The Sunday Times in the UK has been running ‘How to win at business’, a series of articles by serial entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, one of the star’s of BBC Dragon’s Den. This week Duncan is talking about successful marketing. His best piece of advice comes right at the very end when he says “the best form of marketing… is the product itself… It’s not about ‘cheaper, cheaper, cheaper’ but ‘quality, quality, quality’.”
tags: business, marketing, bbc, dragons+den
Amen to that. In PR and marketing, it's amazing how much time organisations spend trying to create a reputation despite poor products and service. Too many companies start from the premise that you can con people into buying rubbish. Today's Sunday Times reports once again on rip off Britain – how companies such as Apple charge far more here than in continental Europe or the States. Rather than gain volume sales through sensible pricing, British businesses prefer to price to the max. This has always struck me as short-sighted.
In principle, I love the idea that ‘the best form of marketing…is the product itself’, but I don’t think it is that simple. There is a market for cheap relatively poorly made products (the sales of cheap Oriental DVD players literally made the technology have mass appeal). Peer pressure, social norms and media coverage all play a factor in what we spend money on – and besides, it keeps us in a job.
You need a holiday, Stuart – everyone else on my RSS seems to be on holiday at the moment.
I think quality is the discerning factor, but only in industries with true competition – or else how do you explain the apparent success of Ryanair?
I think quality is the discerning factor, but only in industries with true competition – or else how do you explain the apparent success of Ryanair?