Damascene society realized centuries ago that good content comes before the sale, and even sells more than advertising, and that value comes before financial return.
I firmly believe that the markets of Damascus had discovered that content sells more than advertising. This is certainly connected to the fame and deep-rooted history of the city as the oldest inhabited capital in history, a city that was present on the Silk Road in the trade of East and West. There was something magical that distinguished the mindset of Damascene and Levantine working communities in general.
You may ask me: why does content sell more than advertising?? Let us search for the real “content creators” in the history of Damascus. The storyteller will be the first of them.. but let me tell you: he was not the only one! Come with me on this journey of observations and deductions, approaches and comparisons, so that we may analyze them together, reflect, and let me convince you of what I have.
The Storyteller (Retention)
Everyone sees him as a narrator of stories, but in truth, he was not selling stories; he was creating a reason to return tomorrow. The entire café benefited from the narrator: sales of coffee, tea, hookah, and sweets. The content was free, and the product was the drinks. The entire economy revolved around the storyteller. That was the genius idea, at a time when there was no way to be entertained except through sitting together and listening.
Is this not exactly what NETFLIX seeks today? Every episode ends at a moment of suspense so the audience follows the next episode. And YOUTUBE places the advertisement just before moving to a new stimulating scene!
The Confectioner (Sampling Marketing)
Notice something.. why does he offer you a small piece of baklava? Or a free bite? He is not selling the piece; he is trying to break barriers. He is trying to let you enjoy the taste so that you are encouraged to buy based on the taste experience first.. and perhaps, with a charming cleverness, he follows that saying we have heard: “Feed the mouth, and the eye becomes shy.”
Today, in modern marketing sciences and developed sales methodologies, we call it: Free Trial. And on subscription websites in particular, we see it today through the rule: Give Freemium to Get Premium.
The Herbalist (Storytelling)
This is truly astonishing. The herbalist does not sell you the spice directly; he begins by telling a story in a spontaneous and enthusiastic way. He says: “This turmeric is original from India, finely ground, not mixed with safflower!! Be careful, everyone cheats with it and mixes it. With us: no!! I swear, we import it from India; for 25 years we have brought it from the same source” – “Having stomach pain? Take this mixture and pray for me: back in the day, that gastroenterologist used to come and take it from me and tell me: more useful than a pile of medicines” – “May God have mercy on my grandmother and yours, they used to use it for the washing stone when my grandfather and yours admired the softness of their hair!”
He is not selling turmeric once, or a digestive mixture once, or the washing stone once.. he tells you what makes you feel reassured. He sells the story. He makes himself your first destination for natural herbal needs.
Today, brands do the same thing: coffee is not coffee; it is the story of a Starbucks farm in Costa Rica! And perfume is not perfume; it is the story of the city of Paris, its avenues, and its cafés!
The Coppersmith (Reels)
He does not merely display the product; he makes it in front of people. He is the showman. He hammers and hammers, and he may turn the hammering into a rhythm or synchronize it with his neighbor so they create a beat from those strikes, attracting you and increasing the time you spend in front of him. You become amazed by how much he sells in exchange for this craft and this professionalism, and your shyness will overcome you, so you will not argue with him over the price, because you have seen the skill!
Is this not a Reel? And is this not a form of Behind the Scenes? People do not buy only the pot; they buy the sight of its birth, and they will remember how it was made and will not forget where they bought it from.
The Ice Cream Maker (Experiential Marketing)
He beats the ice cream in front of people: he lifts it, stretches it, pulls it, plays with it.. why? To create a scene. Even more, he may give you his tarboosh to wear on your head, the one worn by ancestors in the history and folklore of Damascus, and give you the solid wooden tool to beat the ice cream and test your “strength.”
Here he creates in you a feeling of belonging to those beats, so you feel that you prepared your own portion of ice cream yourself, and you will not accept that someone else buys it or that your colleague gets it.. it is yours!
The Calligrapher Teaser
The calligrapher writes in front of people, and writes and writes and continues. Passersby stop to watch and then ask for a panel. Or time or curiosity may not allow them to wait and buy, but they enjoy the viewing and wish they had more time, or that the calligrapher would somehow speed up so they could see the final masterpiece! They will imagine what their own name would look like!
Today? Is this not like Time-lapse videos that begin with a quick exciting Hook, Flashback, or a Thumbnail with hints about the subject to encourage you to watch the video? In the middle, they speed up the video to bypass some of the monotony of the process and bring you to the result after showing features of the work.
The Market and Its Side Streets For You
Come, let me take you to a stunning Damascene feature.. a feature that has remained established until today.. The markets of Damascus are not a straight line. Have you noticed this?? A market such as Souq Al-Hamidiyah and Midhat Pasha, for example, is full of turns, and every turn reveals a new scene or a described cluster: herbalists, the wool market, coppersmiths, sweets, offices, cafés and khans, fabrics. It is as if the market itself were designed like an Instagram Feed. The more you move forward, the more new content appears that you like, search for, or that surprises you. You do not get bored; you continue and continue. Is this not Infinite Scroll?
This urban structure or professional clustering may not be intentional in the technical sense, but notice with me how visual sequence and diversity of scenes preserve the visitor’s curiosity and their continued movement through the market, which is a principle that digital platforms today invest in 100% in their own way.
So, my dear friends.. there is a major difference between Content Marketing and Advertising, especially advertising that ends with a Call to Action - CTA.
Advertising tells you: “Buy, join, seize the opportunity, save.” Content says: “Come, I will show you something enjoyable.”
This is exactly what Damascus, its merchants, and its craftsmen used to do..
I will go even further and say: we should not call these people content creators, but rather: audience makers. This is a more organized and deeper word, because content has no value if it does not create an audience that returns again and again.
I will always ask you at the end of my articles: what can the contemporary marketer learn from Damascus?