She was upset, but not really at me. It turns out that a manager where she worked had made a comment that quality marketing (I'm sure he was referring to promotions) could take the place of quality product. He indicated that the organization didn't need to put out a high quality (in his mind more expensive) product. He suggested that they could still get customers with high quality promotions. Customers, according to the erroneous manager, can't tell a good product from a bad one!
After I quickly explained to her that product WAS a part of marketing, I cautiously told my friend that the object of her scorn was right. Marketing CAN generate sales with a poor product or service. But only for one or two business cycles.
Often times, customers have no reasonable way to assess the quality of what they are buying until they buy it. This is particularly true with services. Usually, the customer who doesn't have past experience has to rely on word of mouth and the trustworthiness of the marketer. If I am planning on hiring a neighbor kid to mow my lawn, unless she has mowed it before, or I have seen her work on other lawns, I have only her reputation to guide my decision. After she has mowed my lawn once, I have a lot more information to inform future buying decisions.
I suggested to my friend that she only needed to wait out the object of her ire for a short while. Mediocre products, after all, tend to have very short life cycles. So do managers who eschew quality products.
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