Marketing is about shortcuts

If product developers knew more about marketing, then marketers wouldn't be that busy we are today. At least not by delivering end-of-the-line activities. Because then products would have been more attractive to the target audiences in the first place.

Instead of advicing on how to make products that fit in the needs and prospective needs of the customers, marketers are asked to fix the buggs.

Carson McCormas examplifies this with his post about the effects of Oprah's spectacular give away of 276 Pontiac G6 cars. According to Detroit Free Press the sales of the Grand Am replacer won't exceed 90,000 cars a year, from almost 200,000 Grand Ams. A proof that buzz not always generate sales? Definately. But I am like McCormas pretty sure it would have been a better idea if only the car have been more interesting in the first place.

According to Seth Godin not only bad products are expected to be fixed by marketing. Also bad marketing is expected to be fixed by shortcuts. He told a journalist that the key to successful marketing is to to create and deliver an attractive content that they could make use of and even would like to share with their friends. But the remaining question from the journalist was: what about if you don't have an attractive message to deliver.....

The thing is, far too much marketing is purchased as shortcuts:

• Advertising often is the shortcut when you don't can get positive publicity
• Publicity is the shortcut for sales people, wanting the prospective customers call them instead of them calling the customers
• PR consultants are the shortcuts for CEO's that don't dare calling journalists themselves
• Event, action and viral marketing are the shortcuts for generating buzz when your product can't gerenate it by itself

The paradox is that the marketing industry has it self to blame. And we make money of it as well. For years we implicitly have argued that creative communication can replace good, interesting, stimulating, attractive products. Then that's what we have to deal with. Shortcuts.