Have A Great Product? That may not be enough to make you rich.

"Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door."

Many of us have heard this expression. And many of us (who aren't professional marketers of course) have believed it.

The fact of the matter is, that no matter how "great" your product is, no one will even find it (let alone 'beat a path') if they don't know about your product.

How do they learn about your product's existence? Marketing.

A well executed marketing campaign can make even the worst product sell well.

Poorly executed or no marketing can leave the greatest product in the world sitting on the shelf.

Don't believe me?

A trip to any supermarket will quickly prove my point.

Simply walk down the aisle and take a look at how many of the products are actually worthless. The average supermarket today carries about 50,000 items most of which are worthless as far as benefiting us nutritionally. Yet they sell like crazy.

Why? Marketing.

Now let's take the reverse. Yesterday I had one of the best salmon dishes I've ever had in my life. The restaurant I ordered it from is on the verge of going out of business.

They have no marketing campaign. In fact, most of the people in the area that I've spoken with have never even heard of them.

Their mousetrap is better but where's all the business?

The moral of the story is, don't think that just because your product is great that you're guaranteed success and fortune.

By the same token, don't think that because your idea is not so special, that you can't sell a ton with the right marketing campaign. Remember American Idol's William Hung? His album debuted in the top 40!

William Hung had great marketing. While other, significantly more talented Idol contestants have all but vanished due to extremely poor marketing. (The Idol producers are leaving major money on the table if you ask me, but that's another story).

So if you think you have a marketable idea or product but don't know where to start the internet can be your testing ground. Check out a site called TenThousandBrightIdeas.com and no matter what you do, don't stop trying.
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Toli Cefail is a veteran marketer for more than 20 years. She is currently the Chief Operations Officer and co-founder of the leading online marketing firm In Touch Media Group. She also has created and maintains a number of sites in the fields of fashion and music.