Marketers vs. Predators

from time to time, you hear about companies who “prey” upon consumers. while an isolated few businesses are guilty as charged, this is largely exaggerated. the basic principles of marketing prevent this from happening. marketers are trained to target the strong. no doubt you’ve heard slogans like “an educated consumer is our best customer” and others. marketing typically costs substantial money, which means there are natural forces in play to pitch those who are most financially able to make the investment a worthwhile endeavor. the greatest secondary benefit of sound marketing is referrals — which spring most easily from connected, convincing people. these practices are in stark contrast to how predators behave. in nature, the most important principle of successful predation is to target the weak, the outlier — the least able in sight. if companies pursued this method of capture, they would ultimately lose money. pricepoint would be lower. referrals would be severely down or nill. it is not sustainable practice.