Measles and Marketing

The recent measles outbreak stemming from Disneyland has exposed an interesting character in the pantheon of modern parents – the anti-vaxxer. Most of us knew they were out there, but probably not in such numbers to cause a minor epidemic. They all have one thing in common – they think that they know more than a doctor does about vaccinations and their side effects in children.

I hadn’t really thought about this until seeing Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue and PSA about vaccinations, but if you think about it, it appears objectively true. What we have here is a group of parents who have decided they know more than a doctor does about vaccinations.

Marketing is much the same. It seems  just about everyone who has ever been in business thinks they know about marketing. 

I hear from business people all the time about what makes “good marketing,” or that a campaign will never work for some reason, or that I must do social media, because all good marketers do social media. There are endless variations on this theme.

Here’s what I rarely find – people with training and experience in marketing telling me any of these things.

I’ve never understood this. Why is it that everyone assumes they know about marketing? They don’t assume to know about accounting, finance, operations, or sales (unless they’re one of those folks who think that sales is marketing). But for some reason, my chosen profession apparently requires no training or expertise for people to know it or understand it. I welcome your comments.