It’s no secret that the power of branded products is such that people pay significantly more than an item’s practical worth for something that they feel conveys distinction upon them. That’s perhaps the main reason why providers of goods and services invest in developing brands in teh first place. It’s also true that many people also seek to distinguish themselves by adopting and manifesting certain – often trendy – philosophies

In the 1930′s, Communism was hip among the American “progressive” intelligensia. The appeal of being seen by one’s fellows as modern and progressive – compared to, say, a member of the stolid middle class – was so strong that many self-annointed Progressives continued to herald the “worker’s paradise” fairy tale long after Stalin’s implacable brutality exposed Communism as a totalitarian nightmare that killed millions. “Useful Idiots” was how Stalin described such people.

Of course, prior to actually applying Communism to a benighted feudal state like Tsarist Russia, it had been mainly an academic theory proposed by a cranky, unkempt German philosopher with a poor grasp of economics let alone the consequences of foisting utopian theories on real people.

Das Kapital is next to impossible for the average person to comprehend so its themes were streamlined, repackaged and distributed by a horde of political con artists from Lenin, Mao and Fidel, to Pol Pot, Kim Jung Il and Hugo Chavez – power-hungry “visionaries” with agendas that had little to do with improving the lot of their fellow beings. Gee, “con artists with hidden agendas’ sounds a lot like what Progressives have to say about marketers and advertising.

In any case, my point is simply that people wear ideas as well as products to define themselves. One such idea today is Global Warming.

No, I am NOT disagreeing that the Earth is warming. It is…incrementally…just as it has in millennia past, after which it then cooled. Remember the Ice Age that killed the Dinosaurs. Not that I do – at least personally – but no one disputes that it happened. Or was it a meteor this killed the dinosaurs, or volcanoes? Still, I don’t think any reasonable person can doubt that our planet is going through a warming period. What I do think is arguable is the cause, which brings me to the Global Warming brand.

A large portion of our society, many of whom consider themselves forward-thinking, enlightened Progressives, believe that Mankind’s ill-conceived technology, greedy thirst for fossil fuels, and General Disregard for the Ecology are cooking the planet. Such is the passion of the GW crusaders that to dispute their beliefs is considered not just wrong, or misguided, but “evil,” and that I believe is the power and attraction of the Global Warming brand. When you profess a concern for Global Warming, you are not just making an observation or advocating an idea, you demonstrating that you are a GOOD AND NOBLE PERSON.

In the process of seeking such righteousness piety, these folks have labeled Global Warming as BAD…ipso facto…across the board…something to be feared, fought and conquered like Fascism and the right to own guns.

The other day I was watching The Universe on the History Channel. The episode’s topic was the dire consequences of Global Warming: melting ice shelves, glaciers no longer moving (ahem) glacially, but virtually racing to the sea, and Greenpeace shuttling polar bears among the last remaining ice flows. Okay, the last example was untrue, though the tenor of the piece was the now rote theme that everything is melting, melting, melting (what a world, what a world!).

Then the narrator intoned something that I’d not heard amid all of the claims that Global Warming is the result of Man’s Wanton Negligence, to wit, the big reason the Earth is warming is that the Sun is gradually getting hotter! Scientists (often invoked but almost never individually named) estimate that in 500,000,000 years mankind will become extinct or – at the very least – will need to find a new home.

Hmmm… Perhaps Global Warming not our fault after all. That’s not to say that we all can’t and shouldn’t live more responsibility, but if the Sun is indeed turning up the heat there’s precious little that we do to stop it. At the end of the day, all Global Warming really means is that things are changing.

Well, things are always changing, and whether the consequences are perceived as good or bad has a lot to do with one’s attitude towards change. You can certainly argue that abrupt environmental changes such as forest fires and earthquakes can be disastrous – especially to folks living in the immediate locale. Yet, it’s also true that wild fires are part of a forest’s regenerative lifecycle, and many of the geographic features prized by outdoor lovers, like alpine lakes and rugged coastlines, are the result of seismic upheaval.

