Lie #1

If I Build It, They Will Come

“First, create value. Next identify the highest probability customers. Finally, find the most cost-effective (with the emphasis on‘effective’) way to get your message across.”

Marv Goldschmidtt,

Serial entrepreneur who launched 1-2-3 for Lotus

Let’s talk about this. Even if your product, concept, or idea is wonderful, how can you be sure they will buy it?

Of course they will, you say.“I’m a scientist, I know. This is great science. This is going to make everyone’s life easier. It’s a unique solution that’s going to save time, money, and resources.”

Let’s say that’s all true. How will your prospective buyers learn about the existence of your product?

We need to be clear here. Lab researchers, CEOs, and other decision makers are not sitting around waiting for your product to show up. They’re too busy solving problems with the technology they have today. They may be eager to use your product once they know about it, but how will they learn about it? This is the critical problem that marketing solves. It’s true for every new product or service, whether it’s intended for the scientist in the lab or the average working Joe.

Another critical issue is timing. If your ideal customer is a company, how fast will it be able to set aside a budget to purchase your product? And how long is its approval process for purchasing? Your ideal purchaser may be a company whose budgets are approved based on spending plans submitted about a year in advance. Are you prepared to wait? Can youafford to wait?

Do your marketing homework, and you shouldn’t need to wait at all. This applies to any product or service.

TRUTH #1:

You aren’t waiting for someone else’s product, so why should they be waiting for yours?

Until you lay the marketing groundwork for your product’s introduction (the“launch,” as it’s called in the communications business), no one will know it’s there. It is important to understand the process of marketing—and the purchasing process of your potential customers—even though both may be outside your area of expertise.

Here’s an example: You take vitamins. One day at the store you notice that among the products from familiar names—Twin Labs, Kal, Solgar, the house brand—there’s a new brand of vitamin. You read the label and see that it has better ingredients. But you’ve never heard of the brand and know nothing about the company. So, though you’ve been exposed to a product that sounds a lot better, you buy the same old thing. There’s a simple reason for this: You weren’t prepared for it. You know nothing about the vitamin or company that makes it, it hasn’t been recommended in any way, no one you know uses it, you haven’t read or seen ads about it, and it may even cost more. It’s sitting on the shelf, and that’s what happens if you“build it” but don’t prepare the purchasing environment. The product just sits there. That is, if you’re lucky enough to get a distributor or retailer to carry it.

Though this example is from consumer marketing, the same scenario happens in any marketing environment.

It’s true even if you’re building a unique science that will increase the number of XYZ molecules, making them cheaper and of a higher quality (more pure) than anything available. It’s equally true if you’re opening a new candy store. Your entry into the marketplace has to be announced. Awareness and c