Is Marketing Merely A Cover For Crappy Products?

Is Marketing Merely A Cover For Crappy Products?
Emma Mackenzie
By Emma Mackenzie



It’s a marketer’s wet-dream to have a product that is so damn good it sells itself. And so, Andy Lark, chief marketing officer at software account company Xero, questions whether marketing is, in fact, just a cover for shitty products.

“As a marketer, I think you have to be brutally honest and ask, is the marketing just a crutch for product mediocrity,” he said.

Andy Lark

Andy Lark

 

“Is it largely where marketing is where you convince people buy stuff because the product is not good enough to sell itself on its own. And that’s the ultimate question.”

Lark’s remarks at the digital disruption conference, Daze of Disruption, were met with a very loud round of applause from one jubilant fella in the audience.

“Those who aren’t building products that people love and give a shit about, they cannot market their way out of it in future,” he continued.

“Where everything is ranked, reviewed, they know whether it’s good or bad, people will adjust their experience accordingly.”

And in the disruption era, it’s now critical brands interact with consumers and have tech under their belt, Lark said.

“If you can’t engage with consumers, you’re going to lose,” said Lark. “The age of attention is over, the age of in-attention is in. Unless you can figure out how you engage someone with the brand, you’re gonna lose, not just a product sell, but beyond that.

“Technology is largely the dominant source of differentiation for a brand today,” he added. “If you can’t do technology well, you cannot win. You will be eaten by someone who does technology better than you.”




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