Philosophy is a hardcore field of study. Its topics are often difficult to grasp, and with no inherently right or wrong answers, debates can devolve into pretentious bickering matches. Whether we actively engage in philosophical thinking or not, there’s no denying that much of what we consider to be common sense and logic today is influenced from the teachings of famous philosophers – most notably, the big three of Ancient Greece.
As a marketer, how does philosophy come into play when we are cooking up content for our audiences? Join Wordsmith as we get a little philosophical!
The foundation of deeper thinking
Before we continue, we must confess that philosophy is not one of our strong suits. Thankfully, we do have Caroline Taggart’s book A Classical Education: The Stuff You Wish You’d Been Taught at School – which includes a handy chapter outlining the (in)famous Greek philosophers. Let’s start with the grandfather of philosophy: Socrates.
According to Taggart, Socrates was one of those rare individuals who had been gifted with common sense – a simple trait that many at the time lacked. He refused to take any statement or belief at face value, and upon discovering a flaw or contradiction (which he did too often), he would destroy poor arguments and crush fragile egos.
“To be any good at talking to Socrates, you had to have a really deep, coherent understanding of your point of view, and be able to justify it rationally,” described Taggart. “This questioning shouldn’t be seen as negative and destructive – underlying it was a search for truth.”
Naturally, Socrates made lots of enemies, including priests and the people who worshipped the Greek Gods. During one such encounter, Socrates approached an important priest and asked him what “piety” meant.
Without hesitation, the priest defined it as “honouring the Gods and doing their will” – not too different from what any religious person today would say, wouldn’t you agree? However, the Ancient Greeks were polytheistic with a big roster of Gods residing on Mount Olympus. More concerningly, many of these Gods didn’t see eye to eye and were in constant petty fights with one another. Socrates pointed this out and challenged the priest, “if two Gods are quarreling, who do I honour?”
The priest was left speechless.
Socrates was ultimately sentenced to death for his reckless questions, but he did inspire deeper thinking amongst a great deal of people.
Consumers have also evolved a lot since the days of Ancient Greece – here’s why:
1. Common sense is more common (for the most part anyway) – with skepticism being the norm, only the gullible believe the first thing they hear
2. Information is readily available for anyone who seeks it – the Internet makes factchecking easy, and with the popularity of social media, bad experiences are often quickly relayed
3. The market is loaded with close substitutes – unless dealing with a monopoly, there are plenty of products that claim to do the same thing. Consumers are overloaded with choice and never have to look far for an alternative.
For us modern marketers, it’s really not worth lying to our audiences when even the simplest of lies can destroy brand and reputation! So, how can we ensure that consumers won’t have second thoughts about our content?
· Anticipate audience’s distrust by backing up claims with facts, testimonials and data
· Make information easy to locate – attempts to hide information will be met with distrust
· Allow audiences to voice their opinions, especially when dealing with negative feedback – companies that hide/delete (warranted) negative feedback are quickly met with backlash… instead, address these mistakes and come up with proper solutions.
The “perfect” society
Plato is the next big mind in philosophy. He founded the “Academy” – a place where people could engage in the study of philosophy – and as a pupil of Socrates, he also taught others to be skeptical and cynical.
The Republic was arguably Plato’s most controversial work, where he discussed what being a “virtuous” person meant. To Plato, a truly virtuous person was one who was selfless and wholly devoted themselves to the common good.
Unfortunately, many would consider marketing to be the antithesis of virtue. To be devoted to the common good, a business would need to forsake profits and selfish interests – which goes against everything in a capitalist society. It might work for a non-profit organisation or charity that can rely on external funding, but a for-profit business would eventually turn bankrupt.
While Plato’s ideals may not be too suited for marketing, the next philosopher’s insights might hold more value for modern-day marketing professionals.
Grounding philosophy
Aristotle is one of the many descendants of Plato’s Academy. He would eventually become tutor to Alexander the Great and then create the “Lyceum” (a research community), where his works would dominate western philosophy.
“Aristotle’s philosophical approach was to solve problems: to take questions that puzzled mankind and find ever more complex answers to them,” wrote Taggart. “He was interested in everything from metaphysics to biology, invented formal logic and viewed the adaptations of plants and animals to their way of life as an argument against a random creation of the universe.”
Beyond his insatiable appetite for logic, Aristotle’s ability to ground perspectives made his arguments even more persuasive. “Most of the others lived in and wrote about some sort of ideal world; Aristotle acknowledged that, although virtue was essential to happiness, it had to be considered in a concrete situation as a mean point between two opposite evils,” added Taggart.
In other words, although happiness stemmed from virtues, it must be considered in a way that’s relevant to a person and their circumstances. Taggart points to a famous example involving a cobbler and his craft – although every craftsman should always strive to make the best quality goods, is it fair to judge a cobbler poorly if he only had access to inferior leather? It would not. Instead, it’s how well he can use that cheap leather that matters.
Going back to Plato’s concept of virtuousness, we can’t expect businesses to truly be virtuous because it’d sacrifice self-interests – but if we applied Aristotle’s concept as well, we can say that a virtuous marketer was someone who looked out for the community.
To do so, we’d need to develop a strong sense of empathy and be willing to listen to the struggles and concerns of our audience. We could always push new products/services and hope that our audiences will bite, but when we specifically target our audience’s troubles and tailored content around it, they are much more willing to listen and be interested – benefitting both our consumers and revenues!
Philosophy is often propped up to be a big and complicated subject, but it ultimately boils down to common sense and logical thinking. If we take our marketing and toss it at audiences without proper consideration, you’re leaving it up to a game of chance. Can it pay off? Yes, but it also comes with uncertainty. On the other hand, well-planned content can eliminate much of this risk. You don’t need a PhD in philosophy to know that it’s just better for business!