which is more important, products or marketing?

[alexduduta]

which is more important, products or marketing?

To find a good products is more important or to find a wonderful marketing way?

Which one will you focus on more?

 

[marioncritard]

BOTH are important.

 

[simon1005]

which is more important, products or marketing?

To find a good products is more important or to find a wonderful marketing way?

Which one will you focus on more?

Well, I think both product development and marketing are important. But when it comes to implementation, knowing what to do first is vital. I've read through a blog post talking about this, you may want to see this.
www (.) goodproductmanager.com/2009/03/31/consider-your-market-window-as-part-of-your-product-strategy/

 

[sam_gibbs]

I think Product is the main thing, first you have to decide which product you want to sell because you can't sell Auto parts by marketing of Shoes. So first choose product then you go for marketing, both product & marketing are necessary in internet business. Select your product and then fully focus on to market that product.

 

[Timothius]

price & pictures

there's always someone looking for whatever you're selling, increasingly you won't get the click unless the price is right.

if you do get the click, pictures are highly important in a world where appearance is all. without pictures it won't matter if yours is ½ the price.

 

[LoveOfficeStuffs]

If your product is similar to other sellers. I would say marketing is more important.

Nowadays, the products are more or less the same or similar, for example, office supplies and office stationary and similar from different suppliers. In this case, a good marketing strategy is vital.

 

[jack05j]

I think they both are essential, because if you don't have a product or service and you promote, you will not create any income (obviously). From the other end: if you don't marketing for your products or service then you will not generate income either. So both of them are the basis of your earnings.

 

Well you can sell a bad product with good marketing.

But you can't sell a good product if no one knows about it.

Earl

 

[quikshop]

Daft question; it's like asking what's more important, soup or the bowl its in

 

[F1ink]

The soup, could always use a big mug to drink it

 

[quikshop]

The soup, could always use a big mug to drink it

I think the metaphor is getting corrupted... so would that mean instead of marketing you could bring a loud speaker :|

 

[F1ink]

As long as its Heinz then yes a loud speaker is fine

 

[Waggoman]

The answer is "shimple" as the Meerkat said. It is marketing. Once you have superb marketing in place and top marketing ability then you can consider the product. A brilliant sales and marketing expert can sell an old bathtub full of rust and sitting in a field full of cowdung but a totally useless marketing idiot will fail to sell gold bars at half market price. That is whey there are highlt successful MARKETING FIRMS who provide their services to sell you product - regardless of what the product is.

That said the product then comes into its own and it is the skill of the marketing expert to identify the right potential product and not waste his or her time promoting a dud - so marketing ability first then choose the right product. The success of a new start-up business is to first identify the market you are about to attack and research it thoroughly, then identify what kind of skills and experience is required to successfully sell and market in that realm - first solve that equation. If, for example, you want to sell into the police and law enforcement market then do not employ a person with a criminal record but better try to find a go-getter recently retired from a police force. That in place then do your research on what will sell in that market during boom times and also recession times and from that choose your product. Then calculate what it will cost you to go after production creation and marketing effort for 18 months without achieving a single sale. Then set out to raise the money needed. When all that is in place go for it. But remember there are a 100 crooks and conmen per mile along the way who are out to rob you of your start-up money.

 

[coficigarilos]

It would have to be the product.
How would one know how to market without understanding or knowing the product.

 

[Waggoman]

Coficigarforilos says the answer is PRODUCT - but he is 100% wrong. There is a small product imported from the Far East which is a video camera on a keychain or keyfob. Works well and has "gizmo" appeal. How come that two importers I know are selling them very well but a third has had them on sale for over a year and has only sold three? Her still has over 100 left in stock and his price has been the same or less than the the other two.

If your logic is right then the products have their own legs and take their own advertising and get up and go out and sell themselves because they are PRODUCTS - for according to your logic the product is the key. I am now 85 and have investigated well over 200 firms heading for the bankruptcy dustbin. Some have had brilliant products but still went bust. The vast majority of cases was down to the Cofi logic that the products sold themselves; they bought them in and then sat on their arses waiting for the buyers to pour through the doors. But the products failed the Cofi logic of growing legs and enterprise of their own and going out and selling themselves. I also noticed that Sireal thanked Cofi for being right, yet in an earlier posting Sireal said it was marketing. Contradiction?

 

I also noticed that Sireal thanked Cofi for being right, yet in an earlier posting Sireal said it was marketing. Contradiction?

Without a good product you are going nowhere in most cases.

Quoting one case does not make a summer.

Both are important but one needs a good product for a sustainable business.IMHO

Earl

 

[coficigarilos]

The vast majority of cases was down to the Cofi logic that the products sold themselves; they bought them in and then sat on their arses waiting for the buyers to pour through the doors. But the products failed the Cofi logic of growing legs and enterprise of their own and going out and selling themselves.

Cofi happy to have a logic named after him.
However some corerction is required though...

Cofi didnt say that product sell themselves.