I say, “Why let doomsday prophets highjack the Global Warming brand?” Suppose the Arctic Sea unfreezes to the point where it becomes passable in the summer, couldn’t one consequence be a land rush for vacation property in the vast currently inhospitable tracts of Northern Canada? What if Greenland were to become green as it was when it was originally named? Say that the Equatorial band extends up to Utah; we could fill these newly arid reaches with vast solar energy farms to power our new digs in the Yukon.

After all, scientists (those anonymous sages) give us half-a-billion years to prepare for the direst consequences of Global Warming. It only took mankind 10,000 years to advance from hunting and gathering to space travel. I’m sure we can come up with something.

Google the question “What Is Marketing?” and prepare yourself for a lot of reading. Lots of expert opinions out there, each attempting to be more definitive than the next. Most agree that the marketing either creates or facilitates the relationship between the seller and the buyer but few agree and much beyond that. This should not be surprising if you consider that the question “What Is Marketing?” is really the same question as “What Constitutes a Relationship?”

Many of us have even heard the phrase “Relationship Marketing,” which I consider to be redundant, much like “bitter fighting,” and “liberal Democrat.” But I digress. My thesis is simply that the process of marketing is really no more or less than establishing a relationship between strangers.

If you buy my thesis you might be less impressed with the various marketing gurus that rear up on the horizon and stomp across landscape like Godzilla gobbling up marketing budgets left and right before suddenly disappearing when results don’t pan out.

As a staunch opponent of DIY marketing, I have to grant that the marketing “tools” such as traditional media advertising, branding, direct marketing and the Internet can be difficult to understand and complex to use such that it’s best to get professional help. But the underlying principles of successful marketing should be second nature to members of a social species like us.

1) Choose an appropriate moment to introduce yourself. Big news in the paper the other day: researchers have found that people are more likely to read an ad for goods or a service when they’re already thinking about buying said good or service. If that doesn’t surprise you, it wasn’t a gob-smack for me either. The problem, of course, is how to be on hand at the precise moment someone is searching for what you offer. Historically, that was the role of the Yellow Pages. Today, the jaundiced dinosaur has largely been replaced the Internet, which makes it easy to always ready and waiting – provided that your website isn’t a clunky exercise in self love.

2) Demonstrate genuine Interest in the other person. If you start every conversion with a monologue on your wonderfulness, chances are you’re a hermit. And faking interest in another won’t get you very far either, as anyone who’s tried a “pick up line” can attest. If you want people to be interested in you, begin by being interested in them – and not just in that part of their lives for which you provide a product or service. One way to do this is to provide useful information, e.g., be of value even before you sell anything.

3) Look for an opportunity to provide help. A good way to begin a relationship is to help someone out, like giving a new acquaintance a lift home when it’s raining. Offering such assistance may be inconvenient, but then a willingness to inconvenience yourself on behalf of another demonstrates a genuine concern for their well-being. A good way to do this is to participate in a worthy cause. Don’t just trade dollars for a logo on a t-shirt. Put in time so that you and/or your people can meet and help others.

4) Be honest and relevant. The Bible tells us that the truth will make us free. It can also make you successful. For all the blather about “Hidden Persuaders” and “manipulative messages” the most effective marketing messages have always been those that rang true.

5) Do what you say. This is another way of saying, “avoid hype.” Almost all of us face competition that is as good, or in some cases, superior to what we can make or do. We are saved by the fact that our competition is human. As good as they may be, on their best day, they face the same limitations we do. When their success leads them to grow beyond their capabilities, their quality lags and they disappoint their customers. In this race, victory is not to the biggest, or fastest, but the most reliable.

6) Accept the fact that everyone will not be your friend. Some otherwise successful companies don’t know when to quit. Despite the truism that “you can’t be all things to all people” they insist on winning every battle and wooing every customer. This is greed, pure and simple. These companies often ignore their best customers in pursuit of the newest ones. If do you a good job, you will naturally grow to the point where your quality begins to decline. At that point you can either attempt to expand in a way that maintains quality, or you can prune the least profitable business so you can do an even better job with the profitable stuff. The answer lies in appreciating your customer base and, in doing so, keep your best friends happy.