In the following video, I give a quick, 5-minute book review of The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI, written by Carlos Gil. I give the book 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend reading it. Please enjoy the videos below and subscribe to my Youtube channel to be notified when new videos are added.
The End of Marketing Book Review
The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI by Carlos Gil
Carlos is a personal friend of mine. I know his family. He knows my family. And what I admire about Carlos is his passion. And if you know Carlos, you know exactly what I mean.
Carlos does a really good job contextualizing marketing in a way that makes it relevant to most audiences and equates it to things that he cares about, like professional wrestling.
In chapter 3, he talks about brands being likable but also being savage, like Randy. He was talking about Randy “the Macho Man” Savage. I was also a hulk-a-maniac and WWF/NWA and AWA fan of the early ’80s, so I can appreciate his analogies.
His book goes pretty deep into everything from audiences to specific social platforms, organic reach, paid reach, influencer marketing, employee advocacy, and so much more.
There was one portion of the book that really spoke to me, and on the surface, it’s very intuitive. But surprisingly, and still today, many companies don’t follow these five basic principles.
Be real. Seems straightforward, right? Well, it is, and it isn’t. Being real means taking risks and taking a stand for what you believe in. Not being afraid to align your narrative to a larger cultural or societal issue. The problem is that many companies don’t know what it means to be real. Mainly because they don’t know yet what they stand for.
Be relevant. Reading this chapter reminded me of Super Bowl XLVII (47) with the Baltimore Ravens and the 49ers. To refresh your memory, the 49ers were down 18 points at halftime. The power went out for like 30 minutes, and then the infamous Oreo tweet happened. I missed it because I was like 5 IPAs in and not in the best mood. Nonetheless, while the Oreo tweet was a success, every brand has tried to do the same and hijack cultural events to reach a large audience. The issue is .. they aren’t doing a really good job because they aren’t being true to their real audience.
Don’t sell. I don’t necessarily agree with Carlos on this point, and maybe it’s just a matter of semantics. But I understand what Carlos means by “not selling,” and he gives a great example of how DJ Khaled weaves Ciroc Vodka into his daily storytelling, which is good practice for companies.
Celebrate success. Carlos is talking about social intelligence and building brand advocacy with your customers in this context. So, in essence, when they buy your product and talk about it online, or write a review on Amazon.com, or if you are B2B company and there’s a review on G2, Carlos is saying that brands need to acknowledge it, and celebrate it.
Win more. And winning can mean a lot of different things to different people. For me, it’s destroying the competition by any means necessary. Better content, better stories. Better brand influencer programs and social customer service. When you are better than your competitors, you sell more products. And when that happens, you do win. The only caveat is that you have to have a good product too.
What I love about this book is that it applies to marketing managers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and even college students.
You can essentially read and study this book and know just about everything you need to know to be successful using social media, not just for the company you work for, but it also applies to building your own brand.
I’ve decided to make this book mandatory reading for my class at San Jost State next semester. Also, here’s the Age of Influence Book Review if you’re interested.
I hope you enjoyed the End of Marketing Book Review.