Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit

Over the years, marketing has mutated through three stages. Many of today's marketers still practice marketing 1.0, some practice marketing 2.0, and a few are moving into marketing 3.0.  The greatest opportunities will come to marketers practicing 3.0.

Marketing 1.0, or "the product-centric era" was that stage where companies appealed to the mind of customers by providing rational arguments why the customer should buy their product.  

Marketing 2.0, "the customer-centric era" was the new stage where companies tried to connect emotionally with the customers so that their preference would be based on a mind and heart connection with the company. Now that almost every organization claims to be customer-oriented, the strategy is no longer sufficient. We are witnessing the rise of Marketing 3.0 or "the human-centric era."  Instead of people being treated as consumers, they are treated as human beings who are active, anxious, and creative.  They are no longer isolated but are connected. They are no longer unaware but are informed. They are no longer passive but are active.  They want to participate in value creation. They want to satisfy deeper needs—not just traditional needs and wants.  They want to live more creative and fulfilled lives.

Marketing 3.0 is the latest stage where companies are seeking to connect with the customers' spirit in this age where customers want the company to assume more social responsibility for the issues that concern all of us (environment, poverty, disease, drugs...) A company such as S. C. Johnson is connecting with all three customer touchpoints: mind, heart, and spirit.