customers need you or want you to be.

2. Thou shall not over operate against a marketing calendar. Marketing calendars make you think about quantity, not quality. While they are necessary, they are not drivers for earning meaningful attention and engagement. Your consumers are already overwhelmed with mediocrity, so don’t flood them with more.

3. Thou shall refrain from exclusively following case studies of companies doing cool things. They don’t have a unique relationship with your influencers, customers or stakeholders. Best practices for reaching particular audiences are yours to figure out.

4. Thou shall not use technology to “scale your shit.” Technology is forcing us into a trap of scale. While we might preach 1:1 engagement, technology gets us away from that and back to the “one-to-many” broadcast model we always tend toward.

5. Thou shall shift from views or impressions as metrics and instead track performance and outcomes. In the social mobile era, influence is reflected in sharing and action. Change perception or inspire behaviours. Cause positive effect in your markets. Move people to mutually-beneficial outcomes.

6. Thou shall not assume you have one audience. You have many different types of people you need to speak to—all of whom believe they’re special snowflakes. Your audience has an audience who has an audience of their own. Know who they are, who follows them and why, what there trying to do, and create relevant stories, content and experiences tailored for them.

7. Thou shall stop creating for people who will approve it (like your CMO or client). Most executives and decision-makers do not live the brand/business the way customers do. Remember there are human beings on the other side of that screen. Treat them exceptionally. Make everyone you reach out to feel like they are the only person you wanted to talk to that day.

8. Thou shall stop reaching out to people only when you need them. This business is all about relationships. That’s what marketing is supposed to be all about—it’s based on creating mutual value and earning reciprocity.

9. Thou shall stop selling. For every one time you sell, you should have at least four other pieces of content or moments of engagement that help, entertain, solve problems or inspire people. Some call this the 4-1-1 approach.

10. Thou shall not fall into “Mediumism.Mass broadcasting across all forms of media is called spam and a word to describe it is “mediumism.” You are not a storyteller if you only speak in campaigns. You have to understand that attention and opportunities for engagement do not turn off. Campaigns come and go. You also have to care about people that you try to connect, their scenarios, motives and design stories, programs, visuals, experiences that are native and meaningful the medium and their purpose. 


With the help of 24slides.com Brian developed an infographic illustrating the 10 Commandments of Marketing listed above. A version of this article originally appeared on LinkedIn. If you would like to connect with Brian to exchange ideas you can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn

Image: 24slides / Brian Solis

Brian Solis

Brian Solis is the prinicipal analysist at Altimeter Group, a Prophet Company. He studies disruptive technology and its impact on business and society. He’s a globally renown keynote speaker and author. His newest book, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design explores the importance of experiences and how to design them for customers, employees and human beings everywhere.