There were various arrangements between Noblemen and Commoners, some very oppressive, where the Noblemen would get the better part of the Commoners production and the Commoners were required to pay taxes to the Noblemen. The Noblemen in turn were required to pay taxes to the King.  The Noblemen could use their share of the Commoner’s production to feed themselves or have it sold in the marketplace.

The Commoners, who were agriculture and livestock farmers, worked to produce in excess of what was demanded of them by their Noblemen and the needs of their own families. They would take that excess to the marketplace within the castle and sell it and make some extra cash or they could trade (barter) for other things they needed that they themselves couldn’t produce. This was their method of improving their standard of living.

So where did the term Marketing come from?

One of the farmer’s wives asked another “Where is your husband?” The response was “Oh, he’s gone Marketing”, meaning he went to the castle to sell or barter his excess production. That was the first use of the word – the farmer’s wives coined it.

Well you say, that’s not much marketing. Ok. let’s look at the parts of it. The farmers had to figure out what to sell. Tomatoes might not make the long bumpy trip and still be good, but wheat and corn could. So they were some of the first products that were viable to sell that others had a need for. Wheat and corn were popular items at the time. So they selected a product that would create Sales and if they were smart – Profit.

Then you had to get the corn and wheat into a transportable form. You couldn’t just throw it in the back of a cart. It had to be bundled somehow so it could be handed to someone who would pay you. So, the farmers would get their wives to make burlap sacks to transport the corn and wheat and Packaging was born.

Next was how do we get the corn and wheat to market? Getting the corn to market required at least a cart and a horse – too heavy to haul by yourself. So now we have Shipping.

Once the farmer arrived in the marketplace, he found there were a lot of other vendors selling their corn and wheat. So how did he solve that problem? As this was not his primary source of sustenance he didn’t have to charge as much as other vendors – whatever he made was additional income. So now we have competitive Pricing.

But how would anyone know he had better pricing? Well your Location was important (ask McDonald’s). People had to be in the area where you set up shop to sell.

Then you had to tell people somehow what you were selling. Most people couldn’t read, so signage wasn’t ready as an art yet, but you could spread the word by telling everyone you met. Well, telling people is one way, that’s Word-Of-Mouth Advertising. Yelling at the top of your lungs about what you are selling and its benefits – cost, freshness and all that, is Promotion. Getting people who bought and liked your corn to tell their friends to come and buy from you and giving them an extra bag of corn for doing so, is Referral Marketing.

So now, some of the local vendors thought, instead of competing with these farmers, why don’t we get them to do all the hard work and supply us and we’ll sell it for them and we’ll split the profits. Some of them would even sell to other vendors. So they set up their Supply and Distribution Lines.

Certain farmers would become known for their quality by the consumers in town so the farmers would get their wives to stitch their last names onto the burlap bags. This way, no matter who sold it, the consumers could recognize their favorite farmers wheat and corn and that landed us at Branding.

So, that’s where it all started and just look at what it’s become! The basics were invented long ago and a good understanding of them will make today’s marketing technology appear much simpler and I hope this article has increased your depth of comprehension of the basics of Marketing.

– Ron Norton

Copyright © 2019 by Ronald C. Norton