The customer is the boss (even though you think you know better)
I spent time yesterday workshopping through a marketing challenge with a team of very clever people. An electrical engineering PhD, software programmer and university lecturer. They have built the most amazing tool you can imagine. And no one is buying it. Needless to say, as a last resort, they phoned a marketer. Some of the questions they asked: “How much harder must we try to sell?” “How much longer should we spend money on marketing?” “How do we get people to use it?” In my experience, the way to talk about marketing to highly analytical people is to revert back to the core foundations of marketing - the stuff that is decades old and forms the basis of how companies have always grown. Market research, market segments; target customers, brand positioning, marketing messaging and the four Ps: price, promotion, place and product. Thinking through a marketing challenge this way requires everyone in the room, especially myself as the consultant, to admit that actually, we do