I Wish We Could Figure This Out…
Seth Godin is one of the bloggers I read regularly. I subscribed to his blog, and every time he writes something new, it shows up in my inbox. I love it.
This was in my inbox a week or so ago and am just now responding to it. I’m kind of slow.
Read his words (and marvel), then read mine (and pretend to be impressed… maybe).
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Which comes first, the product or the marketing?
Well, if you define marketing as advertising, then it’s clear you need the product first (Captain Crunch being the only exception I can think of… they made the ads first.) This great clip from Mad Men brings the point home. If the Kodak guys hadn’t invented the Carousel slide projector, Don Draper could never have pitched this ad.
But wait.
Marketing is not the same as advertising. Advertising is a tiny slice of what marketing is today, and in fact, it’s pretty clear that the marketing has to come before the product, not after. As Jon points out, the Prius was developed after the marketing thinking was done. Jones Soda, too. In fact, just about every successful product or service is the result of smart marketing thinking first, followed by a great product that makes the marketing story come true.
If someone comes to you with a ‘great’ product that just needs some marketing, the game is probably already over.
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If only we [read: the church] could figure this out.
Smart marketing asks, “What do you need?” Or better yet, smart marketing doesn’t even ask it, smart marketing figures out what it is that a community or person needs, then finds a way to make it happen, or at least contributes to a solution.
Too often though, the church is on the wrong end of Seth’s comparison. We decide what we want to do, then try to find a way to make it “more appealing” to the masses. Is this arrogance or ignorance or both?
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m sure I’ve done this on more than one occasion. I’ll come up with some “ridiculously good idea,” and then try to figure out how to implement and “sell” it.
But when I stop and think about it the things I have been a part of that worked the best, the things I’ve been a part of that were the biggest hits, they were the things that a group of people (church-related or not) started with the intention of filling a need. We weren’t out to “sell a product.” We discovered a felt need and did our best to provide a solution (or at least some relief) to said need.
Many men (much smarter than I am) have told me countless times, “Don’t do something and ask God to ‘get on board.’ Find out what God is doing and join in.”
Good advice… Seth Godin says so.
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