The Year's Main Marketing Messages

This was a big year for marketing, and marketers should come away from it with a better understanding of what makes their customers/donors tick. Here are three of the main ways marketing was turned on its head in 2010 — and what that means for fundraisers.

1. People don't trust marketers. They trust each other. Once upon a time, we believed the claims in the ad that said, "More doctors smoke Camel than any other cigarette!" Now we look at marketing with skepticism and even scorn. We don't trust much of the marketing from companies, government, institutions or charities. Only 6 percent of people say they believe marketers' claims, according to Forrester Research.