Culture in Marketing | Marcus Collins | 544

Why do we do what we do and buy what we buy?What invisible forces drive those actions - and how can they be seen? Today our guest is Marcus Collins an award-winning marketer and culture translator.  He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business and an award-winning author.  His newest book is For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be. Marcus shares how there is no greater external force more influential to human behavior than culture! However, if you ask ten people what culture is you'll get a different answer each time. Marcus explains that you must understand who you are, how you see the world, and what you believe if you are going to create a coherent and positive culture. Marcus's first solo book For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be came from his exploration of social sciences to understand better who we are as people and what the underlying physics of why we take the actions we do.  Marcus states that as a marketer we have to gain that understanding to get others to adopt the behavior we are promoting. While launching the book Marcus chose to eat his own dog food, taking the same approach to his book launch as he would launch a client's product.  Building out from understanding the culture the book represents he reached out to former students who embraced the thinking he taught, enlisting them to boost the signal of the book on launch day.  By doing this he created a following of true believers willing to evangelize his book and ideas! Marcus shares smart advice for anyone who feels their culture is lacking clarity or for those who struggle to truly connect to their target audience.  Three Key Takeaways: ·         There is no external force more influential to human behavior than culture. ·         It's about getting your thinking in the hands and minds of more people. ·         If you can activate people with shared convictions, then those people will evangelize on your behalf.