Marketing is a Many-Splendored Thing…
Posted on February 4, 2009
Filed Under Gregg Gallagher, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy |
Set Godin’s blog post today - “Which comes first, the product or the marketing?” touches on a subject near and dear to my heart. In fact, it’s a “soapbox” issue for me, in that I find myself elaborating on a daily basis regarding the many different aspects and disciplines falling under the marketing umbrella.
Seth’s post alludes to the need for marketing playing a role in the upfront stages of product creation. At Quantum Leaders, we have developed a model of the overall flow of Demand creation within The Living Organization™
In this model, there are a 3 major processes/functions that should comprise a firm’s marketing activities: Strategic Marketing, Product Management and Product Marketing. Depending on the size of the firm - and the resources and staffing available - these functions could reside in one or more individuals or departments - or even outsourced.
Very often the conversation around marketing (even among many marketing professionals) is completely around the Product Marketing / Marketing Communications activity. (How do we sell the product?) Indeed, many firms organize their marketing completely around the MarComm functions of brand marketing, lead generation and public relations. This is particularly the situation with so-called “engineering-driven” firms, where the product design function is performed completely within product development, with little or no participation or inputs from Marketing via the Product Management function.
True innovation derives from the creation of customer value via invention. Pure invention/ideation that is not based on an understanding of the needs of the customer seldom achieves success in the marketplace.
I’ll explore this notion further in future posts and welcome you sharing your thinking & experiences…
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