The Primacy of Product

The conceit of some marketers is that they can create desire for anything. Some argue that good marketing can make any product desirable. More sober marketers argue that you must have a great product first.

There are two sides to every story and we can find plenty of examples to prove both camps. But let's get real. Outstanding execution of marketing tactics cannot make a horrible product great.

A great product gives you the luxury of experimenting with different marketing strategies until you hit on the magical combination. You can have a great product and incompetent marketing, here you remain undiscovered. You can also have the unfortunate pairing of a horrible product with equally poor marketing. But you cannot have a horrible product and outstanding marketing - that does not exist. In the gray area, you might be lucky to have a mediocre product dressed up just enough with great marketing that people are fooled for a little while to give you their money for your trash.

Great marketers are rare. Rarer still are great product developers. Rarest of all are world-class product developers with a marketer's mindset.

So the question we should ask ourselves as marketers is: how do we create remarkable products fit for our best marketing thinking?

Comments

[Air Jordans]

* be happy together is good enough. I am not asking for things that I could never get.

[Richard Merrick]

I'd add one further thing - authenticity. A grwat product is one we can and should be proud to be associated with - right down to where and who made it. Wherever it is made, it should be because that is where it is best made. Selling me a product with an overt marketing angle of made in USA or UK, but reality is it's made in China due to cost and finished in USA / UK to meet a legal nicety is deceitful, and I'll find you out.