Sales and marketing predates recorded history by hundreds (if not thousands) of years. But perhaps even more fascinating is the close relationship between marketing and language, which has seemed to develop side by side since the beginning of time. Since the earliest forms of production and barter systems, the methods humans have employed to pitch, promote, and persuade reflect not only the advancement of commerce but also culture, including technology, art, and, of course, language itself.
Ancient Advertising
As weโve learned, humans have employed marketing since before written history. While we donโt know exactly when the first sales pitch was uttered, we do know that the practice of sales and marketing predates even the Ancient Era by many years, possibly even originating as early as 10,000 BC when inter-tribal trade began between Neolithic humans. However, it was likely between 3,000 BC and the 1st Century when humans began to fine-tune their marketing strategy.
During this period, humans began migrating on foot hundreds and even thousands of miles just to trade local goods to other regions, which meant that successful trade relied on their ability to demonstrate the value of their goods through persuasive oral language. 3,000 BC was also around when humans started inventing written language, so the very first advertisements were taking form during this time as well. In fact, the earliest example of an ad campaign that we have to date is a papyrus written by a weaver in Thebes named Hapu, who offered a reward for the return of his slave and the opportunity to browse his fine selection of merchandise.
Industrial Revolution
While written language has been used to sell goods and services for over 5,000 years, it wasnโt until the 15th Century that it became widespread, due to Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. Until this point, written advertising was focused on promoting luxury goods because, until the invention of the printing press, the vast majority of humans were illiterate, and those who could read were typically upper-class noblemen.
As literacy rates increased, written language became more refined. Marketers experimented with fonts, persuasive writing techniques, and visual balance. The tone shifted from the shouting of the marketplace to an informative pitch, clear, authoritative, and trustworthy.
The printing press was one of the first signals that technology was rapidly advancing. Just a few hundred years later, the Industrial Revolution was taking hold, along with mass production and longer, faster trade routes due to the invention of steam (and eventually gas) engines.
Print media, including newspapers and magazines, flourished. So did advertising. Patent medicine ads in the 1800s, full of hyperbole and dramatic claims, began to define a new kind of persuasive language โ one rooted in emotional appeal. Brands like Coca-Cola (established in 1886) and Quaker Oats (1877) emerged and began to develop consistent visual and verbal promotions with which their consumers strongly identified.
The Golden Age of Advertising
The idea of appealing to a consumer’s emotions and studying intrinsically human traits to sell a product or service was revolutionary at the turn of the century. However, as psychology became more respected and utilized by people in the 50s and 60s, so did marketing, which relied heavily on its research. Marketers and copywriters, such as Claude Hopkins and David Ogilvy, began to segment audiences by age, gender, income, and lifestyle, tailoring language to speak directly to each group’s unique needs and desires.
This period also marked the rise of television and radio, introducing new auditory and visual dimensions to marketing. Jingles, catchphrases, and scripted commercials became part of the marketing lexicon, and language had to adapt again to suit broadcast media, where timing, tone, and emotional resonance became crucial.
A final marker of the โGolden Age of Advertisingโ was globalism. Brands now had to translate and localize their messages for international markets. Successful companies began to invest in culturally sensitive marketing language, understanding that just because a message worked in the US, there was still a risk that it might fall flat (or even offend) in Japan, Brazil, or France.
Post-Golden Age to Digital Age
By the 80s and 90s, media channels had multiplied. Cable TV, radio, direct mail, and the early internet made marketing more complex. Brands began to target even smaller segments of the population, and language became more specialized and varied, tailored to niche audiences. Tone also began to shift. Consumers grew skeptical of overblown claims. Authenticity, once a stylistic choice, became a requirement. Transparency and relatability became new standards.
The thread of โauthenticityโ carried over to the next several generations. With the invention of the Internet and eventually, social media, marketing was firmly in the realm of brand identity, transparency, and trustworthiness because research had never been more available, and consumers became more informed than ever before. The brands took it even further and became “friends” with consumers, posting memes, replying with GIFs, and using humor and informality to build rapport. The power dynamics flipped: instead of brands broadcasting messages, they now joined conversations.
The Future of Sales and Marketing
Today, the tenet of authenticity and transparent language is being challenged by AI and chatbots, and marketers will need to decide the fine line between scale and sincerity, automation and human voice. As algorithms generate headlines and social captions at breakneck speed, the risk is a loss of nuance, empathy, and originalityโthe very traits that make language compelling.
As weโve seen throughout the history of marketing, the ability to adapt to new research, fields of study, technology, and, above all else, the power of language is essential to success in reaching their rapidly evolving global consumer base.
