Marketing through the ages

From the 1950s to the 1990s, classic advertising had cult status.
However, the greater the variety of products became, the more intensively companies had to deal with advertising in an attempt to win over customers. The development of marketing progressed rapidly during this time. It can be divided into seven phases:

• 1950s: Product orientation

The economic boom slowly began after the war years. Advertising was not yet necessary at this time, as companies were only forced to convince customers when supply exceeded demand. Marketing did not yet exist in this sense - the focus was on boosting and optimizing production.

• 1960s: Sales orientation

Now that supply and demand had roughly converged, companies began to concentrate on selling their products.
In most cases, the focus was on the pure presentation and naming of the product in order to familiarize consumers with it. Emotional foundations for brands were built here.

• 1970s: Market orientation

At this time, companies began to define their markets and target groups and address them precisely.

• 1980s: Competitive orientation

Competition for customers became increasingly fierce and in response to this, the unique selling proposition (USP) of products became the focus of attention in the 1980s.
The best example of this is the Duracell bunny. It "runs and runs and runs", leaving all other batteries far behind.

• 1990s: Environment orientation

Technologies such as the PC saw the light of day at this time and, for the first time, environmental awareness became an issue for the general public. For the first time, advertising focused not only on a product and its immediate benefits, but also on the additional importance of life and the concerns of customers.

• From 2000: Dialogue orientation

The age of online marketing began with the Internet. For the first time, it was now possible to make advertising interactive. Thanks to chats and emails, advertising was no longer necessarily one-sided, but opened up the dialog between customer and company.

• From 2010: Network orientation

Thanks to the booming social networks, the exchange between companies and customers became even more direct. This was also due to completely new formats such as Influencer marketing. From then on, advertising should no longer feel like advertising, but be perceived as added value and welcome information.

Whereas advertising used to be the only marketing measure that had to pursue all marketing objectives such as customer loyalty, branding, etc., today it is used almost exclusively for pure sales. Aspects such as emotionalization or loyalty are now supported by inbound marketing in the form of SEO, social media and Content marketing are served.
The significant changes in the way marketing is viewed also mean that its core tasks have shifted. For a long time, the undisputed focus was on the product and its design, pricing, promotion through communication and image and placement, i.e. sales as instruments.
These approaches have changed in the direction of the customer. Today, consumers are an active part of product development and added value must always be actively and comprehensibly communicated. Today, pricing must be in proportion to recognizable product value and product image.

The journey continues
Marketing has been constantly changing ever since it was invented. But never as profoundly as it has changed with the spread of the internet. While for decades marketing was understood in terms of product orientation, in the last 15 years or so it has evolved from customer orientation to a holistic customer view.

To this day, the adaptation to the new communication channels and media consumption brought about by the digital age is far from complete. We are constantly faced with new challenges such as dependence on opaque algorithms, new disciplines such as SEO and SEAas well as huge amounts of data to manage. The general massive increase in the complexity of opportunities makes it incredibly exciting to follow where marketing is heading.

Just like the quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."