Everyone can be marketer

I am not sure if this happens to most of the Marketing graduate when you mention about your major to a stranger:

Situation A
Me: I majored in Marketing.
Stranger: Oh, do you need to major in selling?
Me: Selling is just part of marketing process.
Stranger looks at you in puzzle - isn't it the same?

Situation B
Me: I am a Marketing graduate.
Stranger: Ah. To be honest, everyone can be a marketer without graduating as one.
Me: Yes, you are right. It's really about common sense most of the time but not many are privileged with that ability.

People seem to misunderstand and disparage marketing profession by scoffing at how easy it is to sell with talks only. In most of the circumstances, people comment marketing is all about common sense. I have to agree to this remark wholeheartedly just because common sense is no longer common in practices nowadays. However, strategy is another part of marketing that delivers the talk. It's as easy as quoting example of how to build your brand as an emerging player in an industry - commonly, you would think of what products for which group of customers and the distribution system to reach the customers. Look, you almost have everything figured out without graduating as a marketer. Nonetheless, putting all these efforts into your selling chain does not help you to create a visible, successful brand to achieve top-of-the-mind awareness. 

With increasing presence of the digital platform, people are more educated with the meaning of marketing. In the past, we had been focusing on the execution rather than the strategy. Let's use retail stores in a mall as an example, think about what stops and attracts you to walk in one of the clothing shops first, then second, and last? When you walk in the clothing shop, which segment would draw your attention first? It seems all like selling to you virtually, and all these displays have its strategy beneath to promote and sell. Now we get back to online presence which is more competitive than the retails because sellers have millions of products to push at the face of an individual consumer. With these overwhelming information, the one particular content which is more relevant to the consumer, or the catchy one would attract attention, even though it is less relevant. Think again of all these interaction you have experienced in digital world, the objective, expectation and outcome are what you and I will relate to logically - aren't they common sense as well?

Now, let's talk about the people who are involved in marketing - I would say, each and every one of us does marketing every day. Marketing is as common as in starting a conversation like this - you strategise and construct an opener, communicate about your objectives, listen for opportunities, and sell your solutions. This communication is not limited to business context such as daily operations, job interviews, business pitch, coaching employee, networking; but it expands in social context as well in instances of telling jokes to friends, guiding your children to read, telling bedtime story, and offering words of comfort. Wouldn't you wonder how social influencers take the internet by storm as a new profession in selling without actual selling like traditional celebrity endorsement? 

We are constantly marketing and creating our personal branding on daily basis. Surprisingly, many are still denying the fact that they are not part of marketing; and little do they know, marketing is bunch of "common senses" that are not put to practices; and how the marketers turn these "common senses" to a clear goal and specific strategies in every level of communication to ensure their brand's existence and to create sustainable presence in reaching the right audience.