Cofi said if comparing product or marketing, then it has to be product that is more important.

Marketing is the process of telling people about the product so that the process of selling can take place.

Quoting your example, those chaps sat on their arses tell Cofi that they neglected marketing... therefore for obvious reason selling didnt take place.

Cofi stands by the fact that product is far more important because if there's no product then the function of marketing and selling cant take place.

 

[omnivore]

my thinking is,

product (in terms of selection/development) IS MARKETING

and marketing INCLUDES product (selection/developmment)


it's a bit of a false question as in real terms they are not seperate things but constituent parts of ech other

the answer to the initial question

(which is really...`where do you start?`if the question is asked properly)

is.....

you start by asking `what do customers want/need?`

and from that flows

what product?
what price?
where sold?
how sold?
etc

that's what marketing is:-

asking `what do customers want/need?`

and thinking how you fulfil those needs

simple(s)


that is all

you may go now

 

[Waggoman]

Omnivore is right. The two have to go together but marketing comes first for if you do not have marketing then the product is useless, it cannot get up and sell itself it MUST HAVE a strong marketing and selling operation in order to proceed so on its own it is a dead piece of junk on a shelf. But a strong salesperson and marketing expert is a living and breathing operating machine and has the skill and ability to go and FIND a product to sell. One is the leader of the other and the leader is marketing. Without marketing the product is nothing so to start with PRODUCT and not have marketing means Cofi, you have nothing. As regards my one example not being a summer! that is not an intelligent comment for anybody with any brain grunch only needs one example to point the way - the same as a piano tuner only needs to hit a key ONCE to know if it is out of tune or not.

 

[S-Marketing]

Exactly as Omnivore says, you won't even have a product without marketing, so the question in itself is pointless.

 

[coficigarilos]

Omnivore..
product is a noun. marketing is a verb. they are 2 separate things
but they have to coexist for another verb to happen (ie. selling)
you have to market something. that something is the product..so product has to come first. you cant market nothing.

Waggoman..
I want to buy a toothbrush.
I'll say to myself.. "I want to buy a toothbrush"
I dont say to myself.. "I'll listen to that super duper marketing guy and buy whatever he's marketing" .. so its the product that comes into the picture first.

I start a new business.
My first step is to hire a top of the class, cream of the crop marketing guy.
On the first day of work he ask me .. "so boss what are we marketing ?"
If I have no product what would my answer be.?
Or should I tell him what waggoman say ".. your a living and breathing operating machine and has the skill and ability to go and FIND a product to sell"

therefore without doubt, product precedes marketing mate
else you'll have nothing to market or sell

 

[coficigarilos]

That is whey there are highlt successful MARKETING FIRMS who provide their services to sell you product - regardless of what the product is.

what is the product or these successful marketing firms?
they as successful marketing firms have FIRST identified their marketing skills, abilities and expertise as their product. Else they wouldn't even start their marketing firm in the first place coz they'll have nothing to sell.

so product has to come first mate

 

[Holbi]

I think products and marketing are both extremely important for the following reasons: if your products are of high quality but the marketing efforts are low, people will hardly ever know about how good whatever you produce is; however if the products are of poor quality, but the marketing is excellent, first you may attract many customers, but the word of mouth will spread sooner than you think, and no one will win in the end. Invest in high quality products and decent marketing, with time clientele will grow as references between the customers is also a powerful tool.

Selling online has its tricks of the trade too. We've described them in the book.

Kind regards,
Holbi.

 

[athanne]

From a producer comes the product, and from the product comes money via a marketer. A producer is a professional in production whose duty is to decide on what to produce and on the quality and quantity of the product/s. On the other side a marketer is a professional in marketing whose duty is to sell i.e. any product, whether familiar or not. Both can decide to specialize in a particular product. Note: At this point a producer will rely on the marketer on what to specialize in. This clearly shows that to a marketer, marketing is more important than the product being sold and he can at any time switch to different products as long as he is able to sail through.

 

[athanne]

From a producer comes the product, and from the product comes money via a marketer. A producer is a professional in production whose duty is to decide on what to produce and on the quality and quantity of the product/s. On the other side a marketer is a professional in marketing whose duty is to sell i.e. any product, whether familiar or not. Both can decide to specialize in a particular product. Note: At this point a producer will rely on the marketer on what to specialize in. This clearly shows that to a marketer, marketing is more important and he can at any time switch to different products as long as he is able to sail through.

 

[Waggoman]

I get something like fifty different products promoted to me every week, all seeking a sales and marketing partner. Until they find that partner they are all pointless and useless and have zero intrinsic value. The value does not come until a salesperson and or a marketing expert adopts them and makes a sale. The marketing expert can reject them all or select just one so the key is always the marketing and never the product. Poor old Cofi just cannot see the wood for the trees.

