The Value of Marketing

By Chuck Hajdu
 
One of the most important lessons we have learned over many years is the importance of marketing in almost every business. We have seen great products wither and die because of poor marketing and horrible products thrive and make gazillions of dollars because of good marketing.
 
We had the opportunity at CES to meet separately with marketing people from several companies in the same line of business, they all make memory of various kinds. They are all dealing with limited budgets but they are addressing things differently. I won’t mention the names of the vendors but they are three of the biggest in the industry.
 
Company One used to be a major sponsor of events and always had a positive image to project. However, this year they were nowhere to be seen and the reason was simple: shortsighted management chose to slash their budget.
 
Company Two cut back substantially but they still had some visibility. Not the major presence they had a year ago but at least there were people there to talk to sometimes.
 
Company Three kept their marketing initiative going and were at as many events and had new, innovative products to show,
 
All three companies make competitive products but guess which one will get the most exposure for their products? People who want to know what’s happening in the CE industry will hear a lot about Company Three, a bit about Company Two and nothing about Company One.
 
People will spend their money to purchase products they know about and will be more reluctant to buy something they've never heard of. It seems obvious to us: success in business is very often a direct result of spending on marketing. Was MSFT Office better than Lotus SmartSuite or the WordPerfect Suite? No, it wasn’t. But it was marketed better and it ended up the clear winner.
 
Here’s some free advice to every company that wants to succeed: spend your money wisely- on marketing!!