Marketing For Tomorrow, Not Yesterday

by Zain Raj

It’s not enough to play by the old rules of marketing anymore. They’ve changed—for good. In today’s world, the Insight Economy™, even some of the most steadfast and iconic mega-brands are stumbling as they fail to recognize that we’ve moved into a new future. We’ve got educated consumers, brilliant technological advancements, and more channels than ever before.

In Marketing for Tomorrow, Not Yesterday, Zain Raj has scripted a guidebook full of wit and hard-won wisdom that shows how truly understanding your core customer and getting back to basics, is the way that you can conquer complex problems and learn to thrive in this Cambrian era of marketing. With powerful first-hand stories, this book has answers to your questions about how to cut through the noise of big data, how much you should (or shouldn’t) invest in social media, and how to craft marketing and brand-building strategies that net you loyal customers and a long and happy shelf life.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

163 pages, Hardcover

First published November 12, 2015

About the author

A visionary leader, business accelerator and industry futurist, Zain Raj is combining innovation and creativity to create new business models for the future. Zain is the Chairman and CEO of Shapiro + Raj, a independent research and insights company. Zain is also the founder and CEO of zednext, an ideas incubator that takes an objective and disruptive look at issues and trends to help marketers and business leaders realize their full potential in a data-driven, digitally led and insights-driven world. Most recently he was CEO of Epsilon Agency Services (EAS), the largest global CRM and Digital agency.

Zain is author of Brand Rituals™: How Successful Brands Bond with Customers for Life, an Amazon marketing and sales bestseller, which provides a new approach to building brands in today’s digitally-led environment. He is a sought-after speaker on the changing marketing landscape and the importance of return on equity, espousing the view that marketing needs to change people’s behavior, not just attitudes for brands to forge strong relationships with core customers. An evangelist for innovation and strong believer in empowering others, Zain has contributed his insights to The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fast Company, Forbes, Crain’s and publications of the nation’s top business schools.

Reviews

[Gail]

At the intersection of accounting and marketing comes Zain Raj. Although I expected it to be a continuation of Brand Sense, this book looks into the future and is filled with Raj’s signature wry humor.

What’s Raj is arguing is an overhaul of a system that needs that focuses on doubling down on what works, paying attention to the 80-20 rules, and cultivating an environment for insights.

Raj’s argument is so simple it’s almost problematic: Find out what the customer’s want and give it to them. The problem that companies seem to be having is they don’t *know* what they want. They want to know what actions bring results. They want to know what their customers really want … something that isn’t so simple as just digging through data.

I’m reminded of the story of Swiffer in “Imagine: How Creativity Works.” The team in that story faced the problem of how to change mopping and dusting … and they’re incite came after looking at the same data, same boring videos for months on end -- and they realized what the customer really wanted. And they acted on it. It’s those insights that bring a new product or sales pitch to life.

And like Zain who focuses on interdisciplinary responses, he encourages marketers to be a “Marketing Decathlete,”marrying the best of the old marketing concepts with the future of the brand.

Recommended if you’ve enjoyed: From Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't; Imagine: How Creativity Works; and Material Change: Design Thinking in the Social Entrepreneurship Movement; Solving Problems with Design Thinking: 10 Stories of What Worked

[Marissa DeCuir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every entrepreneur needs this book! And this is important to note - this is also incredible information for established companies and brands to learn as well.

Zain Raj has written a clear guide on how to thrive in this new age of marketing, and how to stand out in an overcrowded market. Real solid tips and advice, easy to digest.

A MUST READ for any business person!

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good ideas are drowned out by jokes about how old the author is (couched as experienced), cliches, and the creation of trademarks (whose concepts have been around for years). Not bad, but something you can get reading most trade magazines or going to a good conference. If this book is interesting to you, read Start With Why. It tracks closely and has more depth (originality).

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly one of the best marketing books I've ever read. Zain Raj perfectly puts his finger on the pulse of our economy, and clearly explains why old marketing techniques no longer work, and which new strategies are on the rise and why they're succeeding. A must-read!