Can Marketing learn from Religion?

It’s often hard for people to step back and look at religion objectively. The very title of this blog post is interesting yet slightly disturbing.

Disclaimer 1: I consider myself religious and do not want to offend any religion or any particular group, person or faith

Disclaimer 2: I am NOT an atheist nor am I promoting their ideas

I simply observe, analyse and interpret things in order to lean more. Effective Communication with an open-mind is the key and the cornerstone for understanding this matter further.

Politics and Religion have always been the oldest strongest examples of marketing that man has ever known. The irony is that today most people do not even know it completely and yet they follow it, adapt to it, spread news about it, live by it, die for it, rebel against it, be indifferent towards it or simply ignore it. You may be already getting second thoughts on reading this further and that’s the whole point because you have already subscribed to some religious school of thought or political party for or ideals for that matter. Let’s compare marketing and religion in general and leave politics for another blog. 

MARKETING	RELIGION
It creates needs and fulfills wants to achieve customer satisfaction profitably	It fulfills basic needs for your soul, then promises bliss and eternal happiness at the cost of sacrificing certain desires, lifestyle or habits (and in some cases wealth too).
It contains concepts and jargon which most people think they understand	It is based on concepts and has a lot of terminology which most people do not know how to interpret and simply follow others
It focuses on brand building and has logos	It focuses on making the faith and its followers stronger and they do have symbols to differentiate
Its roots stem from psychology	It revolves around philosophy, ethics, cosmology, metaphysics and jurisprudence
It is a science with artistic values	It is a science and the way we study, practice it becomes an art
It caters to products and services	It caters to the human needs and soul satisfaction
It is run by agencies and businesses	It is run by trusts, individuals, families, empires or communities
Has different forms and stages	It is layered and going in-depth makes one a sage or fanatic
We are exposed to it since a young age	We are exposed to it since we are born and till we die
Different cultures adopt different styles	Different religions have sub-faiths, cults and schools of thought
Results in Gaining rewards or suffering Losses	Promotes good deeds and repentance and shuns evil
Stories & claims are reinforced again and again	Stories are narrated time and again to reinforce faith
Advertisements are paid for and non-personal in nature	Charities, donations and trusts fund religious causes and community building in general
Uses various tools to execute ideas into action	Uses relics, literature, spirituality and in some cases blind faith
The idea is to make customers loyal to a brand through advertisements & promotions	Every religion wishes to attract more followers by having a display of festivals, pilgrimages and auspicious periods.
Messages are often misunderstood by audiences	Most of the time verses taken out of context and misinterpreted
Uses social and digital media today	Every religion has it follower base or forum online.

The above were just some of the thoughts that one can think of, there are plenty otherwise. There may be some who disagree and you are free to read on or close your browser or go to another website/blog as you are reading this. Anyway, so in a nutshell one would observe that people need a sense of belonging to something much larger than life, media and popular culture help us to do so, it becomes a societal norm to follow a school of thought(s), larger numbers encourage more interaction and participation (sheep mentality) and stories are narrated, reinforced time and time again to drive a point. Wouldn’t you agree that marketing and religion fit the above statement?

If not…. leave the blog or else continue to read on.

Much of the business and marketing world clearly has taken cues from what religion has done successfully for centuries. Religion successfully gathers people globally to publicly brand themselves as followers and work without any compensation through word of mouth marketing to attract new members to their religious brand of choice. Most studies show that religion even affects consumer behavior.

So as marketers, what can we learn from religion:

1)      Strengthen the brand by creating a following: Digital tools and social media when used creatively have helped brands over the years, yet Religion has existed successfully in many forms for centuries mainly because people desire to belong to something.

2)      Be open to collective ideas: The new generations Z are not satisfied with relics, claims of their forefathers. Many of the current religions and large businesses are already relics in the mind of today’s young digital-born generation. The successful businesses of tomorrow will not be the ones that mimic the religious institutions and businesses of the previous generations with a pure top-down approach.  The way moving forward is to collaborate ideas from all your stakeholders into the mix – include everyone, especially your customers and front-line workers.

3)      Kill the machine-logic - You are not great merely because you say you are.  Prove yourself in tangible formats so that your marketing messages can be backed up with case studies, testimonials, tangible proof, etc. Mainly, figure out new ways to learn and experiment with new ideas.

4)      Drop the negatives and absorb the positives – Every religion has some negative aspect over time due to its leader or follower(s). In marketing, the company may have a bad reputation but a wonderful product or vice-versa. Marketers need to take the positive of religion and not the negatives into their ideas, processes or designs.

5)      Don’t be pushy and Interfering – Many religions and faiths have been short-lived or had a great downfall where only part of their remains live up to the day as a reminder of their failure. Most religions are viewed negatively since they meddle so much. Trying to force yourself/your brand on people by knocking on doors and forcing your beliefs into areas they don’t belong does hurts your reputation and will backfire in the long term.

6)      Study sociology and history - The best marketers have a strong understanding not just of business and playing the corporate game, but more importantly of our culture and the bigger picture of how society has been and is currently functioning.  Studying everything in our world, from religion and politics to popular culture will help you be far more effective in creating strategic communications. Learn what makes ideas spread and learn the content archetypes for ideas that stick and apply it to your own marketing solutions. Learn where other companies went wrong so you don’t repeat that mistake.

7)     The Brand/Product/service Story attracts people – Religions all over the world have attracted followers by narration of heart-touching stories, narrations about personalities and miracles that have occurred in ancient or today’s times. If marketers call sell stories backed up with proof and have an emotional connect (at any level) – you’ve got yourself a loyal consumer.

No matter what your belief, faith or religion is – it is an undeniably powerful marketing force.  The answer to me is YES, marketing can learn from religion and hopefully this blog can serve as an eye-opener to the obvious truth and not to question religion; rather learn marketing from religion as a medium or vehicle to shape the very direction of our society.