How Has Marketing Evolved Through The Ages

Word of mouth

We begin in ancient times. Around 3000 BC it is believed that the first marketplaces were established - the first designated parts of cities for people to trade goods. In order to stand out from competitors, vendors would have used their voice to attract people to their stall - something that you can still witness today in many modern marketplaces. The Romans and Greeks would later perfect the ‘sales pitch’ - forums were designated for public announcements and business owners could come here and promote their businesses via speeches.

Print marketing

Signs, posters and message boards have also been used since ancient times to promote foods. In fact, there is evidence of the Ancient Egyptians using hieroglyphics to promote goods. However, using text and images to advertise goods didn’t truly take off until the invention of the printing press in 1440. Over the following centuries, more people learned to read and write and print costs became cheaper. By the 1800s, mass-produced pamphlets, posters and billboards had become commonplace. Businesses could also pay for adverts in newspapers and magazines. 

Telemarketing

The invention of the telephone would lead to the adoption of ‘sales calls’ or ‘telemarketing’. There is evidence that companies were using telephones to sell to customers as early as the late 1800s. However, the first telemarketing call center would not be established until the 1950s and it would still take a couple decades for telesales to become mainstream. The heyday of telesales was without a doubt the 1980s. Today, selling over the telephone is still a popular strategy, but forms of telesales like ‘cold-calling’ are much less popular due to heavy regulation and the ability to see callers’ IDs and block numbers. 

Radio advertising

The first radio advert was aired on August 22nd 1922 via a New York radio station called WEAF. It was a 15 minute commercial promoting apartments in Jackson Heights, Queens. This would revolutionize marketing by allowing companies to broadcast their message to thousands of different people in different locations at the same time. Radio advertising remains popular today with some online radio stations now broadcasting radio adverts across the world.

TV advertising

The first ever TV advert was aired on July 1st, 1941 on WNBT. It was an advert for Bulova watches. This saw broadcasted adverts being taken to the next level - combining visuals and sound. This marks the beginning of video marketing by companies. Until relatively recently, the TV was the only real medium to broadcast these videos on and many smaller companies could not afford to invest in video advertising. The internet would eventually change this - making it possible for any company to upload and share a video for free.

Email marketing

The first email was sent in 1971. A few years later in 1978, Gary Thuerk of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) is believed to have launched the first mass email campaign. In the 90s, more consumers began buying PCs and signing up to email accounts. This would lead to the popularization of email marketing by companies. In fact, email marketing became so popular in the late 90s and early 00s that laws had to be brought in to restrict it (such as the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act of 2007). Email marketing is much more regulated today with a focus on building mailing lists of willing subscribers. It remains a fast and cheap alternative to physical mail. 

Websites

The first website was launched in 1991. Pretty soon after this, it was apparent that websites were the future. Websites were able to serve as digital catalogues and online stores all-in-one. Throughout the 90s, more companies began launching websites. By the late 00s, it had become the norm for every sizable business to have a website. Today, they continue to serve as digital hubs to base one’s entire marketing from - everything from online ads to flyers can be used to connect people to your website. 

Search engine marketing

Search engines were launched in the 90s and helped provide a directory for websites. Before search engines, people would use a phonebook to look up the phone number of companies. Search engines have pretty much killed off phonebooks and have helped introduce new types of marketing. PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising is a popular form of online advertising that involves displaying online adverts for a select period and paying for them based on how many clicks they receive. Using a PPC agency, you can display your website listing as an advert at the top of the search engine results page by targeting certain keywords. SEO is meanwhile a tactic used to boost one’s organic rankings - this would take off in the 00s and relies on tactics like using keywords and boosting webpage speed. 

Mobile marketing

Text messaging was introduced in the 90s. By the 00s, companies were starting to take advantage of this - sending promotional texts to customers via their mobile phones. SMS marketing remains popular today. However, it is not the only form of mobile marketing. The development of the smartphone in the late 00s would change marketing forever by making it possible for mobile users to access the internet from their phones from any location. This led to the popularisation of company apps, mobile-friendly websites and social media marketing.

Social media marketing

Social media sites took off in the mid-00s. In 2007, Facebook launched its Facebook Ads platform, which would forever change the way people used social media. Businesses began using social media to promote their products and services via targeted ads. In the 2010s, a new type of social media marketing known as influencer marketing would become popular - paying influential social media users to promote businesses and reach a larger audience. Social media has now become the focus of marketing for many modern companies. It is a landscape that is still transforming rapidly as social media platforms introduce new ways to broadcast and monetize content.

What’s the next stage for marketing?

It’s difficult to know which direction marketing will take next. If it was obvious, marketers would be doing it already. Is digital marketing still the future? Or will traditional marketing methods make a comeback?