The Marketing Iceberg Model
The Marketing Iceberg model was developed by Adam Lumb as a simple way of understanding what marketing is and how you can use it to improve your success rate.
What is marketing?
Marketing is aligning what people want with what you have to offer.
Marketing is a matching process.
Brand is a tool that helps you find each other to complete the match.
Marketing is often seen as a promotional activity. This isn’t surprising, as that is the bit you can see. But like many things, it is the tip of the iceberg.
Above the metaphorical waterline of our iceberg is the visible “communication”.
Below the waterline is the “offer”. This can be a product or service that solves a customer want or need.
And below that at the base of the iceberg is “research” to understand your audience’s wants or needs. This means that communications, offer and research form your COR (core) or ROC (rock) solid foundation.
Fixing Misaligned Marketing
You can work this model starting with any aspect, but the important thing is to ensure that you are aligning the right offer to the audience that wants it, and communicating it in a way that clearly says it will solve their need or want.
So, for instance, you might start with a need and then solve that need. Or you might start with a product (for example a film or book) and then find an audience that aligns with it. Both work as long as they align. The primary difference is that if you start with your product or service, then your audience will only ever be as large as the audience that your product or service matches to (and will be constrained by the product’s appeal).
Alternatively, if you choose to start with a target audience in mind, then your product’s appeal will be constrained by the size of the audience.
Depending on the business that you’re in, one approach may give you better results.
As always, it comes down to What is it you want to do? Wherever you start, the important thing is to ensure that you align the three tiers of Communication, Offer and Research with each other.
Once you have that alignment, your brand will become the through line to keep things together and help you and your audience to find each other again and again.
Other definitions of Marketing
The Chartered institute of Marketing (CIM) defines Marketing as:
The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.'
In 2007 they also suggested this alternative definition.
‘The strategic business function that creates value by stimulating, facilitating and fulfilling customer demand. It does this by building brands, nurturing innovation, developing relationships, creating good customer service and communicating benefits. By operating customer-centrically, marketing brings positive return on investment, satisfies shareholders and stake-holders from business and the community, and contributes to positive behavioural change and a sustainable business future.'
The second definition from the CIM can be useful in marketing arts and culture as it substitutes the word “profit” with the word “value”. This can be useful where profit is not the primary goal.
Both definitions are compatible with the Marketing Iceberg model but the model gives a clear visual sense of what marketing is and provides you with a tool to thinking about aligning processes and functions better.