We keep hearing that we must return to the fundamentals of marketing, but what the hell are they?
At its core, marketing is about creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging value. The fundamentals don’t really change, just the tools and context do. Here’s what every marketer should know and master:
1. Core Principles
a. Understand the Customer
Everything starts here.
Who are they? Demographics, psychographics, behaviours
What do they need or want?
Why do they buy or not buy?
Where and how do they make decisions?
Good marketers are anthropologists – they study people, not just markets.
b. Value Proposition
The clear statement that explains why someone should choose your product or service.
It answers:
What you offer
How it solves a problem or satisfies a need
Why it’s better or different
If you can’t say with clarity what makes your offer valuable, customers won’t see it either.
c. The Marketing Mix: 4Ps → 7Ps
Still one of the best frameworks to organize your thinking:
Product: What are you selling, and how does it meet customer needs?
Price: How do you capture value and signal positioning?
Place: (Distribution) – where and how customers access it.
Promotion: How you communicate and persuade.
(Extended with: People, Process, Physical evidence for services and digital contexts.)
d. Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning – STP
Segment: Divide the market into meaningful groups.
Target – Which segments will you serve best?
Position – Create a unique place in the customer’s mind.
“You can’t be everything to everyone.” — Philip Kotler
e. Branding and Storytelling
Your brand is not your logo, it’s your reputation and your promise.
Marketers should master:
Brand identity and tone of voice
Consistency across touch-points
Emotional connection and narrative
People remember stories, not slogans.
2. Strategic Foundations
Market research & insights – The discipline of listening before acting.
Competitive analysis: Understand alternatives and whitespace.
Customer journey mapping: Pinpoint friction points and opportunities.
Metrics and KPIs: Define success. For instance, awareness, conversion, retention, loyalty, among others.
Long-term vs. short-term balance: building brand and driving performance.
3. Ethical and Modern Dimensions
Modern marketers have to understand:
Privacy & data ethics – Respect consent and use data responsibly.
Sustainability & social responsibility: Brands are judged by their behaviour.
Digital literacy: SEO, email, social, content, analytics, the tools change; the fundamentals don’t.
Customer experience (CX) – Marketing doesn’t end with the sale.
4. The Marketer’s Mindset Be curious
Always be learning. Be customer-obsessed, not channel-obsessed. Be strategic, but test and adapt. Be authentic. People can smell manipulation and sneaky tactics. If you wanted to boil it all down to one sentence:
Marketing is the art and science of connecting what your organization offers with what people truly value, in a way that benefits both.
