Since I’m so interested in marketing, I’ve come to talk about it with a bunch of friends. What is funny is that I always get the same reactions.

First, people tell me — in a teasing or a much more serious way — that what I’m doing is scamming people and making their lives worse than they already are. Something like working for the dark side of the Force.

How can you deeply believe in God and the importance of goodness in this world and be so passionate about marketing?

Then, they usually pause for a moment, and suddenly they ask:

But what is marketing anyway?

Though most people think that marketing is a set of dark secret tools Illuminati-like villains use to make cash, it’s sadly not — but we love dark villains stories.

Actually, marketing has much more to do with communication than it has with money itself. But what is it anyway?

Marketing is spreading valuable ideas. Or more precisely

Marketing is the art of telling a story that resonates with an audience and then spreads.

– Seth Godin –

Electric cars, smartphones, better taxis, free SMS,… Those are pretty cool ideas. And people who worked to make them really did an incredible job.

But without the spreading of those ideas, without people getting the point of the value those ideas can bring to their lives, you would never have heard of Tesla, the iPhone, Über, or WhatsApp.

And yes, marketing is used by companies like Total. But also by Greenpeace. It is used by dictatures and by the Vatican. By big bank associations who want to make more cash and by small teams of passionate people who want to change the world.

Thus, it is hard to say that marketing is good or bad per se. Are pens objects of the devil because even A. Hitler used one to write Mein Kampf?

Pens and marketing are tools. One will use it badly, others won’t. We can define what good and bad marketings are. But marketing itself is just the tool.

So if you are or want to be involved in any project of any kind — societal, non-governmental, commercial, even spiritual — and never considered the interest of marketing tools to help you, well, you should. By following this blog for instance.

This article is mainly an opinion. Don’t hesitate to join the conversation on Twitter or Instagram.

Hope to see you back soon. Until then, wishing you a great day!