What is better: good marketing or a good product?
Tom
28 replies
If you would have to choose one, which one would you pick as more important for a profitable startup/product? Good marketing and low quality product or poor quality marketing and a good product?
Replies
Ralph Hofmann@ralph_hofmann
I think If either part is zero, the output will be zero. But as long as both are greater than zero, the result can be very positive.
1000 x 0 = 0 --- great product, crap marketing
0 x 1000 = 0 --- crap product, great marketing
2 * 1000 = 2000 --- cheezy product, great marketing
1000 * 2 = 2000 --- great product, cheesy marketing
1000 * 1000 = 1m --- great product, great marketing
I guess this analogy help you understand my concept.
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It depends on your goal. If it's making money fast, then marketing is a better option. If you're looking for long-term but not too extensive profit, then definitely a quality product. I can't decide 😅
@maria_batryn You are bringing another variable to the question - "time". And I totally agree with you. Meaning if you have a low quality product then in a long run the number of customers will most likely decrease, but if you have a good product, then even with a bad marketing in a long run it could turn out into something good :)
I think good marketing is more important, especially in the early stages. It brings feedback, customers, and revenue. Without all of these, your great product may never see the light of day.
@sergey_kornilov1 Sadly true. I have experience launching a product with zero marketing. And yes, something like "no light of the day" ;D
A good product with poor marketing unfortunately is unlikely to ever get the traction it needs for virality to kick in and for it to 'self promote', so is likely to fail.
Arguably if product is really bad, no amount of marketing can save it, however it can buy it time and revenue which would allow a disciplined product team to evolve it into a better product.
@stevenbirchall true. There is no white and black. There should be a some kind of balance between the amount of product quality and marketing. They go either together or neither of them :)
Many have found out at their cost that "if you build a better mouse trap, the world will not beat a path to your door." Good product + good marketing is the route to success. Absent either you are likely to fail.
If I have to choose only one thing, then I would prefer good luck.
I choose good marketing because low quality product can be improved, and good marketing can promote faster product improvement
@sherryxena Yep. So basically you answer would be "both". With good marketing you could buy some time, and then with the additional time you can improve your product and have a good product.
I think good marketing is important
If a customer buys a good product, he will keep buying more of it. If a customer buys a good marketing, he will keep buying more of it. So, ultimately they both help you to build a successful business. The reason why you should choose a good marketer over a good product is that a good marketer can turn a good product into a great product!
@andrew_howe1 Agree. This question also does not have one more variable - "when". Meaning (in my humble opinion) that at the beginning of launch I would put marketing in 1 place by far. But in a long run good product vs marketing could easily switch places :)
Launching soon!
The answer to this question depends on the company's context and goals. A good product is essential for success, as it is the foundation of any business. However, a good product can only be known or utilized with effective marketing. Therefore, both good marketing and a good product are necessary for success.
Launching soon!
A good product accompanied by a good marketing strategy will beat a good marketing strategy and a poor product. In the marketing world, it is said that 80% of the marketing effort goes into 20% of the sales.
Great marketing can make a bad product look good, but great products can never rescue bad marketing. I don't know any successful case where great marketing made a bad product sell like hot cakes. A good product, on the other hand, can always be saved by good marketing.
It's hard to beat good marketing.
Ok, all of those who were voting for Marketing - I could strongly say, that if we are talking about the start of the product, then yes, marketing is way more important.
I have build a product https://www.tracksy.co which is way rich in features and arguably better than its alternative https://www.elonstocks.com (which has 622 upvotes and is product of a day) but as I did zero marketing on my product therefore it has only 25 upvotes :)
Conclusion: better product/less marketing < less better product/more marketing.
One cannot exist without the other. The way I see it, whatever you're selling, with the right approach to an advertising campaign you'll have the right target audience and lots of sales.
It is. I recently promoted my mobile app, by the way, who is in the same position, you can try to read this article, there are a lot of useful tips for aspiring businessmen. So, I thought I wasn't going to advance to the top spots, but then I just got the strategy right and realized what I was doing wrong. Marketing is always the key to success.
As a marketer, I've seen firsthand the power of both a good product and good marketing. While both are crucial to the success of a business, I believe that a good product ultimately trumps good marketing.
Let me explain why through a story. I once worked with a company that had an innovative new product, but their marketing strategy was mediocre at best. Despite this, the product itself was so impressive that it quickly gained a loyal customer base and word of mouth spread like wildfire. The company saw tremendous growth and success, all thanks to the quality of their product.
On the other hand, I've also worked with companies that had mediocre products but excelled in their marketing efforts. While these companies saw some short-term success, they ultimately struggled to maintain their customer base because the product itself couldn't hold up to the hype.
In the end, a good product is the foundation of any successful business. It's what keeps customers coming back and referring others. Good marketing can certainly help to bring in new customers and generate buzz, but if the product itself doesn't deliver, that buzz will eventually die out.
So to answer the question, I believe that a good product is ultimately more important than good marketing. Without a solid product to stand on, even the best marketing efforts will only take you so far.