Is There a Cure for Marketing Overload ?

Is There a Cure for Marketing Overload ?

Marketing overload is personally the sense of being the target of too many marketing strategies.

Where is a cure when marketing is everywhere you go ?

As you traverse the pages of the Web, there are ads decorating almost every web page.

As you drive your car, you pass advertisements on signs, buildings, and other vehicles.

You also hear and see ads on TV and radio. It is almost unavoidable.

In “A Theory of Marketing: Outline of a Social Systems Perspective,” Marcus Ludicke puts it very well:

“Global corporations satisfy, enchant, bore, and annoy societies with an overwhelming abundance of products, services, promises, life-styles, and trademarks.

The world religions have lost the privilege of being the best-known social institutions as the Coca-Cola brand…has taken over that coveted title.”

The interesting thing about Ludicke’s remarks is that companies probably think they have no other choice than to create these promises. How else will they sell you their wares? What is interesting is the choice of the word “lifestyle.” How many times have you wanted to buy a product or service because of a lifestyle you sought?

Deciding what type of lifestyle you want provides the cure for marketing overload. Here are some things you can do to determine your own lifestyle:

1. Remember that no corporate marketing ploy can give you a lifestyle. For example, not everybody who owns a Hummer is happy. Did you stop to think that the cost of gas in this day and age might be killing a Hummer owner’s lifestyle? Maybe the owner really wants to buy a compact car, but what would people say?

2. Companies can try really hard to get you to buy something, but you make the ultimate decision whether to buy it from them. When you shop with lists, you are less likely to buy something you don’t need.

3. Material happiness does not bring you inner happiness. If you can really accept the truth behind this idea, then you can stop wasting your money trying to find material happiness.

Although some marketing and advertising is acceptable, companies often go too far. Make up your own mind about what is important for your lifestyle and spend your money accordingly. Most of the time, the lifestyle that you were promised by a marketing strategy will never come true.