There are essentially three ways marketers will respond to today's quickly evolving marketing environment. The first type responds quickly on impulse, the second attempts to understand the marketing environment based on universal principles before reacting, and the third demonstrates behavior that reflects a combination of the two.

As much as I would like to think that one of these three approaches is the best way to go, I think they are all equally important for success.

1. The marketer driven by impulse

Marketing types recognized by their behavior

Let's look first at marketing leaders who worship at the feet of action and aggressively follow the latest trend. 

In their view, marketers must become extroverted in their thinking rather than rely upon deductive reasoning.

They care little about why trends change or what lies beneath them. They are concerned about profiting from the trends even if those trends are shallow, short lived or poorly understood.

Here are a few examples of what motivates these marketers:

• Social marketing should be the focus for the next 12 months

• Internet marketing without the support of other media is the new wave

• Email is the way to go leaving direct mail, print and DRTV as irrelevant to what we need in the future

• Crowd-sourcing! Now that really points us in the right direction

Such marketers see the marking assignment as a series of tasks or tactics that focus on trends rather than overarching strategies. They rarely recognize, or care about the underlying triggers that form marketing trends. 

They have the ability to change on a dime and rarely slow down to think through anything too much. Action rather than thinking wins the day.

2. The marketer driven by the need for change

Evangelists who support universal marketing strategies regardless of the environment reflect these types of marketers.

Such marketing principles might include these kinds of ideas:

• Customer driven

• Quantifying results

• Targeting

• Purchase motivators

• Segmentation

• Multi-channel marketing

• Testing

These marketers follow their internal muse and believe every marketing process and strategy leaves ample room for improvement. 

Trends may inspire them to action. But it is more likely that something within inspired them to pursue a long term vision only they can see. 

They see the world as a place where they can bring new thinking and new ideas that transcend trends. They believe in universal marketing principles that do not change with the times. Such marketers do not readily embrace trends until they understand them and have identified the principles that created them.

These marketers believe that principles precede strategy.

In fact, they believe that a tree falls in the forest whether someone hears it hit the ground or not.

3. The marketer driven equally by principles and free flowing adaptability

This third marketing type represents flexible marketing leaders who combine adaptability with deductive reasoning. This is a balancing act few can follow.

Analytical thinking continually challenges all trends whether new or old. Yet such marketers do not require full understanding of trends before acting on them. They are naturally curious and will continue to examine any trends for their impact on their businesses. 

They have an inborn ability to unite adapter and change agent marketers. They understand the power of the evangelist as well as the adaptive marketer who will react quickly to poorly understood trends.

There are certainly other types of marketers. But these three types tend to stand out in my experience.

What other types of marketers have you seen? And what strengths and weaknesses do they bring to the table?