 

[Waggoman]

Further to what I have already written and in an attempt to provide a clear picture. I am not a marketing man so I am not trying to promote my own creed. I am a product creation architect and in my 85 years I have invented and proposed over 100,000 different products but only seven have ever seen the light of day. First I identify and locate a market: note that - First a market. Then I create a diatribe describing the proposed "product" and then I distribute this "idea" as far and as wide as I can - I am looking for a marketing interest for without the marketing interest and assurance I will never raise the money to turn the "idea" into a real product. Investors do not back products, they back people and sales potential - watch Dragon's Den to learn this lesson.

Right now I am promoting a very special high resolution CCTV camera using the new technology HD-SDI. The NRE will come to about £75,000. Now I have to find the marketing outlet that will run with it and either put up the £75,000 themselves or convince an investor that they will sell enough to warrant the VC investment. Without the marketing in place I do not stand a hope in hell of getting the idea beyond an idea. That is why marketing is the King; the Leader and the Controller. The product is only a stepping stone along the way.

 

[coficigarilos]

I get something like fifty different products promoted to me every week, all seeking a sales and marketing partner. Until they find that partner they are all pointless and useless and have zero intrinsic value. The value does not come until a salesperson and or a marketing expert adopts them and makes a sale. The marketing expert can reject them all or select just one so the key is always the marketing and never the product. Poor old Cofi just cannot see the wood for the trees.

Your first line already tells the importance of product mate as it come to you FIRST before the marketing function. Until the marketeer have a product to market he/she is useless and has zero fundamental value too.

The prost. is the product
The pimp is the marketeer.
If there is no prost. then the pimp has nothing to pimp mate.

 

[coficigarilos]

Unlike Waggoman, I am a marketing person. Responsible to develop strategies to market FMCGs. So I am fully aware of the utmost importance of marketing in the selling process. Im dont disagree with the approach to find the "money" first as practiced by Waggoman as ultimately thats the end result that counts. However to say that marketing should come first then the product just doesnt make good sense to me and i would go as far as labelling it as ethically incorrect. Identifying a good product is key. The marketing function has to take into account the product in question. Strategies and plans are formulated base on the product and not the other way round.

A good product is a product that has already identified to whom it should be sold (not marketed) to. That is my definition of a good product.

So to answer the question posted by the TS. it has to be the product. Find a good product but have in hand an excellent marketing team to help push the product to its intended audience.

 

error............

 

Further to what I have already written and in an attempt to provide a clear picture. I am not a marketing man so I am not trying to promote my own creed. I am a product creation architect and in my 85 years I have invented and proposed over 100,000 different products but only seven have ever seen the light of day. First I identify and locate a market: note that - First a market. Then I create a diatribe describing the proposed "product" and then I distribute this "idea" as far and as wide as I can - I am looking for a marketing interest for without the marketing interest and assurance I will never raise the money to turn the "idea" into a real product. Investors do not back products, they back people and sales potential - watch Dragon's Den to learn this lesson.

Not that anyone should take the famous five seriously I think you will find there prime interest is the product.

If after inventing 100k of products only 7 saw the light of day.

Have you considered retiring or taking up another occupation?

Earl

 

[jitendra1990]

BOTH ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT.

You need a product which will normally be the solution to a problem and you need to market it which will expose your solution to potential customers

 

[S-Marketing]

It constantly amazes me how few people actually understand what marketing is, and how its used.

 

It constantly amazes me how few people actually understand what marketing is, and how its used.

Winnie knew:

" Never have so few fooled so many into buying so much "

Winston Churchill

Earl

 

[S-Marketing]

Winnie knew:

" Never have so few fooled so many into buying so much "

Winston Churchill

Earl

Not sure I'd use the term ' fooled', but yes the less people who know what they are doing, the richer the pickings for those who do.

Strangest interpretation of a Churchill quote I've ever heard Earl, but then again I suppose you are the only one here old enough to remember it first hand, so ill bow to your superior knowledge.

 

Strangest interpretation of a Churchill quote I've ever heard Earl, but then again I suppose you are the only one here old enough to remember it first hand, so ill bow to your superior knowledge.

Its a paraphrase.

The parrot was dead, 'This parrot is no more,' 'He's expired and gone to meet his maker'

Earl

 

[omnivore]

a lot of people seem to think that their intricate arguments about definitions etc are an answer to the question.

they aren't.

to see the situation clearly you must imagine you are given some investment funds by an angel.

you are tasked with building a business with this money.

You have no product at this stage, and you have done no marketing.

the first question you must ask yourself is therefore

`what is the most (sustainably) profitable thing that i can sell?`

at this point `product` and `marketing` are the same thing

so you see there is no `first` or `second` in this situation

now run along everyone and have a nice xmas

 

[Stovin]

pricing important

 

[johnp341]

A good marketing campaign allows people to know your product exists so that even the worst products get some sales.

 

[S-Marketing]

A good marketing campaign allows people to know your product exists so that even the worst products get some sales.

A good marketing campaign wouldn't even bother with a poor product.

The answer to the original question is marketing. No further discussion required.