Product is king

Up until now, I have been involved with various companies as a management consultant or marketing consultant.

I have interacted with various industries, scales, and business owners.

Through this, I have found that many companies struggle with marketing and are seeking marketing expertise.

The definition of the word "marketing" is very vague and changes depending on the context and the person.

I define marketing as "creating a mechanism that continues to sell."

To put it more simply and accurately reflect the explicit needs of business owners, it can also be said that marketing is "making things sell better than they do now."

It goes without saying that every business owner wants their company's products to sell more.

That is why they think about putting effort into marketing.

Since I provide management consulting with an approach of "increasing sales" and "increasing profits," I almost always receive requests starting from marketing.

However, the marketing requested here is often limited to "sales promotion methods" in many cases.

It is no exaggeration to say that the 4Ps are the most fundamental concept in marketing.

Product: Product, Price: Price, Place: Distribution, Promotion: Sales Promotion

Among the four components, most business owners think that the problem lies in "sales promotion." In other words, they think that if they just change the "sales promotion," it will sell.

This feeling is extremely dangerous.

If you cannot accurately grasp the current situation, you cannot take the correct approach.

Before you try to change only the sales promotion, assuming there are "no problems" with the other 3Ps, I want you to calm down and think for a moment.

I think about marketing in terms of three components and in a specific order.

Product strength -> Sales strength -> Sales promotion strength

It is very simple.

To put it in terms of the 4Ps, "product strength" equals "Product" x "Price".

In other words, "product strength" can be defined as:
What features it has, what value experience it provides, how much it costs, and what position it holds in a crowded, competitive market.

Only when you have product strength can you have "sales strength."
"Sales" is the activity of conveying value to a prospective customer right in front of you.
And "sales promotion" is conveying value to people you cannot see.

Product strength creates sales strength, and sales strength creates promotional strength.

Everything is connected.

Nevertheless, many business owners try to change "only their promotional strength."

To give an example, it is like a person who looks unhygienic trying as hard as they can to find a partner and meeting many people, but it is all in vain.

After all, it is painful to deny oneself.
Out of self-preservation, many business owners unconsciously look away from that fact. Especially if they are selling a certain amount, that is enough of an excuse to look away.

That is precisely why you must first thoroughly focus on whether the products you are offering are actually attractive.

The difference between business owners lies in whether they can calmly collect information and make judgments, even about things that are difficult to hear.

Businesses that understand that "Product is king" and continue to polish their product strength have a higher probability of success.

I highly recommend that you compare your company with others at least once.

And once your product strength increases, your sales strength and promotional strength will automatically improve, which will increase your ROI and expand the range of methods available to you.