Conclusions — The big picture

Abstract

The recently deceased business and management thinker Peter Drucker once made a very insightful observation about marketing. He reflected that the true goal of marketing is to obviate selling. Marketing, in its ideal state, should fill a real human need and should then be able to execute its plan so seamlessly and effortlessly that no salesperson would ever need to come knocking on the doors. This idea is the same as the proverbial “selling like hot cakes”. The baker does not need a bullhorn to call out for buyers and announce that the cakes are ready. If the latter are any good, buyers will dutifully appear on their own. Their fresh smell is the best advertising. It should be understood that the philosophy underlying reverse psychology marketing is exactly that. It should be possible to market a product or a service in such a natural and understated manner that customers don’t feel they are being pressured to buy something. This is also reminiscent of Lao Tzu’s famous Taoist dictum of wu-wei — “doing nothing and yet everything gets done”.