Stop Thinking Like A Business Student

My wife and I recently had a discussion concerning our alma mater. She had just spoken to one of her mentors, who called our alma mater’s business college “incestuous”. He was referring to the fact that the business college allows you to minor only in a subject in the same college.

I did not realize this because I never explored the option of a minor. I got my degree in marketing as soon as I could and never considered anything else.

For reference, my wife graduated with a sociology degree. Her mentor was ranting that sociology would be a great minor for someone majoring in marketing. He argued that marketing is a discipline of sociology (maybe it should be called “consumer sociology”).

And I agree. There was a time when I considered majoring in sociology. Just before I settled on marketing. The concept of sociology intrigued me — the study of social human behavior. I’ve always found people to be very interesting, and I’ve always been a people watcher. So I thought, what could be better? Then I decided that I had better get a degree that might be more useful.

So that’s how I got into marketing.

Now that I’m out of the classroom and actually do independent reading, I realize that marketing is a very social study. Marketing is the study of people’s purchasing motivations. What do they relate with? What are they willing to spend time and money on?

When people make purchases, they do not always do so for the most logical reasons. They do not always make the most economical decisions. Often they make a decision because it makes them feels good. Does this make sense? No, but guess what — people don’t make sense. That’s what makes them interesting.

So why do I feel that sociology is relevant to marketing? Marketing and sociology are concerned with many of the same things (demographics and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, for instance). And because people’s purchasing decisions are rarely based on business concepts. If you’re always thinking like a businessman and spouting off jargon, you’re likely not going to hit people where it counts — in their hearts.

In order to do that, you need a better understanding of people. And you don’t get that from marketing alone. A business student should feel free to dabble in sociology or psychology in order to gain a better understanding of who he’s trying to reach.

You hear it over and over again — new marketing is all about connections and interaction. How do you expect to connect and interact with people if you can’t understand them and can’t relate? Stop looking at people as dollar signs. Start seeing them for what they are: very simple, yet very complicated and contradictory beings.

Tagged as: Marketing, sociology