The Spiritual Side of Marketing Strategy

I believe that the most powerful marketing strategy today has a spiritual element to it. Brand management brings all marketing tools to bear to build up equity in a particular brand. Proctor and Gamble was the first company to organize its marketing efforts around a brand. In branding, managers work to imbue a product with a set of values. Hopefully, these values are attributes of a product that will be perceived as desirable by the buying public. 

Branding goes far beyond demonstrations of a product's consistent good quality, an important value but usually not sufficient to drive sales. Brand management links other product values that will separate it from competing products in the marketplace. A car does not just get you from point A to point B cheaply and effectively. It also expresses the buyer's lifestyle better than any other car. In advertising, these other value statements usually speak the loudest  (see the video for Toyota's Swagger Wagon). In Nike's case, its logo, know as the "shoosh" even unadorned by copy conveys a potent marketing message (product endorsement by celebrities is another story altogether).

Spiritual values can also be potent marketing messages. Consider Texas Interfaith Power and Light. This nonprofit business makes a connection between the theology of creation stewardship and reducing carbon emissions. It has formal ties to the Islamic, Jewish and Christian faith traditions. 

Next: Faith in the Workplace