At a recent Philippine Marketing Association (PMA) gathering, Dr. Donald Patrick Lim, a former PMA president who currently leads the Management Association of the Philippines and DITO CME Holdings Corporation, presented his “Seven New Laws of Marketing”, examining how artificial intelligence (AI), changing consumer behavior, and new forms of media are reshaping the profession.
His presentation covered several developments, including the growing influence of AI on purchasing decisions, the increasingly complex customer journey, and the ability of businesses and individuals to become media creators.
Of the seven laws, the one that stayed with me most was his final point: Marketing Must Drive Growth. It made me reflect on how we approach marketing within organizations. Campaigns, promotions, content creation, and brand awareness remain important activities.
Yet their contribution becomes more meaningful when they help businesses identify opportunities, strengthen customer relationships, develop new markets, and improve financial performance.
This also changes what organizations should expect from marketing professionals. Beyond executing campaigns, they can contribute customer insights, connect people across business functions, and help develop collaborations that create value. The opportunity to become a game changer comes from understanding how marketing decisions affect the wider organization.
Understanding the customer of one
Another concept that intrigued me was what Donald described as the target market of one. He used Spotify’s annual listening recap as an example of personalization. Millions of people use the platform, yet each receives a summary reflecting individual listening habits and preferences. The experience makes a large digital service feel personally relevant.
I wondered how smaller businesses could apply this principle, particularly those operating in the physical world.
A neighborhood restaurant, local retailer, resort, or cooperative may lack the technology and resources available to a global digital platform. Its employees also have limited time to attend to individual preferences, especially during busy periods.
Perhaps the opportunity lies in understanding what makes personalization valuable rather than attempting to replicate the technology behind it.
A restaurant may recognize returning customers and remember their usual orders. A resort may ask about the purpose of a visit and recommend suitable activities. A retailer may learn which products customers frequently request and adjust its offerings accordingly.
These practices depend on attentive service, reliable processes, and the willingness to learn from customer interactions. Simple digital tools can help businesses maintain useful information and coordinate service, provided customer privacy and consent are respected.
Personalization also has practical limits. A business must determine which adjustments genuinely improve the customer experience and whether it can deliver them consistently and affordably. Serving individual needs should strengthen the business rather than create operational demands it cannot sustain.
Customers are choosing their own paths
Donald emphasized that customers no longer follow the marketing funnels businesses carefully illustrate in their plans.
A customer may discover a product through TikTok, consult ChatGPT for alternatives, watch a YouTube review, compare prices through an online marketplace, and seek recommendations from friends before deciding where to purchase.
Another customer may begin with a personal recommendation and proceed directly to a physical store. The process varies according to the product, the urgency of the need, and the information available.
This creates a challenge for businesses accustomed to directing customers through a predetermined sequence of messages. People increasingly choose their own sources of information and move between online and offline experiences.
AI adds another consideration. As consumers use AI tools to research products, services, and destinations, businesses need to make accurate information about their offerings publicly accessible and easy to understand.
Maintaining updated websites, product descriptions, business listings, and other reliable information can improve digital discoverability. However, appearing in AI-generated recommendations is never guaranteed. Businesses have limited control over which sources these systems retrieve or how information is presented.
Customer experiences remain influential throughout this process. Reviews, referrals, and conversations can help prospective buyers evaluate what a business offers. Encouraging genuine feedback, including constructive criticism, also gives organizations information they can use to improve their services.
Technology may change how people discover businesses, but relationships and word of mouth continue to influence purchasing decisions.
Connecting with the next generation
Donald’s discussion about everyone becoming media also made me think about how organizations communicate with younger audiences.
Businesses can now publish directly through their own channels, while employees, customers, creators, and communities contribute to how their brands are understood. This creates opportunities to reach people beyond conventional advertising.
Gen Z is already influencing workplaces and markets, while Gen Alpha will become increasingly important to businesses over the coming years. Their expectations will continue to develop as technology, economic conditions, and social habits change.
For organizations with an established customer base, this raises an important question. How can they remain relevant to emerging market segments while continuing to serve those who have supported them over the years?
I have been involved in digital publishing for many years, and I find myself asking a similar question about my own work. Younger audiences can access information quickly through search engines, social platforms, video content, and AI assistants. Making information available is increasingly straightforward. Creating opportunities for meaningful learning, interaction, and experience requires more thought.
I am particularly interested in how accumulated knowledge and experience can remain useful to future generations. This involves understanding what younger audiences want to accomplish, how they prefer to engage, and what experiences help them remember and apply what they learn.
Businesses face a comparable challenge. Their established practices may contain valuable lessons, but customer expectations and communication habits continue to evolve. Adaptation requires curiosity about emerging audiences while recognizing that individuals within the same generation can have very different needs.
Making marketing accountable for growth
I return to Donald’s seventh law because it brings these developments together.
If marketing is expected to drive growth, its contribution must extend beyond generating attention or inquiries. Organizations need to understand whether their marketing efforts result in customer acquisition, repeat purchases, stronger relationships, improved profitability, and opportunities for expansion.
An increase in sales may appear encouraging, but its value depends on the costs involved and the organization’s ability to fulfill customer expectations. Promotions that attract buyers while eroding margins may produce impressive activity without strengthening the business.
This is why collaboration matters.
Marketing professionals can identify customer needs and emerging opportunities, but responding effectively may require changes in product development, operations, customer service, distribution, or financial planning. Growth becomes more achievable when these functions work together and understand how their decisions affect the customer.
I have also become increasingly interested in the opportunities that emerge when people from different organizations exchange ideas, identify shared challenges, and explore possible collaborations. Such interactions can reveal customer needs, complementary capabilities, and opportunities for new services or partnerships.
These possibilities may take time to develop. Their value becomes clearer when organizations can translate insights and relationships into improvements that customers recognize and business results that can be measured.
For a small business, this may mean increasing repeat purchases, improving customer retention, reducing complaints, strengthening referrals, or introducing a service that addresses an unmet need. The appropriate measures will depend on what the business is trying to achieve.
The broader implication is that marketing professionals need to understand commercial realities alongside communication strategies. Financial performance, operational capacity, customer behavior, and partnership development should inform how marketing opportunities are evaluated.
What do we want to be known for?
Donald’s presentation left me considering a question that applies to organizations of different sizes: What do we want people to know us for, and what experiences are we creating to make that reputation possible?
A business may aspire to be known for convenience, dependable service, innovation, personal attention, or helping customers accomplish something important. Whatever it chooses, the promise needs to be reflected in everyday interactions.
A company seeking recognition for reliable service should examine whether customers receive what was promised, whether concerns are resolved effectively, and whether people choose to return. One that emphasizes personal attention should consider whether customers actually feel understood and whether the approach remains sustainable as the business grows.
These are matters that extend across the organization. Marketing can help articulate the promise and understand what customers value. Leadership and employees across different functions contribute to delivering the experience.
The challenge for marketers is to help connect these efforts, recognize opportunities for improvement, and demonstrate their contribution to business performance.
As technology expands the ways organizations can reach and understand customers, I believe the greater opportunity lies in turning those capabilities into experiences, relationships, and collaborations that create lasting value.
That is how marketing can become a growth engine, with results that extend well beyond the success of an individual campaign.
