Yes, you can win the game with an inferior product, but better marketing than your competitor. Most people think this is unfair. I just think it’s life.
Like… a lion killing a cute little rabbit isn’t unfair, it’s life and part of a greater mechanism.
In your marketplace, the case is probably that the most developed products or services aren’t objectively better – features and technologies used are nearly identical.
Even in usability or service quality, things are pretty evened out in many markets – especially among the top players.
The question of best usually comes down to individual buyer situations and use cases.
In B2B growth, if you have products and service providers with nearly identical capabilities, the ones with better marketing will win in the long run. (Or even sooner.)
Better marketing gets more sales, which will enable you to hire and retain better people, who do a better job, and so on. (Sure, this is an oversimplification, but you get the point :))
One of the easiest ways companies can gain a competitive edge in marketing is by being more generous with sharing their knowledge.
It’s actually a mental block – fear – that’s holding companies back in sharing or open-sourcing the best of what they have to offer.
But, once you consider the scenario of unleashing the best of your knowledge in the form of content, the fear will be gone.
And when you step on this path, guess what will happen? For a clue, look at what happened to companies who went all-in on educating, sharing and community building…
There are other ways to use marketing to win, but I find this the most authentic and fulfilling path – and frankly also the easiest one. It’s certainly a lot of work but it’s still the basket I’ll put the most eggs in.
Going back to the question of fairness and the grand rules of life: in any market, I will always root for the company with a good enough offering and the most generous content strategy with a hyper-focus on customers and community.
History is proving that decision-makers tend to favor these sorts of companies too.
